Issue Date: 5/19/08
Parting Shots '08
Palomar Sports Wrap-up
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Anthony Schwartz
The Palomar women's track team came back for the Spring 2008 season after being inactive for 20 years.
In its first year back, the team placed third in the Foothill Conference tournament.
The Comets had nine women qualify for the Southern California Community College Championships, three of which qualified for the regional final. One of the women who made regional finals was Ta'asa Fesuia who placed sixth in the shot put after recording a 37-foot, 8.5-inch throw. Fesuia qualified for state championships with her performance.
"It was definitely a new beginning starting all over again with the track team at Palomar," coach Jennifer Williams said. "The people I have in are a great foundation to work with. These are players where you can look back 50 years later and say 'wow, that was a good team'. It's rare you have a team that was all positive, and they were really positive."
Baseball
Kristina Moreno
The Palomar baseball team ended the 2008 season losing a best-of-three series to Cuesta College in the second round of playoffs.
The Comets lost in extra innings by one run on May 10, with a 13-player roster after 16 members were suspended from the series for violating team policy.
Palomar finished with an overall record of 26-21. The Comet's conference record was 17-7 to finish in second place behind Southwestern for the Pacific Coast Conference title.
The Comets got to the best of three series with Cuesta after beating Santa Barbara City College 3-0 in a play-in game May 5 at Palomar.
Five Palomar players received first team all PCC honors, including Mitch Blackburn, Tyler Saladino, Guy Willeford, Eric Rodriguez, and Kegan Sharp. Bobby Shore, Matt Strom, Sam Jew, Jason Laws and Colby Ho all received honorable mention.
Softball
Anthony Schwartz
The 2008 Palomar softball season will be infamous for ending a 22-year Pacific Coast Conference title streak.
The Comet's finished 9-6 in conference and in second place behind Grossmont.
Palomar reached the regional playoffs, where they played Long Beach City College in the first round. The Comets won a game against the Vikings, but Long Beach took two in the best-of-three series.
The Comets had four players make first team all conference, including Andi Anti, Shawna Barrow, Corey Boss and Alex Hutchinson. Brenda Gill, Theresa Houle and Andrea Nedden made second team all conference.
Men's Golf
Anthony Schwartz
The Palomar men's golf team started off the season with a fourth place finish out of 11 teams in the Tee-Off Classic, but then followed it up with a first place finish out of 18 teams in the Rio Hondo Invitational to start its season off on the right foot. The winning continued throughout the year as the Comets finished 12-4 in the Orange Empire Conference, including a 740 over 36 holes to finish fourth in the Orange Empire conference finals tournament, which gave them a second place finish in conference. Tyler Schmuckle shot a 5-under par 139 to lead the team at the conference tournament.
The Comets advanced to the Southern California Championships May 5 at Soboba Springs Country Club in San Jacinto where Schmuckle shot a 1-over 144 over 36 holes to pace the team. Schmuckle's performance helped the Comets to place seventh in regionals and it qualified him for the California Community College Athletic Association state championships. At that meet, Schmuckle tied for 20th at the CCCAA championships as he carded a 3-over 147 over 36 holes May 12 at the SCGA golf course in Murrieta. Chris Steilen was the only Comet named to the all conference team.
Men's Basketball
Anthony Schwartz
The Palomar men's basketball season, which started in the Winter season but ended in the Spring season, was one to be forgotten for coach John O'Neill.
"(It was) frustrating," O'Neill said. "We were good enough to do a lot better than we did, but we were just so inconsistent through the course of the year. We would play and beat some really good teams and then turn around and lose to some really, really poor teams."
The Comets placed second to last in the Pacific Coast Conference with a conference record of 6-10. Palomar had an overall record of 11-16.
Sophomore Chris Holloway earned first-team all conference honors, scoring 15.6 points per game on the season.
Women's Basketball
Anthony Schwartz
The Palomar women's basketball team was full of upside, but ended on a sour note.
The Comets finished the season with a 16-game winning streak including a perfect 14-0 in Pacific Coast Conference. It was the teams first title in the PCC since the 2003-2004 season. Overall, the team finished 27-6, breaking several Palomar records along the way.
The Comets went into the Southern California regional tournament seeded No. 6 and opened the tournament with a 56-44 win over Mt. San Jacinto in the first round.
However, in the Comets next playoff game, their season ended with an 82-81 loss to Pasadena with the game being decided on Pasadena draining a free throw with no time left on the clock.
"I think we had an amazing year and they have every reason to keep their heads up," coach Sheri Jennum told The Telescope in March. "I really didn't think we lost that game. That game was taken away from us."
