Nov. 19 high school notebook: Shafter grad Jelmini wins magazine's national award
| Wednesday, Nov 18 2009 09:40 PM
Last Updated Friday, Nov 20 2009 11:14 AM
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Jenn Ireland / The Californian Anna Jelmini, All-Area girls track athlete of the year.
It wouldn't be wise for locals to forget about Anna Jelmini even though she's moved on to throw for Arizona State.
A reminder of that came earlier this month in the form of the Track & Field News magazine's High School Girls Athlete of the Year award, given to Jelmini in a unanimous vote.
"Everyone recognizes this worldwide," said Matt Godbehere, Jelmini's throwing coach at Shafter High. "It's looked at as the Bible of the sport."
It's an even bigger deal when you consider that only twice in its history has Track & Field News honored a thrower for its female award. The first was Modesto-Downey's Suzy Powell, whose national discus record Jelmini broke in her senior season.
Jelmini ranks No. 1 all-time among high school discus throwers with a 190-feet, 3-inch throw at the Sierra-Sequoia Divisional in May. The same day, she threw 54-4.75 in the shot put, landing her No. 9 all-time and within six inches of the national record.
Now, Godbehere said, she's adding the hammer throw at ASU, which begins its indoor track and field season next month.
"She's throwing real well down there," Godbehere said.
Volleyball titles on tap
In a Division II Central Section volleyball championship that's been awaited all season long, only one thing is for sure.
This one's going to be close.
No. 2-seeded and defending champion Garces visits top seed Frontier tonight for all of the D-II marbles. It will be the teams' third meeting this season.
The first was won by the Titans at a tournament in Clovis. After Garces won a surprisingly easy first game, Frontier took the second and the third, 15-13, in a best-of-three match.
Three weeks later, the teams met at Frontier, and Garces swept to draw even. But this was no ordinary 3-0 victory: The Rams won 26-24, 25-22, 26-24.
"The match came down to four or five key points, and we came through," Garces coach Kim Harper said. "That's what it's going to come down to again."
Both teams have some serious front-line power, with Caitlin Bernardin and Melanie Reis swinging for Garces and Kristyn Kirschenman, Morgan Dake and Taylor Jackson doing the hitting for Frontier. Both have a capable setter, Garces' Morgan Frazier and Frontier's Samantha Whittington, a Cal State Bakersfield signee. Both have back-line defense that will force multiple attacks on every point.
Frontier coach Steve Bentley couldn't be reached for comment.
Tehachapi also expects a battle tonight in its Division III final against Exeter, which swept the Warriors in last year's final. The year before, Tehachapi was runner-up to Hanford, and the year before that, the Warrrios lost the big plaque to Visalia-Mount Whitney.
But this year, No. 1 seed Tehachapi gets the championship at home and it already has a South Sequoia League championship under its belt for the first time since Bakersfield Christian entered the league.
"This is the big one," Tehachapi coach Sally White said. "We're ready to finally take it."
And if they do?
"In school history, I'd have to say we're right there at the top," White said. "... This could definitely be the best team Tehachapi High School has put out there."
Cravens honored
Liberty defensive end Rane Cravens has won the inaugural David Carr Most Valuable Player award.
The award, which is sponsored by KERO-TV and comes with a $1,000 scholarship, is given to Kern County's top player.
Cravens has made 110 tackles and a section-leading 21 sacks for the Patriots.
2 Drillers sign with D-Is
Girls swimmer Erica Becker and volleyball player Hailey Moore inked their way to Division I scholarships Wednesday at Bakersfield High.
Becker, a 2008 All-Area swimmer, will attend Youngstown (Ohio) State University on an athletic and academic scholarship. She holds Southeast Yosemite League records in the 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle races and finished in the top five in both events at the 2008 section championships. Becker also made the section final in the 100 backstroke in 2009.
Moore signed with Southern Utah University. She leads the Central Section in hitting percentage and is fifth in kills per game with 4.3 heading into today's section finals. She was named to the All-Area team as a junior.
Trojans GPA champs
Foothill was named the section's Academic Team Champion for girls tennis after finishing with a 3.92 grade-point average in the first academic quarter.
The Trojans were the only Kern County team in any sport to earn the honor this fall and are the first team from Foothill to win the award.
Football tickets on sale
Tickets for the Nov. 27 Bakersfield-Stockdale football section quarterfinal are on sale at both schools' finance offices during school hours.
