Grossmont’s Bartling Gets Off to Fast Start

First impressions can be deceiving, but that certainly wasn’t the case when freshman Sherice Bartling showed up for her first girls’ soccer practice at Grossmont High.

“I knew she was a good player, I just didn’t know how good,� said Foothiller Coach Ray Widener, who teaches science at Grossmont with Bartling’s mother, Kim. “I knew (Sherice) had speed and good ballhandling skills, but what I didn’t understand was her work ethic.�

Four months after that first workout, Widener now understands.

In leading the Foothillers (16-7-2) to the Grossmont 3-A League title, Bartling also led the Grossmont Conference in scoring with 41 points (22 goals, 19 assists).

“With her work ethic, that kind of kid is only going to improve,� Widener said. “She’s legitimate. She’s no fluke. I think she has a shot at (the conference player of the year award) this year.

“In general, you hate to award that to a freshman, but I think you can disregard that with her. She’s not the kind of person who would let something like that go to her head. She’s the player of the year as far as I’m concerned.�

Grossmont, which was runner-up to Torrey Pines in Division II last year, was upset in this year’s first round on Wednesday, 3-1, by San Pasqual. Bartling had Grossmont’s goal. Widener said he would vote for San Pasqual’s Shannon MacMillan for the section player of the year.

On bended knee: At the conclusion of the Masters wrestling meet Saturday but before the awards ceremony honoring the top three finishers in each weight class, Rancho Bernardo Coach David Meyer sat his girlfriend, Carissa Carneavale, on the winner’s stand--and proposed.

She blushed and covered her face with her hands as about 1,600 people looked on. Then each member of the RB wrestling team walked past her and gave her a rose.

Said one coach to Meyer when it was over: “David, your mistake was that you had too many witnesses.�

Carissa accepted the ring.

Past imperfect: Poway made its usual romp at the Masters meet, advancing all 12 of its wrestlers (out of 13 possible) to the state meet, placing nine in the finals and having five champions. And Poway Coach Wayne Branstetter showed he was a perfectionist when it was over: “We looked good in some matches and God-awful in others. . . . I don’t want to sound greedy, but I really thought we could have had a couple more (champions).�

Telling it like it is: Grossmont junior Todd Bell improved his record 40-0 with his Masters victory at 140 pounds, his second consecutive title.

“I’m ranked seventh in the state, but I think I’m under-ranked,� Bell said. “Just because our team doesn’t go to the Five Counties tournament.�

The Five Counties meet is second only to the state meet in strength, and wrestlers who perform well there often rise in the rankings. It is also an invitational, and Grossmont hasn’t been invited.

Why stop now? St. Augustine hadn’t won a San Diego Section team championship since its football team beat Grossmont, 13-8, in the 1970 title game.

But on Feb. 22, St. Augustine won the Section 1-A wrestling championship, and the Saints may claim two more Section banners by the end of the week.

Saints’ soccer team plays Mission Bay in the Division III final on Saturday, and Saints’ basketball team, seeded No. 1 in Division III, plays rival USDHS Tuesday in the semifinals. A victory over the Dons (7-16) and St. Augustine (18-6) would play in Thursday’s final at the San Diego Sports Arena.

Some halo: St. Augustine’s basketball team is 17-3 since former Coach Jeff Armstrong left to accept a position coaching the national team from Saudi Arabia.

Armstrong’s departure in December left the club in the hands of Rick Stewart, the school’s athletic director and former football coach.

“They’ve won in spite of the coach,� Stewart joked.

Trivia: Stewart, unlike Armstrong, has basketball championship experience in this county. Name the school Stewart guided to the 1974 1-A championship.

A step up? After winning its final two regular season girls games by 55 and 60 points, Poway turned San Dieguito inside out, 81-18, in the first round of the Division I playoffs, then blew past Rancho Buena Vista, 71-45, to get to the semifinals.

A victory there and Poway, the defending section champ, could face Mt. Carmel in Saturday’s championship, a rematch of last year’s title game.

San Dieguito, RBV and Mt. Carmel all play in the Palomar League, as does Poway.

What’s good for the goose: In basketball playoff divisions with more than five teams, Poway, Mt. Carmel, Rancho Bernardo, Carlsbad (Division II) and Christian (Division V) will be represented by both their boys’ and girls’ teams in the semifinals.

Rewrite: Jerome Green and Lamar Bailey of Chula Vista combined to set at least 12 school basketball records this season.

Among them, Green, a junior, set marks for points in a game (49), season (785) and career (1,591). He also more than doubled the record for most three-point baskets (85).

Bailey, a 5-6 point guard and one of only three seniors on the team, set standards for assists in a game (19), season (202) and average per game (7.5).

Southwest Coach Steve Selland on Green: “He’s very tough to coach against. We tried to diamond-and-one him (a combination zone and man defensive scheme), but he just took us apart.�

Trivia Answer: San Diego Military Academy beat Ramona, 73-59, in the 1974 1-A title game after finishing second to Ramona in both 1971 and ’73 under Stewart.

Olympic fever: Santana junior John Macready, 16, finished 25th overall out of 51 gymnasts in his first international meet Feb. 15-16 in Tucson, Ariz. The event included junior (ages 16-18) teams from Russia, Japan, Canada, Mexico and Israel. The U.S. team finished third.

Macready, despite competing on a bad ankle, finished ninth on the high bar.

“I thought he did very well,� said Steve Butcher, Macready’s coach at the Southern California School of Gymnastics in Santee. “We tried all our new tricks in this meet. That’s better than trying to play it safe.�

Flying high: The departure of 6-foot-11 Travis Knight, who moved to Utah for his senior year, and the graduation of all-county guard Alfonso de la Nuez took its toll on the 1991-92 Ramona boys’ basketball teamThe defending Division III Section champion Bulldogs finished 7-17.

The season wasn’t a total wash, however. On Feb. 21, guard Cody Cunningham received an appointment to the Air Force Academy.

Cunningham, a 6-3 guard, averaged 15 points for the Bulldogs.

“He jumps well and has a good shot (that Air Force coaches) feel they can develop,� Ramona Coach Al Schaffer said. “The whole (Ramona) team is tickled to death for him. He’s a great kid.�

Setting the table: Marian’s Jennifer Reyes had 20 assists in the Crusaders’ 84-34 victory over Tri-City Christian on Tuesday in the first round of the Division V playoffs.

Only former Point Loma passing whiz Monica Filer has had more assists in a girls’ game. Filer, the Section career record-holder for assists, had 22 in a game in 1989 and 21 in ’88.

The King and his court: Mike Kingsley, Grossmont’s 5-9 point guard who averaged 19.4 points a game in this, his junior season, said he will not be back with the Foothillers next season.

His family is returning to Massachusetts where he lived before moving to San Diego two years ago.