Mustangs rise to the top

Patrick Laverty

As Costa Mesa High girls athletic director Sharon Uhl reeled off what

she thought would be the most competitive programs for the upcoming

school year, one word kept reappearing.

“I think soccer can win league again, I think volleyball can win

league again, I think softball can win league again...” Uhl said.

Not only can nearly every sport win a Golden West League title

this year, almost all of them can do it “again.”

Uhl, who took over the girls athletic director position this

summer after Pat Leahy retired, is at the helm of what has become a

powerhouse in just one season. After moving from the Pacific Coast

League into the Golden West League, the girls athletic program at

Costa Mesa simply dominated its competition last year.

“It was wonderful,” Uhl said. “We were coming from a tough league,

playing schools that enrollment-wise were way over our head and

competition wise, it was hard.

“We went from not winning a league title [in 2001-02 in the

Pacific Coast League] to winning almost every single girls league

title.”

Costa Mesa won league championships in softball, soccer,

volleyball, tennis, water polo and track and field. They added a CIF

Southern Section Division III championship in soccer.

The success was a new experience for a school that had not

traditionally been an athletic power.

It was the first league title in school history in softball,

soccer, volleyball and tennis.

One sport that didn’t win a league title was basketball, but that

squad still reached the playoffs for the 14th consecutive year.

Improvement was expected with the switch in leagues, but the

success that resulted was remarkable.

“I don’t know if it was expected, but I think the kids felt a

little bit better about their chances of competing better,” Uhl said.

Now Uhl, in her first year as athletic director, is in charge of

keeping the momentum going forward.

The Mustangs have one year of success in the Golden West League

under their belts, but the remainder of the league is sure to be

looking to knock them off their lofty perch this season.

“[The success] is expected to continue,” Uhl said. “The caliber of

athlete is still there. Not a lot has changed. We still have really

good athletes and we still have really good coaches.”

Uhl will be a coach herself, returning to the helm of the softball

program, which she guided in 2001. In her sixth year at Costa Mesa

and 17th in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, Uhl knows the

Mustangs well. She has also coached softball and volleyball at

Estancia and softball and basketball at Corona del Mar.

She is among four on-campus coaches of the nine coaches in the

girls athletic program, a number that would make many schools cringe,

but hasn’t caused problems at Costa Mesa.

“I know it’s a concern at other schools,” Uhl said. “But our

coaches, this is a thing a lot of people don’t get, they’re doing it

for free. Preseason and postseason, it’s on their own time. They only

get paid for their season.”

Yet the walk-on coaches that the Mustangs possess have shown the

year-round dedication needed to field competitive teams. They’ve also

shown staying power, a rarity among walk-on coaches.

Soccer coach Dan Johnston is entering his 12th year with the

program. Volleyball coach Allison Saladin will begin her third season

with the team this fall.

“We haven’t had much turnover, we’ve been very fortunate,” Uhl

said.

Other coaches at the school include basketball’s Jim Weeks,

cross-country coach Joe Busi, golf coach Todd Kolber, tennis coach

Lance Wallace and swimming and water polo coach Tim Postiff.

Postiff is forced to deal with one of the school’s biggest

deficiencies, that being a pool that is highly inadequate for water

polo games because one end is shallow. For the past few years, Costa

Mesa has been attempting to build an Olympic-size pool on campus.

According to Uhl, plans had been drawn up and it looked like a done

deal, but it has not gone further than that.

Other improvements have been made on the campus. The Mustangs

added a second softball field prior to the 2003 season and improved

its existing field, including the addition of an outfield fence.

Uhl also expects lights to be added to the softball field, as well

as the football field, which includes the track. The lights would be

donated from an outside organization that wishes to use the fields.

Costa Mesa puts the fields to heavy use as well, fielding three

teams in sports like volleyball and soccer even though the Golden

West League offers competition at only the varsity and junior varsity

level. It makes scheduling difficult for the freshman teams, which

play a free-lance schedule, but opens opportunities for more

participation.

“We don’t want to get rid of the third level because we have so

many kids coming out,” Uhl said.

Those numbers could increase due to the success that the Mustangs

experienced last year.

“I guess we’ll find out this year,” Uhl said.

The Mustangs will also find out whether they can become a

perennial contender or whether last year’s success will go down as a

one-year wonder.