The Point After

Watsonville’s Cody Webb reportedly suffers foot injury

Andrew Matheson — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 02:04:47 +0000

Watsonville’s Cody Webb, an endurocross rider who most recently won the bronze medal at Summer X Games in Spain, reportedly suffered an injury during practice prior to the AMA Endurocross Series in Sacramento last weekend.

Webb broke a bone in his foot and is expected to have surgery, which could keep him out until late July.

If that is the case, Webb will most likely miss the next X Games stop — in Munich, Germany, on June 27-30. The fourth and final X Games, meanwhile, will be held in Los Angeles Aug. 1-4.

In the AMA Endurocross Series, there are no events scheduled again until Sept. 21.

On a positive note, here’s a pretty cool video featuring Webb produced by FMF Racing and Dirtbike Magazine.

Enjoy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Watsonville’s Carina Moreno to defend WBA title against Susi Kentikian

Andrew Matheson — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:59:15 +0000

Watsonville’s Carina Moreno announced her next fight today — and it’s a rematch.

Moreno, who in December won the WBA flyweight title with a split decision victory over Susi Kentikian in Germany, will travel back to Germany July 6 for a rematch with Kentikian.

We should have a story in Thursday’s Sentinel.

Here’s the press release from earlier today.

CARINA MORENO TO DEFEND WBA FLYWEIGHT TITLE IN REMATCH WITH SUSI KENTIKIAN

June 12, 2013 – WBA Women’s flyweight champion Carina “La Reina” Moreno (23-5, 6 KOs) is gearing up to defend her title once again against Susi Kentikian (30-2, 16 KOs) in a rematch of their December 2012 scrap, a fight in which Moreno won by split decision. The rematch will take place at Westfalenhalle, Dortmund, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany on July 6th.

The first fight was tremendously close and highly competitive, but in the end Moreno landed harder shots more often and secured the split decision victory against Kentikian in her home country of Germany, where she was used to having decisions go her way.

Now, Moreno will once again travel to her opponent’s home turf. Kentikian is from Germany by way of Armenia and Moreno is thrilled to go on the road for the second time in a row.

“It was an amazing experience the first time Kentikian and I fought because I was the underdog and I went into enemy territory and got the win. I knew I had it in me to win the fight and I know I will do it again. The win was great but I feel like I earned the respect of the fans. They may not have expected me to win or even wanted me to win, but I think I left with a few more fans that night. I know what to expect this time around and I’m looking to put on an even more dominant performance this time around,” Moreno said.

Moreno shocked everyone with her victory, but this time around she’s looking to capitalize off of the opportunity and ultimately put herself in a much more domineering position.

“I’m excited to be competing, that’s a given. But I really want to make this one count. I want to prove that the first fight wasn’t a fluke and now I get the chance to show people that I have a lot of fight left in me. Many people felt that Susi was one of the best female fighters in the sport and I’m on a mission to earn that reputation for myself,” Moreno said.

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Video: Cory McElyea qualifies for 2013 U.S. Open

Andrew Matheson — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 06:15:40 +0000

Harbor High alum Cory McElyea survived a three-player playoff to qualify to the U.S. Open on June 3. Jim Seimas wrote about it here.

The SCGA Channel caught up with McElyea following that round.

Enjoy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Video: Watsonville’s Cody Webb seeks first win in Endurocross Series

Andrew Matheson — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 22:00:16 +0000

Watsonville’s Cody Webb will compete today on the second stop of the AMA Endurcross Series in Sacramento. Webb is still seeking his first win in the series.

This is the last stop until September, though, when the series picks back up again with an event in Ontario, Ca. In the meantime, two X Games stops will take place — one in Munich, Germany (June 27-30) and another in Los Angeles (Aug. 1-4).

Anyway, here’s a video I found of Webb’s race during the first Endurocross stop in Las Vegas in May. Webb wore a GoPro camera for the event. Pretty cool.

