Notebook: Bishop's, Steele Canyon coaches honored by CIF; Nieblas everywhere at Petco Park
Paula Conway of The Bishop's School and Trevor Keifer of Steele Canyon High School have been named winners of the CIF state office's 2025-2026 Model Coach Award.
Conway has led the Knights to back-to-back San Diego Section Open Division field hockey championships, finishing 25-1 two years ago and 23-2 last season. Conway's daughter, Lola, is a two-time San Diego Section Player of the Year.
Keifer has been the girls wrestling coach at Steele Canyon for 15 years, where character is the prerequisite for competition.
Conway and Keifer are two of 10 coaches from around the state who were honored.
"These Model Coaches exemplify education-based athletics, leading their student-athletes and communities by modeling trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and good citizenship, while creating opportunities for students to belong, connect and compete," said CIF executive director Ron Nocetti.
Slone commits
Cathedral Catholic High School girls basketball star Bianca Slone will play next season at Cal Poly.
The 6-foot-3 Slone averaged 14.6 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.8 steals a game last season on a Dons team that finished 23-8.
Slone, who also played volleyball at Cathedral Catholic, joins a Cal Poly team that was 4-26 last season.
American Legion event
American Legion Baseball starts in the first week of June and still needs financial support.
District 22 organizers are hosting "A Night of Baseball Fun" fundraiser on June 14 at Bully's East, 2401 Camino Del Rio South.
"Coach" John Kentera will be the master of ceremonies of the dinner and baseball talk.
The evening starts at 5:30 p.m. with a social hour. Cost is $70 and includes dinner and a donation to American Legion Baseball.
Legion Posts cover some of the costs of playing for the 16 teams and more than 300 high school players ages 15 through 18. The fundraiser helps cover the other costs.
Checks should be made payable to SD County ALB/District 22 with "Baseball Dinner" added to the memo line. Please include the names of the attendees.
Mail checks to:
District 22 ALB
c/o Peter-Rolf Ohnstad
210 West F Street, No. 3535
Encinitas, CA 92024
For more information, email Ohnstad at d22albcommish@gmail.com or Dennis Ackerman at dackerman51@gmail.com.
Family affair
The Niebla family was well represented at Petco Park on Friday in the John Baumgarten Classic Baseball Series.
Jerry Niebla, the brother of Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla, is the head baseball coach at Southwest-El Centro High School, which played Imperial.
Jerry's sons JJ and Jason are key parts of the team.
Ruben's son Johrden was the starting pitcher in the Friday game, hurling 5 2/3 innings and getting the win in a 6-2 victory.
JJ, a senior infielder/outfielder, is hitting .462 with 14 RBIs and is 1-0 with a 2.62 ERA as a pitcher.
Jason, a sophomore infielder, is hitting .350 with seven RBIs. Jorhden, a senior, is 6-1 with a 1.02 ERA.
Southwest is 18-5 in the season and ranked No. 10 in the San Diego Section.
Top of the class
USA Today named Helix High School alum Keionte Scott the No. 1 best bargain after the first two rounds of the NFL Draft.
The 24-year-old Scott was a fourth-round pick by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers out of the University of Miami.
USA Today sees Scott as a nickel back with the Bucs, with his best work coming as a blitzer.
Honoring Embrey
Play As One is hosting the Chick Embrey Classic Golf Tournament on May 29 at Lakehouse Golf Club in San Marcos.
Embrey was the longtime football coach at Escondido High School. To learn more about the tournament, visit playasone.org/golf.
Honoring Furtak
Rancho Bernardo High School will honor longtime baseball pitching coach Mark Furtak at Saturday's home game against Mt. Carmel.
The ceremony is set for 10:15 a.m., with the game to follow.
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This story was originally published April 29, 2026 at 2:56 PM.