ES Aquatic Center Nearing Completion

By Kelly Kemp

El Segundo, CA. The pool is complete at the new Aquatic Center! Here are a few scenes for you to enjoy, all looking North from the South end of the deck. 

There are parking lots on both the East Side and the West Side of the Facility. From the East, the parking is on North Douglas, but it’s primarily reserved for Wiseburn Unified School District.

On the West, the address is 2240 East Grand Avenue, El Segundo, CA 90245 — at the end of Grand — so that’s where residents have been encouraged to park for pool use.

The only items on the construction “punch list” have to do with the adjacent Gymnasium, so we’re still awaiting locker rooms and such.

The Grand Opening is Saturday, January 5th, 2019!

 

EL SEGUNDO AQUATICS CENTER

By Kelly Kemp

El Segundo Aquatics Center, July 19, 2018

At the final walk-around of the new site’s swimming and water polo pool, it is clear that progress is being made for competitive aquatics in the City of El Segundo. An event was hosted by South Bay Sports, Health and Recreation (SBSHR).

The events chief organizer, Ms Sherry Kramer, SBSHR Secretary, opened the festivities, which also had multiple vendors — and even four of the Laker Girls to sign autographs — pretty cool! After some introductory comments, Sherry handed the microphone over to ES Mayor Drew Boyles, who expounded on the progress to date and all the great things done by many in the South Bay to further the long-course pool endeavor. He especially touted all the work done by past City Councils, City Manager, Planning Commission and Aquatics Task Force.

Also in attendance were City Manager Greg Carpenter, Mayor Pro Tem Carol Pirstuzak, Councilmember Don Brann, former-Councilman Dave Atkinson, his wife, Carol, and son, Mattie. Dave was the most influential and successful person on past Councils to make this new Pool a reality.

Featured speaker was Richard Lundquist, CEO of SBSHR. Richard was extremely pleased with the progress and cited multiple personnel that are involved with the design and construction of the new Pool. The presentations were short and sweet, allowing time for the crowd to network, mingle and take in sights bustling with activity.

Although there is lots of construction for the new Gymasium and surrounding Wiseburn school, there is probably only 2+ months to go until the ribbon cutting for the new facility.

Recreation and Parks Department Director, Ms. Meredith Pettit, Recreation Supervisor, Ms. Jeanette Gant, newly appointed Pool Manager, Mr. Dave Williams, newly hired ESHS Water Polo Coach, and former ESHS Coach Henry and his wife Joan Stuart were also notable spectators. Stay tuned for more in a couple of months as the pool nears completion.

2017 ESHS Boys Water Polo Win Share of Ocean League Crown

By Kelly Kemp

El Segundo, October-November, 2017. The ESHS Boys Water Polo Team played an outstanding game in the first round of Ocean League play in upsetting League-top seed Santa Monica 8-7. It was at the end of the first round-robin of league play, which gave the Eagles a 4-0 league record and early edge toward the championship.

Despite a quick goal by Senior Kyle Crist the first quarter, ES fell behind by a score of 1-3, suffering mostly on SAMOHI lob shot success, while missing two opportunities that ricocheted out of play off the opponent’s goal post.

The second quarter was way more exciting for the Eagles, as they closed the gap with Sophomore Owen Hale tying the game at 4-4 on a spectacular outside shot.

El Segundo took its first lead of the game near the end of the second, with Kalen Smith scoring another outside shot this time overpowering the SAMO goalkeeper — then a gift goal occurred as 17 shot and deflected in another off the goalkeeper for the 6-4 halftime advantage. Leading scorers at the time were Crist and Smith, each with 2 goals.

In the third, Crist had his ‘hat trick’ with a nice 9-meter long shot, but it was answered by the Vikings to close the quarter 7-5 in favor of Eagles.

Early in the fourth, Hale, on a counter-attack, drove in and drew a Penalty Shot for ESHS. Co-Captain Crist scored the Penalty Goal giving the home team a nice 3-goal cushion, 8-5, but it was short lived, as SAMO roared back to close to 8-7 at the 1:38-to-go mark. The victorious Eagles controlled two possessions and shut done the Vikings to win the match.

Editor’s note:

Santa Monica bounce back to win the rubber-match in their own pool and lock both teams at 7 wins 1 loss in Ocean League play to lock a Co-Championship.

