From here to Humboldt, Justin-Siena senior best in high school rodeo

By MARTY JAMES, Executive Sports Editor

NOTES AND QUOTES for a Tuesday in the Napa Valley:

Tyler Mitchell, a senior at Justin-Siena High School who competes in the California High School Rodeo Association, is on a roll.

Over the past five weekends, Mitchell has been in four high school rodeos and has won the saddle bronc riding event at each one. He has also consistently placed in all of his other events as well, which includes steer wrestling, tie-down roping and team roping.

Mitchell, 17, is in first place in steer wrestling and saddle bronc riding, second in team roping, fourth in the tie-down roping and is leading the boys all-around point standings for District 2, which consists of Napa, Marin, Sonoma, Lake, Mendocino, Del Norte and Humboldt counties.

His next rodeo is in Santa Rosa Dec. 8 and 9. Mitchell also travels outside of his home district to compete against riders from other districts; two of his recent wins were against entrants from districts 1, 3 and 5.

Napa High head football coach Troy Mott will be joined by two of his top players, John Boyett and Jake Croxdale, on Arty “Party” Reyes’ live show on Napa Community Public Access TV-Channel 28 Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Napa meets St. Mary’s-Stockton in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championship game Saturday at 1 p.m. at University of the Pacific in Stockton.

Vintage has five wrestlers ranked in the top eight statewide and Napa High has a pair joining them as well in the preseason rankings for California Women’s High School Wrestling, which were released by the California Women’s Wrestling Association.

Leading the way for Vintage is team captain Chelsi Aguayo, who begins the season ranked second in Northern California and fifth in the state at 126 pounds. Jean Rabaino is ranked fourth in the state at 154 pounds, while Heather Farace (118), Stephanie Garza (138), Rebecca Medeiros (189) and Melissa Cortes-Garcia (heavyweight) all begin the season ranked seventh overall in their weight classes.

Napa High’s Samantha Gardner (138) and Alex McChesney (146) begin the season ranked sixth and seventh, respectively.

Vintage was one of the first schools in the country to offer girls wrestling and continues to be considered one of the leading programs.

The Crushers will host the 10th annual ASICS Napa Valley Girls Classic, Jan. 11-12, 2008. The event was recently named the second most competitive girls tournament in the country, trailing only U.S. Girls Wrestling Association nationals.

The St. Apollinaris eighth grade girls basketball team won the St. Vincent CYO Kick Off Classic, which was held at St. Vincent High School-Petaluma last month.

St. Apollinaris had wins over St. Vincent’s (27-25), San Raphaels (41-26) and St. Patrick’s of Larkspur (21-19). Members of the team include Stephanie Brovelli, Megan DeValle, Samantha Gafvert, Megan Galles, Rachel Gauthier, Alice Hyde, Kristen Lucia, Natalia Pachote, Gianna Trzesniewski and Casey Van Camp. They are coached by Bob DeValle, Frank Pachote, John Brovelli and Vince Lucia.

Rodriguez-Cordelia won the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division III football title, beating Bethel-Vallejo, 42-13, last weekend.

Ferndale shut out St. Patrick/St. Vincent-Vallejo, 6-0, to win the CIF North Coast Section Class B championship.

Novato faces Las Lomas-Walnut Creek in the NCS 2A title game Friday at 7 p.m. at Santa Rosa High.

In its third decade of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, the Gatorade Company, in partnership with RISE magazine, announced that Matt Barkley of Mater Dei High School-Santa Ana is the 2007-08 Gatorade California Football Player of the Year.

The 6-foot-4, 220-pound quarterback threw for 3,576 yards and 35 touchdowns, completing 63 percent of his passes against just nine interceptions. Barkley averaged 325 yards per game in leading the Monarchs (9-2) to the quarterfinals of the PAC-5 Division Southern Section championships, where they fell to Sierra League top seed Crespi-Encino.

Barkley will begin his senior year of high school next fall.

The 2008 National Baseball Hall of Fame Veteran’s Committee announced Monday that former Oakland A’s manager Dick Williams has been elected to the Hall of Fame. He will be inducted on July 27, 2008 as part of Cooperstown’s annual Hall of Fame weekend.

“We congratulate Dick on his well-deserved honor,” A’s president Michael Crowley said in a statement released by the team. “Our franchise has a proud history and a championship culture, due in large part to Dick’s work in Oakland.”

Williams managed the A’s for three years from 1971-1973. He led the A’s to World Series titles in 1972 and 1973, a feat still unmatched by any Oakland manager. Williams managed for 21 seasons with six different teams, recording 1,571 wins against 1,451 losses, a .520 winning percentage, winning four pennants and two World Series. He also led the 1967 Boston Red Sox and the 1984 San Diego Padres to the World Series.

E-mail Executive Sports Editor Marty James at mjames@napanews.com or call 256-2223.

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