Jennum received PCC coach of the year honors, while Sabrina Gonzalez, Nikki Boone and Jade Simmons made first team all conference. Gonzalez, who will play next year at Division I Cal State Fullerton, was also named PCC player of the year and first team all state. Alyson Haley (Cal Baptist), Jade Simmons (Missouri Western State), and Kelli Brull and Carlie Stone (both Menlo College) also have committed to colleges.
Men's Swim
Anthony Schwartz
The Palomar men's swimming team took second place in the Pacific Coast Conference Championships held at Palomar's Wallace Memorial Pool April 26-28.
"Ali Karbassi and Jimmy Horine did really well as distance swimmers this year," assistant coach Scott Lawson said. "We really hadn't had any distance people this year. It was really fun to watch them."
Karbassi won gold at conference in the 400-meter individual medley, recording a time of 4 minutes, 41.16 seconds.
The Comets also won the 400-meter medley relay (3:54.72).
Women's Swim
Anthony Schwartz
Like its male counterpart, the Palomar women's swim team finished the season in second place in the Pacific Coast Conference Championship at Palomar's Wallace Memorial Pool.
Tristain Kennedy won three of the team's eight events individually at the championship, placing first in the 100-meter individual medley (1 minute, 6.01 seconds), the 200-meter individual medley (2:24.46) and the 100-meter backstroke (1:05.64).
Kennedy was the only Comet to qualify for the state championship.
The Comets won four relay events, including the 200-meter freestyle relay (1:45.34), the 400-meter medley relay (4:26.81), the 200-meter medley relay (1:58.71) and the 400-meter freestyle relay (3:51.47).
"Swimming is really easy to evaluate," coach Jem McAdams said. "You look at the beginning and you look at the end. You look at the time drops and the improvement and see if its a successful season."
Men's Volleyball
Anthony Schwartz
One and done was the fate for the Palomar men's volleyball team as the Comets lost to Long Beach City in the first round of the California Community College Athletic Association state tournament.
The Comets clinched a playoff berth with the last game of the season as Palomar defeated Golden West in five games.
The Comets finished the regular season 10-9 overall and finished third in the Pacific Coast Conference with a record 8-4, including a win over Irvine Valley College, who has won back-to-back state titles. The win snapped a 16-match home win streak for the Lasers. Post season honors were given to head coach, Bjorn Dahl, who was named the co-coach of the year for the PCC. Sophomore outside hitter Casey Sawyer, sophomore setter Garret Payne and sophomore middle blocker Ross Johnson all earned first-team All-PCC honors. Sophomore libero Kevin Murphy was named to the second team.
Men's Tennis
Anthony Schwartz
The Palomar men's tennis team came into the 2008 season returning only one player from the previous year.
The Comets finished the regular season with a record of 10-7. Palomar was 10-4 in Pacific Coast Conference play and finished in third place in conference.
Palomar's DJ Jaehnig reached the semifinals of the PCC tournament after defeating Mitchell Grajeda of Mt. San Jacinto (4-6, 6-3, 6-1). Jaehnig won a total of three matches in the tournament, including defeating and Grossmont's Jose Brito (6-2, 4-6, 6-1) and Southwestern's Ryan Bell (6-0, 6-1). Jaehnig was later defeated in the semifinals by Grossmont's Waylon Bennet (6-3, 1-6, 6-3).
Jaehnig reached the quarterfinals in doubles along with Jason Sinkoff, then lost to Mt. San Jacinto's Taylor Witt and Corey Sheehan (6-2, 6-3).
Palomar's Kyle Anderson, the only player on the team from last year, and Chris Jones reached the quarterfinals in doubles before dropping the quarterfinals match due to injury default.
Women's Tennis
Anthony Schwartz
The Palomar women's tennis team came into the season rebuilding with young players.
"They did a good job under the situation," coach Ronnie Mancao said. "They had one sophomore and all the rest freshmen. There are five freshmen coming back."
The Comets finished the season 3-15 overall and 3-9 in the Pacific Coast Conference. The season prior, the Comets went 13-2 overall with a conference record of 10-2.
The Comets finished out the regular season with an 8-1 loss to conference foe San Diego City.
Palomar's Holly Lorber was the only Comet to qualify for the PCC Tournament. Lorber lost her quarterfinals match to Grossmont's Danielle Bryan 6-0, 6-0.
"It was a big improvement on both teams," Mancao said. It's just a matter of we didn't get the wins in certain areas."
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