Ex-Crushers sparkle

By Marty James

NOTES AND QUOTES for a Thursday in the Napa Valley:

Two former Vintage High School high jumpers, Erika Schmid and Fletcher Carlyle III, placed at the Stanford Invitational Track & Field Meet last month.

Carlyle, a former CIF state meet champion competing for Sacramento City College, took second in the men’s collegiate division with an outstanding jump of 7-1.

Schmid, who is in her fourth year for Concordia University of Portland, Ore., reached the “B” standard in the high jump as she cleared a season-best 5 feet, 5 inches in a third-place result to match the NAIA provisional standard.

“That jump should get her to nationals,” Concordia head coach Randy Dalzell said on the school’s athletic Web site. “It’s great for her to open that well as this should give her some extra confidence throughout the season.”

Schmid, who graduates from Concordia on May 2 with a degree in biology-environmental science, has competed at the NAIA nationals for the past three seasons, garnering All-America status twice. She shares the Vintage girls high jump record at 5-6 with Jamillah Titus, who ran track for San Diego State.

Carlyle holds the VHS boys high jump record at 6-10.

Both Schmid and Carlyle are 2005 Vintage graduates.

The NAIA Nationals will be held at the Ralph Korte Stadium at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville May 21-23.

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 Vintage’s Lonnie Handy took third place in the pole vault at the Reed Rotary meet in Reno on Saturday.

Competing in cold, windy weather, Handy went 13 feet.

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The Double-A Springfield (Mo.) Cardinals will be led by third baseman Brett Wallace, a former Justin-Siena star, who is ranked by Baseball America as a top-10 prospect within the St. Louis farm system.

Springfield’s probable starting lineup going into the 2009 Texas League season lists Wallace batting cleanup.

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University of Vermont freshman Becki Heimbigner was named as the America East Rookie of the Week for softball on Monday.

Heimbigner, a 2008 Napa High graduate who played varsity softball for four years, had a big week for the Catamounts, hitting .400 in six games. She went 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored in the second game of a doubleheader against No. 23 UMass.

Heimbigner, a shortstop-outfielder, was also instrumental in the Catamounts’ three-game sweep over Binghamton.

In Vermont’s 10-3 victory in the first game of a doubleheader, she went a perfect 4-for-4 with three RBIs, two runs scored and a pair of doubles.

She is second on the team for batting average and first in doubles, while starting all 29 games.

Heimbigner was the Defensive Player of the Year on the all-Napa County team last year as a shortstop for the Indians.

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After playing college softball for four years, Napa’s Sarah O’Neill has turned her attention to track and field for UC Davis.

O’Neill, a Vintage graduate who starred in softball at Davis, placed in two events for the Aggies Saturday at the Sacramento State Mondo Invitational.

She was 16th in the women’s shot put and 16th in the hammer throw.

O’Neill, who is studying animal science at Davis, was honorable mention on the all-Big West Conference softball team last year.

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Several Upvalley players were named to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat’s all-Empire small-school football team.

St. Helena’s Morgan Densberger (quarterback) was chosen to the first-team offense.

The Saints’ Gino Trinchero (linebacker) was selected to the first-team defense.

The second-team offense has Calistoga’s Granville Fox (running back) and the Saints’ Trinchero (offensive line). The defense has Calistoga’s Joshua Monroy (linebacker) and St. Helena’s Ezequil Valdivia (defensive line).

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 Bailey Price is batting .293 with three doubles, two home runs and 10 RBIs for the Southern Oregon University softball team. Price is a Vintage graduate.

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The UC Davis men’s golf team, coached by Napa High grad Cy Williams, finished in fifth place at the Oregon Duck Invitational at the Eugene Country Club.

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

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