Professional
WILL VENABLE (Baseball, San Diego Padres)–Clearly a key member of the Padres’ future, Venable batted .313 for the month with a .383 on-base percentage to go with a gaudy.573 slugging percentage, boosted by six homers and seven doubles among his 30 hits. The Padres’ young outfielder, who tossed in some dazzling plays on defense, scored 16 runs and drove in 17 runs during August. Venable’s most produce day at the plate came against Milwaukee Aug. 11 when he slammed a home run, drove in three runs and scored one in a 13-6 romp.
BRIAN MATUSZ (Baseball, USD/Baltimore Orioles)–Called up at the start of the month, the Orioles lefty showed the same poise he displayed at USD as he allowed just one run in five innings to pick up a victory over Detroit in his major league debut. The Orioles were impressed enough to keep him in the rotation after losses to Toronto and Los Angeles, which paid off handsomely when he beat Tampa Bay, giving up four runs in 5.1 innings, before finishing the month with a 7-inning, 5-2 win over Cleveland, allowing just one hit through the first five and striking out eight.
Amateur
DESIREE DAVILA (Track, Chula Vista)–Running just her third marathon, the former Hilltop High and Arizona State standout rallied to finish 11th out of more than 60 runners in the World Championships in Berlin. Davila clocked a time of 2-hours, 27-minutes, 53-seconds, just five seconds behind the No. 1 American, Kara Goucher and 2:38 behind the winner. Her time was a four-minute PR (2:31:33 in Chicago).
SUSAN FRANCIA (Rowing, San Diego)–Francia collected a pair of gold medals at the World Rowing Championships in Poznan, Poland. The resident of the Olympic Training Center added the Women’s Pairs title to the United States’ Eight victory earlier and with pairs partner Erin Cafaro of Modesto became the first two-time champs since 2001. Francia was a member of the gold-medal winning U.S. Eight in the 2008 Olympics.
RITA HANSCOMB (Master’s Track)–Was selected Athlete of the Week by USA Track and Field after winning five individual gold medals at the 2009 Masters Athletics Championships in Lahti, Finland. Competing in the 55-59 class, Hanscomb won the heptathlon, 80-meter hurdles, long jump, pole vault and 300-meter hurdles. She set an age group record in the heptathlon, scoring 6,382 points, winning six of seven events and finishing more than 2,000 points ahead.
HOWIE KNODT (Senior Golf)–The Chula Vista resident continued to dominate Southern California senior events, winning the Senior SCGA Match Play Championship at Sandpiper in Goleta. Knodt also won the SCGA Senior Amateur.
HARRY RUDOLPH, III (Golf)–Although it has been more than 10 years since La Jolla’s Rudolph has won a major tournament, he obliterated the field in the 77th San Diego City Amateur, shooting a record 11-under par 205 for 54 holes. Rudolph’s 1-over 73 at Torrey Pines South, combined with a 5-under 67 on Balboa and 7-under 65 at Torrey North erased the record 9-under set by Pat Duncan (1998) and Bryan Gorman (1986). Leading by nine strokes heading into the final round, Rudolph bested former La Costa Canyon High and current UCLA junior Connor Driscoll by six strokes.
High School
BLAIR LEWIS (Golf, Francis Parker)—The co-captain of the Lancers golf team captured the Toyota Tour Cup Series at Sycuan when she fired a two-over par 146 in the 36-hole, two-day tournament. The Parker junior, one of the area’s top performers on the SCPGA Junior Tour, shot a steady 74-72-146 to win by a stroke over Thousand Oaks’ Lauren Diaz-Yi.
TONY WOLTERS (Baseball, Rancho Buena Vista)—Wolters dazzled a record crowd of 8,027 fans in the seventh annual Aflac All-American High School Baseball Classic at PETCO Park. Wolters was named MVP after hitting a game-tying triple in the bottom of the ninth inning as the West rallied to tie the East 4-4 in 10 innings. Wolters, who also played brilliantly in the field, making the defensive play of the game, collected two of the West’s five hits.
Posted on September 8, 2009 by Christian Deleon
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