Sports

Marea Zlatunich could have had a very different high school experience. Now a league, section and state champion runner for the Aptos High Mariners, Zlatunich didn’t show up to the first day of cross country practice during her freshman year. “I honestly didn’t want to do cross country,” Zlatunich said. “I did it as an eighth grader and I wanted to quit after the first day, but my family didn’t let me.” But when her friend, Annika Niles, begged her to come out for the second day of practice because “she didn’t have any friends on the team,” Zlatunich reluctantly obliged. It turned out to be one of the best decisions of her young life.

Aptos High dedicated its baseball diamond to brothers Paul and Robert Bailey on Tuesday before the Mariners’ Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League game against Soquel High.

Marcos Reyes, Hunter Matys and Josh Powell all rushed for more than 100 yards, the defense recorded four takeaways and No. 5 Aptos rolled into the Central Coast Section Open Division III semifinals with a 62-37 win over No. 4 Terra Nova on Saturday night.

The Aptos football team was on the ropes throughout the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Central Coast Section Open Division III championship game. But whenever the Mariners needed a play — big or small — someone answered.

Aptos freshman forward Natalia Ackerman (35) shoots the ball through a pair of Soquel defenders during the second half of their SCCAL tournament championship game on Feb. 18 at Cabrillo College in Aptos. Photo by Tony Nunez

The reigning Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League champion, Aptos is only a couple wins away from once again capturing the league title. With all but one starter back from last year’s squad, Aptos was expected to cruise through the league. And while the Mariners are not taking any team during the final stretch of their league season for granted, they are eagerly awaiting for the real measuring stick of their skill: the Central Coast Section team playoffs.

APTOS—Aptos High senior Trent Nosky spent time over the summer logging in dozens of miles in hopes to improve on his endurance.  It’s something that he's seen as a weakness in the past. “I have a lot of speed but I don't have as much strength...

The former head coach and general manager of the four-time Arena Football League-champion San Jose SaberCats, Arbet didn’t promise to break his foot off in his player’s “John Brown hind parts,” as Denzel Washington so eloquently said while playing Boone in the 2000 football flick. But the Seahawks’ heavyweight offseason hire does expect his players to be as close to perfect as possible.

Despite having one of the best female ballers in the state, sophomore point guard Heleyna Hill, on the roster, the Cabrillo College women’s basketball team has demonstrated that it is not invincible.

APTOS—It almost feels like an eternity since the Cabrillo College football team last saw some action on the field.  But two years after they were placed on probation due to a violation for housing out-of-area players, the Seahawks are back and ready to take on...