Cif

GLENDALE — With each passing meet, the competition for local high school track and field athletes intensifies as the stakes grow higher and higher. Saturday’s CIF Southern Section Divisional Championships at Mt. San Antonio College are expected to be no different. Nine athletes, led by a strong quartet who will race in multiple events, with local ties are slated to compete and all are hoping to keep their season alive and advance to the CIF Masters Meet next week.

Upon the release Tuesday afternoon of the 2011-12 All-CIF Southern Section football selections, St. Francis High senior Travis Talianko was listed among the Western Division honorees as a first-team receiver. But Talianko's receiving numbers took a large dip this year, as it was the San Jose State-bound standout's skills as a safety that truly came to the forefront. Nevertheless, one thing was once again abundantly clear and that was that Talianko was an All-CIF mainstay, as he concluded a phenomenal three-year varsity career at St. Francis with his third consecutive All-CIF postseason selection.

GLENDALE — Expected to be staples in the top half of the lineup, things couldn't have gone better for Crescenta Valley High's Troy Mulcahey and Royce Park of Flintridge Prep. The junior baseball players proved to be reliable at the plate, helping their teams finish second in their respective leagues. Backed by their solid offensive work, Mulcahey and Park were named to the All-CIF Southern Section first team Monday afternoon. Mulcahey was placed on the Division II team, while Park was named to the Division VI team.

Holy Family volleyball Coach Robert Bringas couldn't quite put his finger on the reason his Gaels lost, 25-16, 25-22, 25-21, to host St. Anthony on Tuesday night in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 4-A playoffs other than the simple fact that, "it didn't click. " "We were there," said Bringas, whose team won a share of the Horizon League title and ended its season at 14-9-3. "We had various opportunities to close out and we didn't. " Tied at 15 in the opening game, Holy Family relinquished a 7-0 run to St. Anthony (13-8)

GLENDALE — Jack Bouchard will accept second place as long as it extends his season. Bouchard made sure that happened by rebounding in a big way during the Prep League final on Wednesday at Brookside Golf Course No. 1 in Pasadena. The Flintridge Prep boys' golfer fired a four-over-par 76 to earn medalist honors and finish second in the league final for the second straight season. With that result, Bouchard, who opened with a seven-over-par 77 on Tuesday during the prelims at Brookside Golf Course No. 1, will move on to the CIF Southern Section Individual Regional, which will begin at 8 a.m. May 16 at Las Posas Country Club in Camarillo.

A closer look at the 2007-08 Pacific League girls? water polo season will indicate that it proved to be remarkable for several area programs. The Crescenta Valley High squad captured its fifth consecutive league championship and ninth overall. Crescenta Valley, Glendale and Burbank also all advanced to the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Division IV playoffs in February, marking the first time that three local schools from the same league advanced that far in the same postseason.

Hamlet Nalbandyan GLENDALE -- For the second straight year, two local teams could meet in the CIF Southern Section Division III boys' water polo finals, but that's the last thing on the minds of the Crescenta Valley and Glendale High teams. Both will be concentrating on their respective semifinal matches today, and if they could each win, then they face each other Tuesday at Long Beach's Belmont Plaza for the title. Last year, the Falcons faced La Canada in the championship and lost, 12-6.

GLENDALE — Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy's Lauren Wheeler had a tough time breaking away from herself, while Glendale resident Sarah Salvo had a tougher time breaking away from her teammate. In the end, both found their way to the CIF Southern Section Northern Individuals. Wheeler, a senior, shot a 20-over-par 93 on Thursday at the Mission League individual finals at Encino-Balboa Golf Course in Encino for a two-day total of 177, a fourth-place finish and the last qualifying spot.

In the words of Coach Jeff Andrews, Sage Hill School boys water polo players are extremely driven entering this season, in both mind and body. Andrews said Lightning players are hungry to improve upon last season's CIF Southern Section Division VI playoff berth, the first in the program's five-year history and advance past the first round. They boast the speed to increase their chances of reaching and moving through the postseason. "We're basically the same team we were last year, but this year's team is a lot faster," said Andrews, who played at UC Irvine and enters his third season at the helm.

CV-Saugus girls' volleyball story.Crescenta Valley's season comes to a close in 25-19, 25-8, 25-22 CIF Southern Section Division IA first-round defeat to Saugus.SAUGUS -- Despite the fact that her team's season had just come to its conclusion in three games, Crescenta Valley High Coach Jennifer Kunz Ryan couldn't have been happier with her Falcons. It came from knowing that, even in defeat, her team had saved its best effort for the last game of the year. "I'm so proud of this group of girls, that's what makes it hardest graduating nine seniors," said Kunz Ryan as she choked back tears after Crescenta Valley's 25-19, 25-8, 25-22 loss to host Saugus in an opening-round match of the CIF Southern Section Division IA playoffs on Tuesday inside a raucous Saugus High gym. After a second-game loss in which the Falcons (11-15)

A trio of area boys' golfers had their sights set on moving another step closer to qualifying for the state tournament in June. Andrew Cho of Crescenta Valley High and La Cañada's Colin Morikawa and Joshua Suh entered Monday's round of the CIF Southern Section Individual Final at Victoria Country Club in Riverside fresh off playing some of their best rounds. Unfortunately for them, their bids to advance were derailed. Cho, a senior, saw his season conclude in a two-hole playoff involving 11 players for the final qualification spot, as he finished tied for 27th with a three-over-par 75. Morikawa had a 78 to tie for 52nd and Suh had an 83 to tie for 84th.

