MVC's Easton Alanis swims to pair of sixth-place finishes at state championships | Local Roundup
Monte Vista Christian School sophomore Easton Alanis shined at the 2026 CIF State Swimming Championships at Clovis West High on Saturday.
Alanis - a Central Coast Section champion in two events, and Santa Cruz County's lone state qualifier - competed in a pair of freestyle finals and posted the second-fastest times of his career in each event.
"He was able to turn his nervousness into excitement and go into each race with a huge smile and confidence," Mustangs coach Chris Staka said.
Alanis took sixth place out of nine qualifiers in the boys' 50 yard free paralympic Class III in 31.26 seconds.
He also took sixth in the boys' 100 free paralympic Class III in 1:13.28.
Alanis told Staka after his final race that he was "very proud of himself."
High school softball
At Aptos 7, Soquel 4: The Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League champion Mariners rallied from an early deficit in their regular-season finale on Saturday to secure their first unbeaten season in league since 2008.
Sophomore Gwen Vaca doubled, homered, stole two bases, and scored twice for the Mariners (22-4 overall, 15-0 SCCAL), and junior teammate Mya Najera-White hit a solo home run. Junior Emma Burgueno had two hits, one RBI, two stolen bases, and scored a run.
The Mariners smacked 17 home runs this season, nine above the national average. It was Najera-White's fourth round-tripper, and Vaca's third.
Freshman Hailey Leimas had three hits, including a solo home run, for the second-place Knights (18-7, 11-4), and classmate Kiyomi Dunlap also hit a solo home run. It was Leimas' team-leading fifth homer and Dunlap's third.
Najera-White earned the complete-game win, and Dunlap took the complete-game loss.
Current Knights coach Frank DeBernardo coached the Mariners in '08. Aptos is currently led by veteran skipper Phil Rojas Jr.
The CCS playoffs seeding meeting takes place in San Jose on Monday at 2 p.m.
High school baseball
Santa Cruz 8, at Leigh 2: The Cardinals, the fourth-place finisher in the SCCAL and ranked No. 28 in the CCS by maxpreps.com, helped the cause in their bid to secure an at-large berth into the playoffs by upsetting the No. 17 Longhorns in a nonleague game Saturday.
Junior AJ Dacosta had three hits and two RBI for the Cardinals (15-11) in their regular-season finale. Freshman Merrick Dacosta had two hits and scored twice. Sophomore Adam Fowler and senior Caleb Cmaylo each had two hits and scored a run. Fowler also drove in a run.
Cardinals senior Cameron Fusari had two walks, one hit, one RBI, and scored twice. Sophomore Micah Mohamed had a hit, two RBI, and scored a run.
Senior Jacob Madonna had two walks, one hit, and scored a run for the Longhorns (17-10). Juniors Aiden Phillips and Grady Beaudoin each had a hit and one RBI.
Junior Micah Bentzley gave up one run in four innings and picked up the win. Senior Cooper Low gave up five runs over 4 2/3 innings and took the loss.
The CCS playoffs seeding meeting takes place in San Jose on Monday at 4:30 p.m.
Soquel 14, at SLV 5: Senior Cash Moran had two hits, including a home run, three RBI, and scored twice for the repeat SCCAL champion Knights, who closed the regular season with a league make-up game from April 21.
Senior Sam Whelan had two hits, two RBI, and scored twice for the Knights (21-4, 13-2). Senior Brady Downs and sophomore Anthony Skinner each had two hits, two RBI, and scored a run.
Knights senior Connor Corlett had two hits, one RBI, and scored a run. Junior Scotty Miller doubled, drove in two runs, and scored a run. Seniors Hudson Summerrill and Trey Sousa each had a hit and scored twice.
Junior Larrabee Mitchell had four hits, including a double, one RBI, and scored a run for the sixth-place Cougars (4-23, 1-14). Senior Brody Egner had three hits, two RBI, and scored a run. Gus Nunns scored twice.
Corlett gave up one run in three innings and picked up the win.
The CCS playoffs seeding meeting takes place in San Jose on Monday at 4:30 p.m.
Outrigger canoe
Rig Run, Kauai World Challenge: Santa Cruz's Kua Nalu Canoe Club competed in outrigger canoe races in two different oceans over 2,500 miles apart, on Saturday and showed well for itself.
At the Rig Run Outrigger Canoe Race, which took place off the coast of Leadbetter Beach in Santa Barbara, Kua Nalu took first place in the Co-ed division and Senior Master Co-Ed age group (ages 50 and over).
The six-person crew - Dave Waynar, Tai Boutell, Karen Harrington, Heidi Laber, Nicole West, and Mike Irete - finished the 12-mile course in 1 hour 28 minutes and 18 seconds.
Kua Nalu also had two men's teams compete at the Kauai World Challenge, an annual 32-mile, four-leg relay race for OC1 (one-person outrigger canoes) off the island of Kaui.
The Kupuna team (age 60+) of Matt Muirhead and Kyle Samuels took second place, and the Open team (age 20-40) of Robby Gibbs and Craig Muirhead took seventh.
Each paddlers on each team took alternate legs paddling the same canoe on a course that went from Kapa'a to Hanama'ulu to Kalapakī to Po'ipū and finished at Port Allen.
Beach volleyball
No Attitudes: Santa Cruz's Taylor Siemann and Taylor Reed (Rated Coed), and Santa Cruz's Mitchell Garrity and Emily Melvin (Coed Intermediate) were among the No Attitudes Tournament division winners at Main Beach on Saturday.
Other division winners were: Aptos' Jack and Jennifer Maguire (Coed Novice), Santa Cruz's Dale Ehnes and Windsor's Debbie Stohlman (Coed Century), Capitola's Rebecca Willemse and Martinez's Sophia Hall (Women's), and Alameda's George Garcia and San Francisco's Greg Coleson (Men's).
Reporting Scores
Coaches are encouraged to report scores and highlights to sports@santacruzsentinel.com following games. Please include your name and contact number in the email.
Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.
This story was originally published May 17, 2026 at 2:21 AM.