Sports Briefs: Redwood water polo dominates Battle in the Creek

Redwood High continued to ramp up for the postseason Saturday as the Giants went 4-0 during the Battle in the Creek boys water polo tournament in Las Lomas. The underclassmen stepped up on Saturday afternoon as the Giants beat College Park, 9-7. Freshman Storm Jackson and sophomores Maddox McClellan and Jakob Engberg each scored twice. McLellan also had two assists. Senior Sawyer Goldberg scored and had two assists, while senior Ossie Jolpin and junior Charlie Poser each netted a goal for the Giants (18-2, 5-1 MCAL).

Goldberg and Joplin led Redwood with a team-best three goals each in Saturday morning’s 11-8 victory over Harker in Las Lomas. McClellan added two goals and two assists, while Jackson, Isaac Nikfar and Zachary Schuman each scored a goal. for Redwood (18-2, 5-1 MCAL) Giants goaltender Owen Malone made 12 saves.

Redwood beat Mid-Pacific Institute, 16-5, and Monte Vista, 15-4, in Friday’s action.

• Tam High secured fifth place at the Battle in the Creek with Saturday’s 12-9 win over Monte Vista of Danville, finishing with a 3-1 record at the Las Lomas tournament. Freshman Jasper Feldman scored a team-high four goals in the fifth-place game, while seniors Bern Kent and Andrew Sternfels scored three each. Freshman goalie Ethan Wallace made six saves for the Red-tailed Hawks (8-5).

In Saturday’s morning game, Tam beat Las Lomas, 8-7, on a goal by Reed Hanna in sudden-death overtime.

Tam lost to Clovis, 15-14, on Friday on a golden goal in the first minute of sudden death overtime of a winners bracket game. Kent scored four goals to lead Tam, while Hanna and Pasch Campbell-Visnich scored three apiece and Hanna added six steals. Freshman goalie Ethan Wallace had 11 saves for the Red-tailed Hawks.

Hanna scored a game-high seven goals to lead Tam past Buchanan of Clovis, 13-9, in Friday’s opener. The senior, who is a USC commit, added three steals and drew three kickouts to pace Tam. Sternfels and Declan Murphy added two goals apiece for the Red-tailed Hawks, and Campbell-Visnich had a team-high three assists.

Boys cross country

Redwood High and Bishop O’Dowd tied for first place at the 5,000-meter Clovis Invitational run Friday and Saturday in Fresno’s Woodward Park with 131 points each in the medium-size school (blue) division, although Giants sophomore Justin Shern finished 16th overall, one spot behind Bishop’s Sebastian Taylor. Shern led the Giants with a mark of 16 minutes, 31.2 seconds, just three-tenths of a second behind Taylor and 1:04.4 off the winning pace (15;26.80 set by Nueva’s Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Redwood junior Gabriel Cavanagh (16:36.60 paced 18th, followed by teammates Gunnar Niemi (16:44.7) in 23rd place, Liam McCaw (16;52.4) in 31st and Oliver Bush (17:06.2) in 48th. Marin Catholic was led by junior Jonnie Choi (17:12.4) in 56th place overall.

Tam High ran away with the team win in the medium yellow division, outdistancing second-place Newark Memorial, 45-97. The Red-tailed Hawks’  Marco Zink placed second (16:07.7) behind Newark Memorial’s Kenji Kawabata. Tam junior Lucas Ruark (16:31.1) placed fifth, ahead of teammate Caeden Gardner (16:45.7) in eighth. San Marin junior Justin Catanach (16:48.3) took 10th place. Terra Linda’s Shahan Ajmani (17:00.7) finished 16th.

Archie Williams’ senior Ian Sharp ran a time of 15:56.3 to place 13th individually and lead the Peregrine Falcons to a fourth-place finish in the small-schools blue division race.

The Branson School’s Jasper James (16:43.2) took fourth place in the small schools yellow division race. Senior Devin Price (17:22.6) placed 14th to lead San Domenico to a seventh-place finish in the standings.

• Tam sophomore Atticus Siedman (16:39.4) placed 36th in the 2.95-mile Crystal Springs Invitational on Saturday. The Red-tailed Hawks placed 10th in the standings.

Girls cross country

Redwood HIgh edged Immanuel by two points at the 5,000-meter Clovis Invitational in Fresno’s Woodward Park run Friday and Saturday to win the small-school blue division race, led by junior Sydney Middleton’s fourth-place finish in 18:22.5. She was followed closely by fifth-place finisher Ani Stieg (18:24.7) of Archie Williams. The Peregrine Falcons placed ninth in the standings, four points ahead of tenth-place Tam. Senior Emma Gardner (18:42.1) led the Red-tailed Hawks with an eighth-place finish.

Terra Linda senior Annie Carmona (20;10.5) placed 27th to carry the Trojans to a 12th-place standing in the medium-size school (blue) division.

Senior Gabby Hays (20:20.9) placed second to pace Marin Catholic to a fourth-place finish in the small-school yellow division. She was followed by teammates Katie McConneloug (22:15.3) and Caroline McMillan (22:30.0) in 19th and 20th place respectively. San Domenico juniors Veronika Elias (22:39.0) and Sarah Haskell (22:49.5) placed 24th and 25th, respectively, as the Panthers took eighth place in the points.

• Tam freshmen Zoe Harrington (21:31.2) and Madeleine Douglass (21:35.5) placed 38th and 39th, respectively in the 2.95-mile Crystal Springs Invitational on Saturday to lead the Red-tailed Hawks to a seventh-place finish in the standings.

College football

Marin Catholic grad Spencer Petras kept Utah State moving Friday night, although the Aggies came up short, 50-34, against UNLV. Petras was 41-for-59 for 461 yards with three touchdowns, but also threw three interceptions.

Utah State (1-5, 0-2 Mountain West) is scheduled to host New Mexico on Saturday, Oct. 19.