Andrew Cho, Colin Morikawa and Joshua Suh are all familiar with Brookside Golf Course No. 1 having played their share of rounds on the Pasadena venue. The trio of area high school boys' golfers would like to return to the course. For that to occur, they still need to play a solid 18-hole round Monday at the CIF Southern Section Individual Final at 9 a.m. Monday at Victoria Country Club in Riverside. The top 28 from the field of 90 will advance to the CIF/Southern California Golf Assn.

WALNUT - That little extra weight on the back shoulders of Glendale High junior Michael Davis was the collective aspirations and interest of a region at the CIF Southern Section Track and Field Championships at Mt. San Antonio College on Saturday. When Davis finished second in the Division I boys' 200-meter dash in a time of 21.40 seconds, he earned advancement to Friday's Masters Meet at Cerritos College not just for himself, but for the collective La Cañada-Glendale-Burbank area, as Davis was the region's lone qualifier.

LA CRESCENTA - In Tuesday afternoon's CIF Southern Section Division III softball wild-card outing, Crescenta Valley High came out swinging and so too did Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. Problem for the host Falcons was, the Knights were sending line drives into the outfield, while the Falcons countered by swinging at bad balls out of the zone. It amounted to a four-run deficit for CV after an inning that ultimately set the tone throughout the Falcons' season-ending 9-4 loss to Notre Dame.

As the regular season wound down and the league tournament finals took place, Jack Bouchard and Andrew Cho each had something in common - earning a potential spot in the CIF Southern Section Northern Individual Regional. The duo clearly needed to be at their best in their respective league individual finals for that to happen. Bouchard and Cho passed their tests and will next compete in the event, which will begin at 8 a.m. Monday at Las Posas Country Club in Camarillo. The top 30 plus ties will advance to the CIF Individual Finals at 8 a.m. May 21 at Victoria Country Club in Riverside.

Whether chasing a CIF Southern Section divisional team title like the Crescenta Valley High boys, an individual crown like Glendale's Mickey Mowry or somewhere in between like Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, today and Friday's divisional preliminaries at Riverside Aquatics Center can't be overlooked. That's where seeds are established and cuts are made with a top-20 finish in each heat required just to advance to Saturdays finals at the same venue and a top-10 finish needed in order to compete for big points and individual titles.

Faced with an intimidating No. 2 seed on the road in its playoff opener, the St. Francis High boys' volleyball team didn't get off to the best of starts Tuesday night. And even though the Golden Knights rebounded to give host Esperanza pause in the second game of their CIF Southern Section Division I opener, the Aztecs finished off the job with a 25-13, 25-19, 25-15 sweep. "I would say their reputation, first," Golden Knights Coach Mark Frazee said when asked what spooked his team.

Things didn't go exactly as planned during the first round of the Hoover High boys' tennis team's CIF Southern Section Division II wild-card match at Mission Viejo on Tuesday. Looking to take a lead into the second round, the Tornadoes instead went in tied at 3 after No. 1 singles Oleg Simonyan suffered a loss to his counterpart. "That was nerve wracking and disappointing," Hoover Coach Julie Hoppe said. "That's kind of been the psychology — if we can go up in the first round, that's big. It really sets the tone for the rest of the match.

There won't be much time for the four playoff-bound area boys' volleyball teams to prepare for their first-round matchups, which were revealed by the CIF Southern Section Saturday morning and will be played at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night. Two Pacific League teams, Burroughs and Crescenta Valley, will open play in Division III, while St. Francis faces an uphill climb in Division I and Providence will measure its progress against a team it faced earlier this year in Division V. Burroughs hasn't met up with its first-round foe, Village Christian, since last April at the Crescenta Valley Varsity Tournament.

While there wasn't much suspense in determining which boys' golf teams from the Pacific League would qualify for the playoffs, Crescenta Valley High, Burroughs and Burbank enter the postseason with varying goals. They will look to achieve them at the CIF Southern Section Northern Team Divisional, which will begin at 1 p.m. Monday at Soule Park Golf Course in Ojai. Crescenta Valley, Burroughs and Burbank will be joined by league champion Arcadia in the 19-team event. The top three teams from the seven divisionals will move on to the CIF Team Championship Final, which will take place at 8 a.m. Thursday at Rancho San Marcos Golf Club in Santa Barbara.