Enjoy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Scotts Valley’s Sarah Reyes named Player of the Year for All-SCCAL softball

Andrew Matheson — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 09:30:44 +0000

Here’s the All-SCCAL softball team. We’ll have a story in Thursday’s paper.

Scotts Valley’s Sarah Reyes was Player of the Year.

2013 ALL-SCCAL SOFTBALL
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Sarah Reyes, Scotts Valley
PITCHER OF THE YEAR: Michelle Firebaugh, Aptos
COACH OF THE YEAR: Shawn Gallardo, Soquel
SPORTSMANSHIP: Mariah Lambert, Harbor

FIRST TEAM
Faith Apolskis, Soquel
Jamie Corder, Soquel
Sarah Reyes, Scotts Valley
Marissa Bugayong, Aptos
Seryna Tapuloa, Scotts Valley
Katrina Agosti, Soquel
Amanda Ang, Aptos
Anna Gurr, Soquel
Rita McCreesh, Aptos
Sigrid Holtrop, Scotts Valley
Malia King-Jones, Santa Cruz
Michelle Firebaugh, Aptos
Makenna Provancha, Soquel
Bailey Lotz, San Lorenzo Valley

SECOND TEAM
Nina Odegaard, St. Francis
Jenessa Carmona, St. Francis
Amber Martinez, St. Francis
Toni Vargas, St. Francis
Kellie Linkletter, Santa Cruz
Mikal Cuellar, Santa Cruz
Malia Yamashita, Santa Cruz
Emma Wilson, Aptos
Kate Jeffery, Aptos
Adrienne Smith, Scotts Valley
Erica Costella, SLV
Gabby McClelland, Harbor
Hannah Bossard, Soquel
Lela Bombaci, Soquel

HONORABLE MENTION
Santa Cruz: Haley Burrous, Sydney Falcon
St Francis: Sabrina Bargetto
Soquel: Melissa Provancha, Grace Harrison, Maddie Marlatt, Paolina Valdez
Scotts Valley: Michelle Ponos, Lexi Stevens, Bailey Affolter
Aptos: Jennifer Segura
Harbor: Gianna Stagnaro, Julia Jones, Hannah Christensen, Carly Christensen
SLV: Leah Viele-Verner, Kendall O’Conner

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MVCs Mara Arroyo named MVP of the All-MBL Pacific Division softball team

Andrew Matheson — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 03:31:48 +0000

Monte Vista Christian junior Mara Arroyo was named Most Valuable Player of the All-MBL Pacific Division last week. She batted a team-high .488 (39 of 80) for the Mustangs this past season with 24 RBIs, 14 doubles and 25 runs scored.

Seaside’s Kaitlyn Hernandez was named Pitcher of the Year.

Here’s the full team:

2013 ALL-MBL PACIFIC DIVISION SOFTBALL
Player of the Year: Mara Arroyo, Monte Vista Christian
Pitcher of the Year: Kaitlyn Hernandez, Seaside

First team
Kaitlyn Hernandez, Seaside
Alana Chow-Hoon, Seaside
Bianca Kim, Seaside
Malia Usrey, Seaside
Haley Balding, North County
Danielle Blaylock, North County
Kim Eaton, North County
Danelza Perez, North County
Mara Arroyo, Monte Vista Christian
Hilary Guerrero, Monte Vista Christian
Jessie Sternat, Monte Vista Christian
Rosie Gonzales, Watsonville
Crystal Guzman, Watsonville
Xandraya Cadriel, Alvarez
Jessica Vasquez, Alisal

Second team
Lelei Hernandez, Seaside
Picses Milovale, Seaside
Angelica Napolez, Seaside
Corey Key, North County
Kayla Dunlap, North County
Kelli Graham, Monte Vista Christian
Monique Raygoza, Monte Vista Christian
Lexie Gonzales, Watsonville
Myranda Valdez, Watsonville
Mia Pinedo, Alvarez
Alyssa Ruiz, Alvarez
Angelina Ruiz, Alvarez
Brittany Birtem, Alisal
Anis Contreras, Alisal
Jessica Matias, Alisal

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Luke Rockhold Link Dump

Andrew Matheson — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 20:34:53 +0000

A lot has developed since Luke Rockhold lost to Vitor Belfort at UFC on FX 8. Here’s a just a small sampling of some of the stories that have come out since the Santa Cruz native lost his UFC debut in Brazil.

