Bland posts exciting wins in Miami meet

Vintage grad swimming well for Buffaloes

By Marty James

NOTES AND QUOTES for a Friday in the Napa Valley:

Dori Bland won the 500 freestyle and swam on the winning 400 free relay team as the University of Colorado won its fourth consecutive American Swimming Association University League National Championship last weekend at Miami University in Ohio.

Bland, who swam for 11 years with the Napa Valley Swim Team and four years for Vintage High School, also placed second in the 200 butterfly and 200 free relay and was fourth in the 200 free for Colorado.

The Buffaloes compete against local and regional NCAA Division I, II and III teams throughout the swim season, ending with the ASAUL Championships.

Attending this year’s meet were 25 college teams from across the country.

Bland is a sophomore at CU majoring in advertising/public relations and was the women’s team captain for the 2008-09 swim year. It’s a club swimming program.

She still holds many NVST records, competing in meets throughout the western U.S., reaching the level of sectionals.

While swimming for Vintage, she qualified for the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section meet all four years.

———

Samantha Sciutto, who plays third base and shortstop for the Cal State East Bay (Hayward) softball team, was selected as the California Pacific Conference Player of the Week for March 30 through April 6.

The Vintage graduate helped the Pioneers to a sweep of Menlo College Saturday, 6-5 and 5-4, with a pair of home runs and the game-winnng RBI in Game 1.

Kendra Mason, a transfer from Napa Valley College, hurled a two-hitter with one strikeout and Sciutto was 2-for-4 and drove in three runs as East Bay shut out Dominican University, 8-0, last week.

———

Redshirt freshman Jason Westerberg pitched well in relief for Santa Clara University Tuesday night in an 8-4 nonconference loss to No. 23 Hawaii.

Westerberg, a Napa High graduate, came on in the first inning and allowed just one run and one hit while walking two and striking out a season-high six batters in 41⁄3 innings.

———

Ricky Del Zompo, a Vintage graduate and Napa Valley College transfer, is batting .231 with two doubles and nine RBIs for the San Francisco State baseball team.

———

Lea Wallace finished second in the 800-meter run for Cal State Sacramento with a time of 2:07.22 at the Cal-Nevada Championships. The meet, which featured colleges throughout California and Nevada, was held last month at UCLA.

Wallace, a Vintage graduate and transfer from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, placed second in 2:13.26 at the Big Sky Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships at Northern Arizona in February.

———

The UC Davis men’s golf team, ranked 26th nationally by Golfstat, won the Wyoming Cowboy Classic at Talking Stick Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., Tuesday.

The Aggies, coached by Napa High graduate Cy Williams, play at the U.S. Intercollegiate April 18-19 at Stanford.

———

Local players have fared well in recent National Tennis Rating Program tournaments.

In men’s 3.0 singles, Napa’s Jose Hernandez (6-2, 6-1) and Prabhjeet Grewal of American Canyon (6-2, 6-0) won their quarterfinal matches at the Solano Spring NTRP.

Grewal lost in the semifinals (6-2, 6-2).

Zdenek Zahradnicek of Napa (6-1, 6-1) won in the semifinals of the men’s 60 singles at the Discovery Bay Open and Senior.

———

Veteran NFL quarterback Jeff Garcia, who signed this week with the Oakland Raiders, touched on several topics as a guest Tuesday of “Movin’ The Chains” on SIRIUS NFL Radio, a show that is hosted by Tim Ryan and Pat Kirwan.

• On signing with the Raiders: “It was one of those things where I was just excited to get back to the Bay and being closer to family, friends, all those comfort zones and being with the team I grew up watching ... wanting to be a part of that history and hopefully make a difference in some way.”

• On head coach Tom Cable: “I think Tom is just a no-nonsense guy. He’s a straight shooter, which I really appreciate about him. He’s going to tell you how it is. He’s going to lay it out for you exactly how he wants to see it.”

• On his role as a mentor to younger players on the team: “You have to take advantage of every opportunity, whether that’s studying at home or being at the facility early or staying late, whatever can give you that edge, and for everybody to understand that it’s so important. That’s the only way that you are able to win football games, especially when it comes to bringing the young guys up to another level.”

“Movin’ The Chains” airs weekdays (noon to 4 p.m.) exclusively on SIRIUS NFL Radio (on SIRIUS channel 124 and XM channel 124).

———

The Oakland Athletics, in conjunction with Major League Baseball Advanced Media, have launched www.LosAtleticos.com, the team’s official full-service Spanish-language Web site.

The site will provide up-to-date news and team information, including the 2009 A’s game schedule, promotional calendar and community programs. In addition, LosAtleticos.com will feature league standings, game recaps and stories in Spanish, as well as photo and video galleries.

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

Napa Valley Register Copyright © 2009