Knudson, Schwantz honored

NOTES AND QUOTES for a Tuesday in the Napa Valley:

Carolyn Knudson and Spencer Schwandt, both Vintage High School graduates, were honored last week by San Francisco State’s Department of Athletics at a scholar-athlete reception.

Knudson plays softball and Schwandt is on the men’s soccer team. They were among 32 student-athletes who have achieved a 3.50 cumulative grade point average or higher the past two semesters. The afternoon reception, held in conjunction with National Student-Athlete Day, was held in the Seven Hills Conference Center on campus.

“This is a great opportunity to showcase some of the best students we have,” SF State Department of Athletics Academic Coordinator David Woo said on the school’s athletic Web site. “These athletes represent the pinnacle of both academic and athletic achievement by attaining at least a 3.5 GPA while putting in their many hours of practice and preparation for games. Their dedication as scholar-athletes should be emulated by all.”

Knudson has a 3-2 record and 4.50 earned run average for the Gators. Knudson, who has appeared in 12 games, pitched locally for Vintage and Napa Valley College.

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Brian Cole ran very well for Williams College Saturday, placing third in the 1500-meter run (3:58.52) and fourth in the 800 (1:56.44) at the University of Massachusetts’ Spring Meet in Amherst, MA.

Williams was third as a team. Cole is from St. Helena.

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UC Berkeley continued spring football workouts Saturday with a scrimmage that included a series of situational settings for nearly 70 plays at Memorial Stadium.

The Golden Bears — who beat Miami 24-17 in the Emerald Bowl in December at AT&T Park in San Francisco to finish 9-4 — practiced with a long field and a short field during the 80-minute scrimmage. They also worked on goal line situations, special teams, and scoring opportunities in a close game with less than a minute to go on the clock.

“It’s always bittersweet,” head coach Jeff Tedford said on the Cal athletic Web site. “When the offense does something well, you’re worrying about the defense. When the defense does something well, you're worrying about the offense.

“There were a lot of great efforts. When we have that, we’re going to continue to improve.”

Cal opens the 2009 season at home against Maryland on Sept. 5 and will play a total of six games in Memorial Stadium.

Other home games are against USC, Eastern Washington, Washington State, Oregon State and Arizona.

The Bears were ranked No. 25 in the final USA Today coaches poll last year.

For ticket information, go to CalBears.com or call (800) GO BEARS.

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The KVON SportsVine won’t be on Saturday due to the Oakland Athletics-Toronto Blue Jays game.

The SportsVine — a weekly show hosted by Terry Simpkins, Charles Kennedy and Mark McLeod — will return on April 25 with special guest Steve Meyer, the president of the Joe DiMaggio Baseball League. The hour-long show starts at 9 a.m. on KVON-1440 AM.

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Lindsay Myers, a sophomore at Pacific Union College, is in Limoux, France, training and racing with the USA Cycling Development Program.

She is joined by her teammates: Allison Starnes, Jerika Hutchinson, Sinead Miller, Jo Markhem and Devon Haskell.

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Tim Steggall is batting .252 with six doubles and 15 RBIs as an infielder/outfielder for the University of Texas-Arlington baseball team.

Steggall went to Justin-Siena.

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St. Helena’s Michael Gastelum has made 20 starts and is batting .277 with 11 RBIs for the St. Mary’s College (Moraga) baseball team.

Gastelum plays second base.

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Ryan Kostecka of Napa has started in 21 games and is batting .299 with six doubles, a triple and five RBIs for the Lewis & Clark College (Portland, Ore.) baseball team.

Kostecka, who plays center field, is a Napa High graduate.

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Caroline DeVincenzi has started all 32 games for the Lewis & Clark College (Portland, Ore.) softball team and has a .280 batting average with two doubles.

DeVincenzi, who plays shortstop, went to Justin-Siena.

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Vintage graduate Bailey Price is batting .286 with three doubles, two home runs and 11 RBIs for the Southern Oregon University (Ashland) softball team.

Price, who plays first base and is used as a designated hitter, went to Vintage.

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Ricky Del Zompo of Napa is batting .231 with two doubles and nine RBIs for the San Francisco State baseball team.

Del Zompo played baseball at Vintage and Napa Valley College.

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

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