First off, in case you missed it, the full fight:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sherdog: Javier Vasquez breaks down Vitor Belfort’s knockout of Luke Rockhold here.

MMA Fighting: All fighters at UFC on FX 8 passed their drug tests. Here.

ESPN: Rockhold calls out Michael Bisping, although Bisping pretty much shoots him down. Here.

UFC President Dana White discusses Belfort-Rockhold fight, among several other topics:

Click here to view the embedded video.

MMA Junkie: Rockhold addresses fight-fix conspiracy. Here.

Bleacher Report: A UFC middleweight goes off on TRT usage. Here.

MMA Junkie: Rockhold targets quick return following loss. Here.

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Scott Machado’s 10-day contract

Andrew Matheson — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:09:29 +0000

Today, April 17, is Scott Machado’s final day of his 10-day contract with the Golden State Warriors.

Machado, a guard out of Iona College, was called up April 7 by Golden State and was in uniform during the team’s game against the Utah Jazz. A day later, Golden State assigned Machado to its D-League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors, where he had been for the previous month or so and had played 10 games.

It was an odd move, considering the back-and-forth nature of it all. But from what I’ve been told and what I’ve heard, Golden State likes Machado, so the call-up wasn’t out of the ordinary. And the assignment to the D-League wasn’t exactly bizarre, either, considering Golden State has plenty of guards and are still playing for the best possible seed in the playoffs — even today, April 17, the final day of the regular season.

Did Golden State sign him to prevent another team from signing him? Possibly. They had a roster spot to use. Ridiculous Upside brings up that point.

But whether that’s the case or not, Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted earlier this week that Machado will sign with Golden State for the rest of the season. So if they were preventing him from signing with another team, they like him enough to keep him around.

UPDATE: Golden State has signed Machado for the remainder of the season, the team announced today. Machado remains on assignment with the Santa Cruz Warriors, though, and he’s expected to play tonight when Santa Cruz opens Game 1 of its best-of-three D-League semifinal against host Austin at 5:30 p.m.

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How I met Bill Illet

Andrew Matheson — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 16:47:34 +0000

I recently did a three-part series with the Santa Cruz Warriors when I traveled with them to Boise, Idaho. You can read Part I, Part II and Part III.

Anyway, I was on the bus with the team heading to shootaround on a Saturday morning. It was about 10 a.m. when the players arrived at CenturyLink Arena, where the Idaho Stampede play, and I remember sitting down courtside to watch the practice and take notes.

Already on the court at that time was an older man, on his hands and knees, scrubbing away at the minor scuffs and scratches that were on the floor. He said “hello” and appeared genuinely pleased that I was there. I was immediately impressed by the Stampede’s attention to detail, their friendliness, but also feeling as if they were working their custodial staff too hard.

It wasn’t until about an hour later, when shootaround was wrapping up, that I found out the older man, who was scrubbing away at the court, was actually Stamepede managing investor Bill Illet. In the front office, he’s at the top of the food chain.

This is what Illet does, of course. KBOI TV in Boise did a segment with Illet and his pregame ritual.

Enjoy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Watsonville’s Carina Moreno spars with 2012 Olympian Marlen Esparza

Andrew Matheson — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 18:59:58 +0000

Watsonville boxer and WBA flyweight champ Carina Moreno, who is returning from an injury since fighting Susi Kentikian in Germany in December, sparred in March against Marlen Esparza in San Carlos.

Esparza, of course, qualified to the 2012 Olympics in women’s boxing and was the first American female to qualify.

In the video, Moreno is wearing the white head gear.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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