Sports

Gabby Giuffre and Abby Pardue shot a combined 10-of-15 from 3-point land to lead the Aptos Mariners past the Soquel Knights, 66-54, to their 22nd consecutive Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League victory on Friday night

The Aptos Mariners — battered and bruised by the end of the night — did their best Rocky Balboa impression, swinging away at the “big piece of meat” over and over again, but there was no fairy tale ending for the group of scrappy underdogs.

APTOS—A late turnover for the Aptos High football team led to a heart-breaking defeat in last week’s home opener against Campolindo High. For senior running back Caden Prichard, the Mariners’ 30-22 loss left a bad taste in their mouths.  “I don’t think we played a great...

The Aptos High Mariners have been the cream of the crop in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League all season long. That trend continued at April 25's league championships. Senior Kourosh Safari repeated as the SCCAL singles champ with a grueling 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 win over Santa Cruz High’s Jack Tierney, while the Mariners’ duo of Carter Bond and Jake Kluger breezed through Soquel High’s pair of Lincoln Cooley and Casey Valcarcel, 6-1, 6-3, for the doubles title at the Seascape Sports Club.

Third-year Aptos head coach Stefan Hocom was named the SCCAL Coach of the Year. Photo by Tony Nunez

Alex Austen, senior, Aptos: At 6-foot-5 and 311 pounds, Austen wowed with his athleticism on the football field and in the throwing circle. During the fall, Austen helped the Aptos football team finish second in the Monterey Bay League Gabilan division by clearing the way in the trenches. He was named the league’s co-Offensive Lineman of the Year, and also earned an All-MBL-G First Team spot. In the spring, he won the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League title in the shot put and also earned a spot in the Central Coast Section finals in the event.

Top-seeded Aptos won its second Central Coast Section Division III crown in the last three years, and the Mariners made it look easy with a 58-37 redemption win over No. 2 South San Francisco on Feb. 23 at Palo Alto High.

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...

It took nearly a decade to get it done, but the Aptos High softball team is once again champion of the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League, bringing home a league crown for the first time since 2018. They also became the first team to go...

APTOS—The high school football season unofficially kicked off this past weekend with the Santa Cruz County Jamboree at Cabrillo College. St. Francis, Pajaro Valley and Watsonville high schools along with four other schools within the county scrimmaged for the first time this season at...