 

El Segundo Swimmers Compete and Excel in 2017 Pier-to-Pier

 

Doriann with his son Danny.

by Kelly Kemp, Aquatics

This year’s edition of the International Surf Festival (ISF) Dwight Crum Pier-to-Pier Ocean Swim was no stranger to the El Segundo faithfuls. As always, it was a top notch swim with top notch competitive results. First time swimmers such as Christina Grenke matched up with perennial favorites such as Kelsey Cummings for the 2-mile Hermosa Beach to Manhattan Beach rough water event.

To name a few of the ES Water Warriors, along with the two aforementioned finishers, included Paul Alcus, Valerie Baggett, Riley Brady, Brian Burroughs, Lauren Cervanak, Kyle Crist, Alexander Cole, Keith Covington, Philip Dansart, Hannah Douglas, Nelson Fisk, John Gillam, Danny Gonzalez-Aguilar, Rika Hayashi, David Hetherington, Shigenori Horio, Lynn Huynh, Laura Jordan, Kristopher Jurka, Taylor Lakey, Ann-Marina Miyaguchi, Stephen Patterson, Richard Reaser, Kevin Shinnek, and Brock Wilson.

Ophelia with her daughters Christina and Courtney.

If we missed you by accident, then please let us know at kaipolo@gmail.com Congratulations on your fantastic finish!

Boys Water Polo Team Wins Fall 2016 League Championship

by Kelly Kemp

The El Segundo High School Boys Varsity won the Ocean League Championship outright with an 8-0 undefeated record by beating both Torrance and Santa Monica at home in the final week of the regular season.

With the last two wins, the Boys eclipsed SAMO, 16-10, Torrance, 23-7, Beverly Hills away, 16-6, Culver City *away, 17-5, SAMO away, 12-10, Torrance away, 16-1, Beverly Hills home, 21-6, Culver City away, 18-8 (games listed in reverse chronological order).

*Editor’s note: the second CCHS game was supposed to be ESHS home, but the Urho Saari Swim Stadium in El Segundo was closed for pool maintenance/repair.

The “rubber match” with Santa Monica High (SAMO) Vikings on Thursday, November 3rd, was exciting the entire way, but found the stronger ES team in control, leading 6-3 at quarter, 9-5 at half, and 13-6 after three.

Here’s a short synopsis of Eagles playing that championship game: Scoring opened with Nolan Young assisting Senior Kelly Reynolds for a ‘back-door shot’ and goal; immediately followed by an Owen Hale steal and unassisted ‘drive-in’ goal before SAMO could get on the scoreboard. After a short-lived 2-1 scoreline, ES broke out with Hale’s ‘wet-pass’ assist to Reynolds for a ‘layout’ goal; a Kyle Christ ‘layout’ from the left post; a Reynolds ‘dry-pass’ assist to Christ; and a Hale ‘long-shot’ goal.

In the Second Quarter, peppered around Viking goals were an Eagle goal by Christ and two more by Hale. Both of Hale’s goals came off of steals by Senior Ryan Winkler — 1 assist by Winkler, the other by goalkeeper Brett Quesada.

Third Quarter: Young goal from substitute Slate Davis; Hale steal, back-pass to the goalie Quesada, with a long-ball assist to Christ; followed by Christ steal to Hale, who drew an ejection; during the player advantage, Young assisted Christ for the quick score; final goal of the frame was by a ‘triple-teamed’ Reynolds who miraculously got off a shot from ‘set’ to score.

Fourth: Although losing the quarter, Eagles still scored 3 goals, the first on an extra that Reynolds drew, Hale assisting Christ; the second on an extra that Winkler drew, Hale assisting Davis; last Eagle goal of the game was a nice ‘full-court wet-pass’ assist by Quesada to Davis, counterattacking fresh off the bench. Along with his 3 assists, GK Quesada finished with 1 steal and 17 blocks to lead the defense.

Scoring was completely balanced, with Christ, 5 goals, Hale and Reynolds, 3 goals each, followed by a handful of Eagles with 1 apiece until Davis’ 2 to end the game.

According to Head Coach Riley Brady, “I think,  perhaps, that the SAMO boys had a down year…” Then he continued, “but I am really proud of these boys. Although we were a ‘small’ team, these boys always rose to the occasion.”

