NOTES AND QUOTES for a Tuesday in the Napa Valley:

Rich Anderson’s athletic leadership class at Vintage High School had a busy day last Friday.

The class put on its third and final freshman luncheon for the spring season athletes. Sixty-five athletes, plus all of the coaches, attended.

“It was once again a success, and it makes the freshmen feel like they are welcomed,” said Anderson, an English teacher.

After putting together the luncheon, the class went to the Veterans Home of California in Yountville to work on an oral history program, which interviews and videos the veterans. Once the DVD is complete, it is sent to the U.S. Library of Congress.

It is the hope of the program, said Anderson, to get as many veterans’ stories told and sent to the library for future family members and historians to have access to.

“Ultimately, the program wants to create a comprehensive, national catalog that people can search that will have the oral histories along with any other documents collected during the project,” said Anderson, Vintage’s former head baseball coach.

“Our role is to first help archive the oral history room and then move into the interview phase.”

Anderson’s class also met with Air Force Colonel Dick Hum, who gave the students a tour of his office.

“One of the most amazing things he showed the class is a photo of him with President Kennedy in 1962 discussing the Cuban Missile Crisis,” said Anderson. “It was an honor and a humbling experience for us to be in his presence — a truly unbelievable experience.”

After working at the Veterans Home, four students — Zach Wagner (tennis), Angela Hill (soccer), Josh Cariela and Alex Sasloff (baseball) — left to participate in a game or match.

The idea behind the class is to teach team cohesion and leadership skills.

Anderson is working with 11 students, both juniors and seniors, in the athletic leadership class. It’s a community service program, with students serving as volunteers.

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Natalie La Rochelle of Napa swam seven out of her eight heats in lifetime-record fashion as the UC Berkeley women’s swimming and diving team won its first-ever Pacific-10 Conference title.

La Rochelle, a Vintage graduate, swam a personal-best time of 2:17.54 in the 200 breaststroke.

“It was a great team effort and an individual accomplishment,” said Dr. David La Rochelle, Natalie’s father. “Natalie and her teammates are true champions. Not many teams can boast a Pac-10 championship.”

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It was a very successful indoor track and field season for Dominic Giovannoni and the Northern Arizona University Lumberjacks. The team captured both the men’s and women’s titles at the Big Sky Conference Championships.

The men’s team tallied a meet-record 184 points. Giovannoni, a 2008 Napa High graduate, contributed to the point total with a seventh-place finish in the heptathlon. 

His score of 4,760 points was the top mark recorded in the conference by a freshman in 2009.

During the competition, he set personal records in three of the heptathlon’s seven events. 

His most promising results came in the long jump competition. A change in technique had him struggling in this event earlier in the season. But this time, all three of his jumps were over 21 feet, with a best of 21-6 1/4.

The Lumberjacks add the twin victories in indoor track to the men’s and women’s cross country titles they captured in the fall. Giovannoni and his teammates now turn their sights toward the outdoor season. The Big Sky Outdoor Track and Field Championships are slated for May 14-16 at the University of Montana.

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The CIF Sac-Joaquin Section will hold its boys and girls basketball championship games at Arco Arena in Sacramento.

In Friday’s finals, games are at 4 p.m. (Division V girls), 5:30 p.m. (Div. V boys), 7:30 p.m. (Div. III girls) and 9 p.m. (Div. III boys).

On Saturday, there are finals starting at noon (Div. IV girls), 1:30 p.m. (Div. II girls), 3:30 p.m. (Div. IV boys), 5 p.m. (Div. II boys), 7 p.m. (Div. I girls) and 8:30 p.m. (Div. I boys).

Admission is $17 (adults) and $8 (students). Parking is $12.

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Dave Casper and Craig Morton (football), Gaylord Perry (baseball) and Billie Jean King (tennis) will be inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame during an enshrinement banquet March 9 at The Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.

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The Justin-Siena junior varsity girls basketball team captured its third straight Marin County Athletic League championship. The Braves went 24-2 overall, including a 14-0 league mark.

This is the third year in a row that the Braves have gone undefeated in MCAL play.

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