Athletics News and Events

For the second time in three years 2010 Maranatha alum Dylan Covey is drafted by Major League Baseball.  After his senior year in 2010 Dylan was the 14th overall pick in the first round by the Milwaukee Brewers.  Being diagnosed with type one diabetes prior to the signing deadline was a set back and Covey decided to go to the University of San Diego rather than signing a professional contract. 

 Congratulations to our Spring Sports! Six of nine spring programs have won an Olympic League championship! Maranatha is the Olympic League Crown Winner!

What a season it has been for our Softball program. Game after game they have proven to have the resolve of a champion and even when they got knocked down, they summoned the power to get back up and rally for victories and won the  League .

Boys’ Tennis The team played tough through their final league matches and wrapped up the season as the 2013 Olympic league champions and qualified for Division 5 CIF playoffs. They won their quarterfinals and advanced to the CIF-SS semifinals for the first time in our schools history! As Olympic League champions, we were ranked #3. It is an incredible honor to receive such a high seed ranking.  This marks a historic run by our boys tennis program.

The Maranatha Varsity Baseball team had a great season. After starting the season with only a few wins, the team went through a very trying period in the month of March. However, through it all, Maranatha clinched the league championship for their seventh straight league win. Second year Head Coach Matt Shupper said, “The team has been incredible to work with and a blessing in my life as their coach. I love each one of these players, they all have amazing gifts and I look forward to seeing how God grows the relationship between each other and as their coach. “

The golf team experienced a good season of growth this spring. The team finished 3rd in Olympic League play. The future looks bright for the team. Schradermeier and Locke are two of the top five returning golfers for next year’s Olympic League. This year’s Minutemen were marked by their youth – six of the team’s top eight were freshmen or sophomores. Next year should be an exciting season for golf

Dive had incredible performances by all competitors at CIF competition.Congratulations to Victor Ginelli, Davey Bunn, Kendall Hollimon, Nick Scanlan, Hailey Gomez, Savannah Marie

Bancroft and Zoe Wilkens for toughing out the weather and the long hours and finishing an exciting event. Big finishes and points to the overall CIF Swim score were added by Ginelli, Bunn, Hollimon, and Wilkens. People are surely taking notice of the Maranatha dive program as they dominate CIF competition. Maranatha’s Top CIF Finals Results 2nd – Victor Ginelli, 3rd – Davey Bunn, 4th - Kendall Holliman.

Both boys’ and girls’ swim saw some amazing results at CIF. Many students swam their personal best. Our swimmers had high expectations placed on them and they blew past their goals to go farther and faster. Alyssa Yu and Summer Otazu were both seeded in the fastest heat of the 100 backstroke, and they surely didn’t disappoint. Davey Bunn was not only third in CIF Diving but broke the school record in the 100 backstroke by dropping over 2 seconds from his previous best this year. He also anchored the boys 400 free with an impressive 50.22 in a 100 free. Jamison Vaught made it to the Championship finals with his personal best in the 100 Breast, and season best in the 100 fly. Michael Carter and Christian Ortiz swam the 400 relay and both dropped time. This is the deepest D-III CIF event that many of the coaches remember.

The boys’ track and field team continues to surpass expectations in leaps and bounds. The varsity team finished its season 1st in league. This is the Minutemen’s 6th straight title! This is the second best record in Maranatha sports history behind track and field’s cousin, cross country! We entered into the post season at the highest ranking in Maranatha history and we are humbled to be in such a place. Throughout the year these athletes tried to understand why the path was not short but a long journey that rewards us in the end. As with this season, they found that each meet slowly added pieces to the final puzzle, league finals for most. Ben Byer also qualified in the event where earlier this season he broke the Maranatha school record with a time of 10.94 in the 100 meters. The girls’ team finished 2nd in the Olympic League. Our Maranatha athletes have worked hard, training for hours each day, committing to the weight room, and getting specialized training in technical events.

The Equestrian Team is small but mighty! Congratulations to Taylor
Cooper and Tessa Brandstater who were awarded the Saddleseat
and Western School League of Greater LA school trophy! Maranatha
will be hosting this trophy for an entire year and battle for it again
next year. Taylor also won Varsity Western Champion and the High
Point Ribbon and Tessa also won Novice Western Champion and
Junior Varsity Reserve Champion.

Congratulations to our Boys’ Tennis team who won the league title for only the second time in the school’s history! It was a very tough season, as they had to go through the reigning league champs and #2 ranked, Village Christian, but they defeated them in the final two rounds of play and ended up league at 8-1.

