White Commits to UC-Davis; Armstead, Who Knows?

One of the nicest young men you'd ever want to meet has one of the strongest kicking legs to ever come from an Elk Grove-area high school. Pleasant Grove High School placekicker/punter Marcus White emailed the Citizen to announce he will sign a National Letter-of-Intent to play for Coach Bob Biggs at UC-Davis, the same school where his father played.

PG's Marcus White signing with the Aggies

"I am excited to work with Coach Biggs for one year before he retires as he was my dad's position coach when he played for UC Davis back in the early 80's," White wrote. 


White averaged more than 41 yards a punt last season for the Sac-Joaquin Section runner-ups and scored 107 points on 95 PAT's and four field goals.


All Elk Grove-area football players will officially sign their letters next Weds., Feb. 1 at 4:30 p.m. at the Trigg Building. The big question right now is where White's big teammate, lineman Arik Armstead will play his college football.


He has told Joe Davidson at the Bee that he is going to host in-home meetings with schools such as Cal, Auburn, Alabama, USC and Notre Dame. Plus, according to Davidson, Armstead will make his decision official on Feb. 1.


That could mean that the 6-8, 285-pounder could be the star of the show at the Trigg Building that afternoon. With White's commitment, I count 12 EGUSD student/athletes that will sign their LOI that afternoon.

Spaulding To Drive In Big Race In Arizona

Kiel Spaulding

TUCSON, Ariz. —Fifteen-year-old Kiel Spaulding of Elk Grove will drive for Phil Giebler Racing in the opening round of the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas Friday through Sunday (Jan. 27-29) at the Musselman Honda Circuit of Kart Racing.

It will be the initial event for Spaulding with Giebler’s team. Spaulding finished fourth in the Rotax Grand Nationals to qualify for the world championship Grand Finals last November at the Al Anin Circuit in the United Arab Emirates. Spaulding was the youngest driver in the Senior division and finished 29^th in the feature.

“My expectations for this event are like every event I show up, to finish first,” Spaulding said. “The Rotax Worlds last year made me a 100 percent better driver and I feel I can apply all that I learned here in America. I’ve raced against Phil or Phil’s team for a long team and they seem to run a very nice program.”

Spaulding was runner-up in the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas in the Junior division in 2010 with two wins. 

The Gatorz Challenge of the Americas is a three-round, six-event competition that is part of the path to qualifying for the Grand Finals in Kart Racing.

Owned by the 2007 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year, Phil Giebler Racing is based in Orange, Calif., and competes nationally at the highest level of karting in the United States. 

Results From Tim Brown Wrestling Tournament

Folsom’s wrestling team grabbed the team title last weekend at the Tim Brown Memorial Wrestling Tournament held at Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento. Elk Grove was the only local team to finish in the top ten. They were fifth.

Full Brackets Of Tim Brown Tournament

Folsom’s Connor Pollock won the 126-pound title and six other Bulldog wrestlers placed in the big event. Elk Grove was led by 170-pounder Scott Votino, who won his weight classification.  Josh Letuligasenoa was fourth at 220 pounds. Heavyweight Watson Tautuiaki placed seventh.

Oak Ridge wrestler Keaton Subjeck won the title at 160 pounds. Sheldon’s top finisher was heavyweight Sam Alnassiri who was sixth.

Cosumnes Oaks, Laguna Creek, Monterey Trail and Pleasant Grove also entered wrestlers in the Brown Tournament.

Elk Grove's Scott Votino, who placed first at 170 pounds (Dave Clarke, photo)

Elk Grove also sent wrestlers to an event in Albany last weekend and placed eighth in the team standings. Jaharee Taylor won the heavyweight division while Sunny Jackson was second in his weight group and Kaleb Vetterli finished fourth.

The California Wrestler website ranks Elk Grove 18^th in the state. Folsom is ranked 15^th and Vacaville fifth. Individually, the Herd's Martin Ramirez is now the third-ranked 132-pounder. Letuligasenoa is now ranked #6 at 220.

Friday's Results

Boys' Basketball

Delta Valley Conference 

MONTEREY TRAIL 64, DAVIS 61 (big win for the Mustangs. Davis had been averaging more than 80 points a game)

FRANKLIN 65, ELK GROVE 59 (Theo Johnson had 21 for the Wildcats. Good showing by the Herd against a very good Franklin team)

GRANT 61, LAGUNA CREEK 53 (21 points for the Cardinals' Ogalue)

Delta River League

PLEASANT GROVE 58, FOLSOM 56 (Hayes 19 points and Thames 15 in a surprisingly close game in Folsom)

SHELDON 88, PONDEROSA 67 (Dakarai Allen had 24 points)

JESUIT 61, OAK RIDGE 43

Girls' Basketball

Delta Valley Conference

FRANKLIN 53, ELK GROVE 29 (see my earlier post)

MONTEREY TRAIL 55, DAVIS 47

Delta River League

PLEASANT GROVE 71, FOLSOM 44

SHELDON 67, PONDEROSA 43 (Burgos scored 24. See Jon Gudel's feature on her in Friday's Citizen)

OAK RIDGE 47, ST. FRANCIS 41 (OT)

Other scores: BRADSHAW CHRISTIAN 51, VACAVILLE CHRISTIAN 44

Podcast - Carlee Gray

Elk Grove High School's girls basketball team won only five games all of last year. They are much improved this season thanks to the steady play of senior Carlee Gray. 