Now we know that our ‘boys in blue’ had a banner year! Way to fight, Eagles!

ESHS Graduating Senior Water Polo Player Achieves All-America Recognition

By Kelly Kemp

El Segundo High School is proud to recognize Layla Chamberlin, Class of 2016, as a Kai~Cal-HI Girls Water Polo Honorable Mention All-American as a Goalkeeper for the 2015-2016 school year.

During the course of the season, Ms Chamberlin accounted for 273 saves and 23 steals, giving her a total of 296 defensive points. The 273 saves put her fifth on the top-ten all-time ESHS saves list, and the 296 put her seventh on the top-ten all-time total-points list.

She kept the Varsity in the playoff hunt, even after two losses to eventual CIF and Ocean League Champion Santa Monica, and succeeded in securing the spot to win the Wild-Card match over Elsinore High School only to fall in the First Round to eventual CIF Runner-up, Westridge High School of Pasadena.

For her career, Layla Chamberlin amassed 822 saves, besting All-CIF 3rd Team and All-America Honorable Mention Haley Cox, only falling short of 912 by All-CIF 1st Team All-America 5th Team Hayden Green.

Clearly the first highlight of her career was tying former Goalkeeper Hayden Green’s single game record of 20 saves — during the 2014-2015 season — a game that ended in a regulation win versus Culver City at home.

The second highlight of her career was smashing the single game record by setting a new high of 24 saves, also against Culver City — during this past All-America 2015-2016 season. (Unfortunately the game ended in an away game as a double overtime loss.)

For the year, Goalie Chamberlin was also selected Ocean League Most Outstanding Player and All-CIF 2nd Team. Congratulations, Layla!

46th Annual Henry Stuart SOUTH BAY Water Polo Tournament

Joan and Henry Stuart present Bronze Medal Trophy to victorious Eagles; Photo by Beth Slepp-Paz

On a rousing final day of the 46th edition of the illustrious South Bay Tournament, the El Segundo High School Boys Varsity Water Polo Team bested two top opponents to finish in third place, 4-1 for the weekend, 20-4 on the year, with only 4 league games remaining until playoffs.

The Bronze Medal Game featured long-time rival, Montebello HS Oilers, a contest which had five lead changes after being tied six times during regulation, ending in ESHS favor, 15-13.

Prior to that contest, in the Semi-Finals, the Eagles lost to eventual Champion, Mira Costa, and the Oilers lost to Crescenta Valley. (Ed. note: Costa won the Final, 14-4).

Earlier, in the Quarter-Finals, the Eagles overcame a 1-4 sluggish morning start to outlast Trabuco Hills Mustangs, 8-7. The Mustangs are coached by former ES Eagle All-CIF Goalkeeper and Daily Breeze Player of the Year, Matt Kubeck, who had recently returned from honeymoon after marrying ES Eagle CIF Champion Jenna Johnston in late September!  El Segundo had to battle back to tie the game 7-7 in regulation; in overtime, the deciding ‘golden goal’ was notched by Junior Kelly Reynolds off a sweet assist from his classmate, Ryan Winkler. (Montebello had also squeaked by Santa Monica with a ‘golden goal’ 12-11 in the first game of the morning).

Back to the feature event, the Bronze Medal Game: a seesaw battle in the first half ended the first frame 3-3 and the second 8-8. Midway through the second, the Eagles found themselves down by 3, 4-7, but hustled back into the game with goals by Senior Nick Paz on a ‘2-on-1,’ Sophomore Kyle Crist on a quick counter, Paz again on an outside shot assisted by Winkler, and a Winkler goal during a ‘man-up,’ assisted by Senior Lucas Frerichs.

The third quarter was all Montebello, going right into the fourth with another three goal lead, again finding the Eagles down by 3, 8-11. Even though Crist (assist Senior Joe Doucette) and Paz scored (assist Frerichs), the ‘Boys in Blue’ encountered their third three goal deficit, 10-13, about halfway through the fourth quarter.

According to Head Coach Riley Brady, “Our boys just battled back time and again. Due to one of our starters getting a red card, we just had to use our first bench player a lot more — and his (Winkler’s) contributions really paid off — two field blocks and a crucial steal within the last three minutes. In fact, it was great having two ‘leftys’ to balance our ‘man-up’ and front court offense attack.”