Maranatha Football is excited to announce that after receiving scholarship offers from UNLV, Idaho, Eastern Washington, Sacramento State, and APU, Andrew Elffers has verbally committed to Azusa Pacific University! Andrew is thrilled about becoming a Cougar and feels that APU is the right fit for him, not just as a football player, but as a man. As a standout quarterback, Andrew threw for over 6,000 yards and 63 touchdowns in his career at Maranatha and is ready to take the next step at the collegiate level. Congratulations to Andrew and his family!

As we end the first round of Olympic League play, all of our winter teams remain in the hunt for both playoff positions and league championships.  While some have more work than others, it is clear that all have opportunities to advance.  Below are the Olympic League standings as of last week. Be sure to come out to support your Minutemen as the winter season is quickly passing.  There are only two weeks left in the regular season so don’t miss your opportunity to support the seniors in their final games as Maranatha Minutemen!

	Boys' Basketball		Boys' Soccer
	Varsity (2-1 in League and 16-5 overall)		Varsity (0-2-1 in League and 2-10-3 overall)
	JV (1-2 in League)		JV (1-2 in League)
	Frosh (3-0 in League)
	Girls' Basketball		Girls' Soccer
	Varsity (2-1 in League, and 7-12 overall)		Varsity (1-2-0 in League and 3-12-2 overall)
	JV (1-2 in League)		JV (0-2 in League)

On November 14^th senior point guard, Jeremy Major signed his National Letter of Intent to continue his illustrious basketball career at Pepperdine University. Rated among the state's top 30 seniors by ESPN.com, Jeremy is a two-time All-CIF Southern Section first team selection, the 2012 Olympic League MVP, and ranked #1 in Division 4AA. Maranatha Coach Tim Godley says: "Jeremy is a unique blend: he's very intelligent, great court savvy, extraordinarily coachable, very motivated, does the extra work that many players won't do, very athletic.” He helped Maranatha win the Pasadena Poly Tournament and was named MVP as well as being a two-time Pasadena Star-News all-area first team selection. He was named to the all-league first team as the Minutemen won the Olympic League title. Jeremy helped Maranatha be a CIF semifinalist and into the state playoffs for the first time in state history. Pepperdine Coach Marty Wilson says: "Jeremy is a very quick, athletic and efficient point guard who is going to make an immediate impact on our program. He is a leader and his teammates will enjoy playing with him because he makes others better while making the simple play."

To read more about Jeremy on the Pepperdine Sports Website click HERE.

There will be an informational meeting on Thursday for all girls interested in playing tennis. The meeting will be held at lunchtime in Mr. Pena’s classroom and official tryouts will begin on Monday, August 20th after school at Occidental College. Transportation will be provided to and from Occidental College during tryouts and all details will be covered at the meeting on Thursday.

Maranatha congratulates alum Matt Chavez `10 on being selected All-South Coast Conference First Team. Matt also has signed to continue playing baseball at New Mexico Highlands University next year.  Click HERE to read the full story.

Physical Screenings will be provided on Tuesday, June 19th from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Physical Education Annex. All MHS athletes are required to have a physical (by their own doctor or at the MHS physical screening) each year before participating in athletics – starting with summer sports.  Physical forms and Medical Care (Waiver) forms are available on www.maranatha-hs.org in the Athletics section (under Medical Release Forms) or at the physical screening.

While many of our spring teams are still competing, our Swim Team has just finished CIF Finals! Congrats to all 6 relays for making it back to finals and to the Girls 200 Free Relay for breaking a school record with their 3rd place finish of 1:45.55; by Madie Johnson, Victoria Simpson, Rachel Means, and Zahra Jabalameli (shown here with Coach Zambrano). The following swim/dive individuals also medaled at CIF:  Alyssa Yu – 6th place in the 200 Individual Medley and 4th place in 100 Backstroke; Jamison Vaught – 7th place in 100  Butterfly and 4th place in 100 Breaststroke; Victor Ginelli 3rd (Dive); Andrew Rotundo 6th (Dive); Spencer McFaul 8th (Dive). Overall the Boys Team placed 5th and the Girls 9th. During the season, at least 5 school records were broken! Congrats to all!

Maranatha’s Track Team will be competing in CIF finals next week, but we have already broken several school records this season! Congrats to following students breaking the records listed: Kyle Brown 200m 22.34 and 400m 49.34; Ebony Crear 100HH 14.18 and 300h 44.53; and Skylar McLeod SP 34’ 1”and Disc 106’.

Congrats to Taylor Cooper, part of our MHS MHS Equestrian Team, took home the Western Champion Award. In addition, she is a member of the United States Equestrian Federation and has qualified to letter in her sport as a varsity member.