I talked to her following Friday's loss to Franklin where she was "held" to 13 points, four under her season average, about the team and how the season has gone thus far.

I opened our conversation with a reference to George Washington University where she has already signed a national letter-of-intent to play softball next season. Click on the arrow above to listen to our podcast.

Franklin Defense Stunts Elk Grove Shooting

It may have been good defense or it may have been bad shooting, but whatever it was Franklin’s girls basketball team won its first Delta Valley Conference game of the year by defeating Elk Grove, 53-29, Friday night at the Wildcats’ gym.

In winning its eighth game overall the Wildcats (8-11, 1-2 DVC) managed to hold the conference’s leading scorer Carlee Gray to 13 points, five under her season average.

Buck Martinez To Speak Feb.11

Probably the most accomplished baseball player ever to come out of Elk Grove, Buck Martinez, will speak at the Elk Grove High School Baseball Booster's Crab Feed on Sat. Feb. 11 at the SES Hall. Tickets are $45 and available at the high school or at www.leaguelineup.com/herdbaseball.

Martinez played professionally for the Milwaukee Brewers and was a catcher on the "Harvey Wallbangers" team that played in the 1983 World Series. He went on to manage the Toronto Blue Jays and the USA Olympic baseball team.

Currently, he's an announcer with TNT Sports.

Elk Grove Womens' Basketball Special Event

Elk Grove High's Womens' Basketball program is putting on a fundraiser and a great opportunity for boys and girls ages 8-12. The Lady Herd program along with the Above the Rim Basketball Program, and AND-1 Basketball Players, will be holding a FREE basketball camp for boys and girls ages 8-12 at Elk Grove High February 5th at 5:00pm. Each camper will receive a Free T-shirt as well. To Register your child for the camp go to www.abovetherimbasketball.com


After the camp they will be having a basketball game featuring the AND-1 basketball players, White Shadow, King Koopa, and Posterboy along with others against some alumni from Elk Grove High at 7:00pm. The tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children who attend the camp. During the game we will be also selling raffle tickets for a chance to win $10,000 if your make a Half Court Shot.

This is a great experience for young students with a great message behind it.

Iese To UCLA, Armstead Undecided

My friend Joe Davidson of the Sacramento Bee has been all over the football recruiting trail the past few days and last night he posted that Sheldon's big tight end/defensive end Nate Iese will sign Feb. 1 with UCLA and its new head coach Jim Mora. Read his story at http://blogs.sacbee.com/preps/archives/2012/01/sheldon-tight-e.html

To quote Joe's story:

He took a recent recruiting trip to the campus in Los Angeles, saw the Rose Bowl, soaked up the academic appeal and continued his good rapport with assistant coach Angus McClure, the former Sacramento State standout lineman and assistant coach.

"I'm really excited," Iese said. "I'm glad I was able to make this decision. They've been recruiting me since the beginning. I really like Coach Angus. He's very good at what he does. You can tell some coaches come and recruit and treat it as a job. Angus takes pride in what he does with recruiting and that really impacted me. He really stood out."

When I was covering the Sheldon/Jesuit basketball game last Friday I saw Nate talking to a coach from Nebraska and one from Nevada after the game. Iese has also had talks with Washington.

Davidson has also talked recently with Arik Armstead's parents who have said that the big Pleasant Grove lineman will make up his mind on the Feb. 1 Letter-of-Intent signing date.  A source at the school told me that Armstead is finished with high school (he has good grades) and the football/basketball programs at Notre Dame, Auburn and Cal already had him enrolled in classes this spring. But, now that probably isn't a road Arik will travel.

Older brother Armond, who didn't play this past season because of injury at USC, has apparently gone back to school there. He apparently traveled to Auburn with Arik flirting with the thought he could transfer there and play one year with him. That probably won't happen.

The Elk Grove Unified School District always does a big Letter-of-Intent signing session at the Trigg Building on Feb. 1 every year. We could see as many as 15 student/athletes there officially inking their decisions. 

We won't know which letter Armstead will ink. I will predict the FedEx guy will be waiting at the door ready to ship those documents back to the colleges in the overnight shipment.

