Sports Wrap Sports Wrap (June 10, 2005)

Oakland A's draft St. Francis pitcher

Recent St. Francis graduate Jared Lansford will have a monumental decision facing him once the afterglow of the post-grad celebrations fade.

Lansford, who starred as a pitcher and third baseman for the Lancers' CCS semifinalist baseball team, was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the second round of the 2005 MLB Draft on June 7.

Should he sign a professional contract, Lansford would forgo the opportunity to play for Santa Clara University, with whom he signed a national letter-of-intent.

In addition to joining former teammates Brady Fuerst and Matt Long at Santa Clara, Lansford would have the opportunity to develop his skills under head coach Mark O'Brien, a St. Francis alumnus.

The Athletics made Lansford their fourth pick, selecting him 69th overall. As the son of former major-leaguer Carney Lansford, who played 10 of his 15 seasons in Oakland, he now has the chance to follow in his father's footsteps.

Lansford was enjoying his Senior Trip in Hawaii through the end of the week and was unavailable for comment.

Five vaulters equals bragging rights

If St. Francis wasn't already on California's pole-vault radar screen, the Lancers' performance this season has certainly changed that.

Five St. Francis pole vaulters qualified for the CIF State Track and Field Championships held last weekend at Sacramento, easily the most of any high school in the state. Clovis East (Central Section) and Rancho Bernardo (San Diego Section) each had three qualifiers.

Moreover, three of the four Lancers that competed in the preliminaries advanced to the finals on June 4. The fifth qualifier, Kyle Chronis, a 2004 semifinalist, skipped the meet in favor of his Senior Trip in Hawaii.

Casey Roche, the Central Coast Section runner-up, earned his second trip to Sacramento in as many years and qualified for the finals for the first time. The sophomore soared over a season-best height of 15-8 in the finals and finished fifth.

Scott Roth, a junior from Granite Bay (Sac-Joaquin Section), won the event with a clearance of 17-1, nine inches better than his nearest challenger.

After vaulting over 15-4 in the preliminaries on June 3, Roche shared his admiration of the technique of his competitors.

"Those guys are so good," said Roche, who finished in a three-way tie for 12th as a freshman in 2004. "They're doing some really good things that I would like to do with my jump."

At the rate he is improving, Roche will have very few vaulters to look up to in the coming seasons. As it stands, he is just shy of breaking the St. Francis record of 16-0, set by Jason Hinkin in 1993.

After junior Kyle Mills-Bunge snagged the last spot in the finals by winning a jump-off, St. Francis pole-vault coach Tom Tuite beamed with pride.

"It's kind of nice to have two kids in the final out of nine kids in the state," said Tuite.

Meanwhile, in the girls competition, Natasha Barthel placed seventh and Taylor Franklin finished in a three-way tie for tenth.

Barthel, competing at State for the first time, topped 12-3 in the preliminaries, but couldn't achieve the same height the next day. The sophomore, who owns the CCS record at 12-9, posted a best of 11-6 in the finals.

Her teammate, Franklin, who tied for fourth in 2004, narrowly missed out on her second consecutive trip to the finals. The junior cleared 11-9 in the preliminaries, but missed at 12-3 to capture the last qualifying spot.

With four of the Lancers' State qualifiers returning, St. Francis can look forward to clearing new heights for years to come.

Two more Lancers bask in limelight

Two other Lancers enjoyed their day in the sun at Hughes Stadium as well.

Shot putter David Wernick and long-distance runner Ben Sitler helped show off the depth of the St. Francis boys team, which had five athletes in a total of five different events qualify for the CIF State Track and Field Championships.

Wernick, the CCS third-place finisher with a best of 52-04.00 at Los Gatos on May 27, took 20th place in Sacramento. The junior recorded his best mark in his first attempt in the preliminaries, a throw of 50-04.00. His subsequent throws were 49-08.00 and 49-07.50.

Sitler, who overcame a torn meniscus in his right knee to win the CCS title in the 3200-meter race, again ran at far from peak form. The junior finished his event in 9:33.00, the 18th-best time in the finals.

With surgery to repair his knee likely within the next few weeks, Sitler was hard-pressed to equal his school-record time of 9:10.46, converted from the 9:13.68 two-mile race he ran at the Arcadia Invitational in April.

After guiding his injury-ravaged team to a second-place finish behind Riordan in the CCS Finals, St. Francis boys coach Mike Saso was happy to see his athletes perform on an even bigger stage.

"Sure, it's the icing on the cake," Saso said during the preliminaries. "It's been a great season."

While hesitant to look beyond the competition at hand, Saso couldn't help but enjoy the prospects of a senior-laden team next year.

"We're excited about the fact that a lot of guys are coming back," said Saso. "They're going to be hungry and they're going to be ready to get after it."
-- Scott Campbell

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