The final flurry included five unanswered Eagle goals — Paz to start the rally with a ‘natural’ and a ‘man-up,’ then Paz again on a ‘back door’ assisted by Crist, and Paz with counter ‘2-on-1’ assisted by Doucette as the game winner. A late insurance goal was contributed by Winkler during a 1-on-goalkeeper at the end… Overall, a sweet victory!

By Kelly Kemp

Dwight Crum Pier-to-Pier Ocean Swim

Written by: Kelly Kemp

El Segundo swimmer Kelsey Cummings surged to the front of all women in the 2015 edition of the International Surf Festival (ISF) 2-mile Hermosa Beach Pier to Manhattan Beach Pier rough water swim. Although Kelsey was a four-time Daily Breeze Swimmer of the year from El Segundo High School, the new University of Michigan graduate won for the first time in her first-time-ever ocean swim

Occasionally, the champion ocean swimmers will utilize their own paddlers, and this time was the proof in the pudding, so to say, as Kelsey asked perennial ocean champion Diane Graner-Gallas to coach her throughout the event, paddling the distance pier-to-pier to encourage her swimmer. (Author’s note: Diane has often finished the ISF Pier-to-Pier in the top 5, even winning the overall title just a few short years ago!)

Out of roughly 1,200 competitors, Kelsey appeared to be the only El Segundo resident to finish the race. (If any of you reading this did compete and finish – please let us know, then next year we’ll track your achievements as well!) Overall, the race was a great success – for those not only keeping in shape – but trying to achieve a competitive edge!

Music Box: Laura Saggers

El Segundo TV’s award-winning Music Box kicked off the year with a fresh look and featured artist Laura Saggers.

Laura is a singer/songwriter who lives in Santa Monica. She’s talented and all kinds of fun. Watch Laura’s performances of her songs and her interview with Music Box’s Producer and Host Michelle Mizal-Archer followed by a Keytar lesson!

 

EL SEGUNDO HIGH SCHOOL ENDS 2014 SWIM SEASON

By:  Kelly Kemp

The ESHS Swim Team completed their 2014 season on a high note, even though the program did not do as well as in the past, team wise. The good result was due to significant swims in the California Interscholastic Federation – Southern Section (CIF-SS) Division II Swimming Championships, held at the Riverside Aquatics Complex this past May 16-17, 2014. The highlight of the swimming was attributable to two Eagles in particular.

 Eagle Senior Team Captain Kira Makuta, the youngest of the Makuta clan to swim for the Blue & Gold, went out with a bang after winning two Pioneer League Titles this year in the 200 yard Freestyle and 500 yard Freestyle, which elevated her to Tri-MVP with Beverly Hills’ Amy Okada and North Torrance’s’ Jasmine Margetts. Kira follows—as ESHS All-League, All-CIF, and All-American—her older sister Kailey and older brother Ryan. Kira’s time of 4:53.36 in the 500 Free ranked her #2 of Eagles all-time behind Kelsey Cummings, and her time in the 200 Free (1:51.85) ranked her #3 of Eagles all-time behind Mattea Perrotta, class of 2008, and Cummings, class of 2011.

 Eagle Freshman Bridgette Allison, just missed two Titles in League, one in the 200 Free (1:57.66), and the other in the 100 yard Backstroke (1:01.04). She follows in the footsteps of older sister Julianne and older brother Jeffrey, both All-League and All-CIF swimmers as well. In fact, Jeffrey was All-American in both the 100 Butterfly and 100 Backstroke for the Eagles multiple times. Bridgette was superb enough to finish as Co-Frosh-of-the-Year for the Pioneer League with South Torrance’s Katelyn O’Connor.

 The Varsity Swim Team was co-coached by Fotis Davlantis and Jim Makuta, who have collectively coached 11 All-Americans, 9 CIF Runners-up, 6 CIF Champions and 3 CIF Champion Teams (2008 Girls, 2010 and 2011 Boys). Now that Kira is graduating, Coach Makuta has indicated that he is close to “setting aside his clipboard & stopwatch” and retiring from coaching – and when he does, he’ll be sorely missed.

 

We’ll miss Kira, too, as she’s off to the University of Hawai’i this summer, but we’ll have Bridgette back for more attempts at the ESHS Record Book!