Wednesday's Games

Girls' Basketball

BROOKSIDE CHRISTIAN 64, FRANKLIN 61



Brookside Christian 20 20 15 9 –  64
Franklin                  16 14 18 13 – 61


BC–Houston 9, Grigsby 7, Gabriel 18, Smith 4, Tucker 19, Vaughn 7. F–Chan 3, Signey 2, Yusufu 3, Jordan 6, Bedford 4, Wheeler 13, Materelli 24, Perez 6

BRADSHAW CHRISTIAN 49, ENCINA 9


Bradshaw Christian  28 3  8 10 – 49
Encina                           2 0  0 7  – 9

BC–Jones 5, Bean 16, Barnes 8, Ketterling 14, Irons 3, Lopez 3. E–Smith 1, Clark 6, Hunt 2.

Wrestling Duals

FRANKLIN 70, LAGUNA CREEK 6


106–Devisscher by forfeit; 113–Kobliska pinned Ballesteros; 120–Ramos by forfeit; 128–Rios pinned Hippolito; 132–Borges pinned Roxas; 138–Haq pinned Kelly; 145–Dimano major dec. Morrar, 9–0; 152–Sloane pinned Smith; 160–King dec. Hang, 10-3; 170–Harper pinned Galvin; 182–Moreno pinned by Maestretti; 195–Justin pinned Trunnel; 220–Arvealo dec. Marin, 6–2; 285–Hecht by forfeit.

MONTEREY TRAIL 71, GRANT 16


106–Ortiz by forfeit; 113–Clemmens by forfeit; 120–Nguyen pinned Bailey; 128–McAuliffe pinned by Jervonta; 132–Bernhard major dec. by Jay; 138–Ubaldo by forfeit; 145–Ciadrusis by forfeit; 152–Batoon tech. fall Geberado; 160–Gomez pinned Rafael; 170–Gurrerro pinned Thomas; 182–Niazi pinned Nick; 195–Albarron by forfeit; 220–Ward by forfeit; 285–Double forfeit.

Tuesday Night Basketball

Boys
COSUMNES OAKS 84, GALT 34

Cosumnes Oaks 21 25 25 13 – 84
Galt                    12  8  6     8 – 34

CO–R. Reed 4, Ross 7, Trillo 14, Gonzalvo 7, McCovery 11, Estacio 5, Foster 10, L. Reed 13, Hamilton 3, Stallworth 2, Van Dyke 8. G–Barron 7, Rudnick 5, Parra 3, Houghtaling 2, Perez 9, Lubich 4, Whitley 4.

ENCINA 55, BRADSHAW CHRISTIAN 46 

New Tenant Coming To Former Grand Slam Location

Grand Slam Batting Cages was for many years the place young baseball and softball players hung out to sharpen their skills, play a little basketball and look at the new gear that owners Darin Boyd and Scot Maynard sold in their pro shop. A few years back they closed the popular sports location because of rising rent prices.

Now, Charlie Zamora, who as a child spent many hours in Grand Slam preparing for baseball season, will move his Warriorz Crossfit exercise business into the 4700 square foot facility on Elk Grove-Florin Road, just south of Elk Grove Blvd. I sat down with Zamora, enthused to be relocating from his current location on Sheldon Road, to a spot that was special to him.

One of his exercise instructors is former Elk Grove and Fresno State linebacker Marcus Riley. We caught up with him and talked about his past three football seasons with Las Vegas of the UFL.

Detrick, Team USA Wins Gold At Waterski Championships

The U.S. World University Water Ski Team won the gold medal and three U.S. team members combined to win seven medals at the 2012 FISU World University Water Ski Championships, Jan. 12-15, in San Bernardo, Chile. For scores, click here.

Members of the U.S. World University Water Ski Team were: Brian Detrick (Elk Grove, Calif.), Saint Mary's College; Alex Lauretano (Windermere, Fla.), Louisiana-Monroe; Tyler Lorenz (Oconomowoc, Wis.), Wisconsin; Lauren Morgan (Odessa, Fla.), Florida Southern; Adam Pickos (Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.), Louisiana-Monroe; and Dylan Schaffer (Owens Cross Roads, Ala.), Alabama.

The United States tallied 8,043.70 points in winning the gold medal in the 17-team field. The Czech Republic (6,588.19 points) earned the silver medal and Chile (6,549.94 points) earned the bronze medal.

Brian Detrick, right, with father Steve and mother Jan

In men's slalom, Pickos tied for first with Miranda, each scoring 3 buoys at 39-1/2 feet off. Miranda secured the gold medal in the subsequent run-off by scoring 2 buoys at 39-1/2 feet off to Pickos' ½-buoy at 38 feet off. Sedlmajer earned the bronze medal with score of 2 buoys at 39-1/2 feet off. Detrick placed eighth with a score of 2-1/2 buoys at 38 feet off and Schaffer finished 12th with a score of 3-1/2 buoys at 32 feet off.

Levin Opens 2012 At Sony Open

Elk Grove's Spencer Levin opened the 2012 PGA Tour season last weekend with a 23rd place finish at the Sony Open in Honolulu. He fired a six-under-par 274, seven strokes behind the winner Johnson Wagner.
Levin picked up a paycheck for $47,575. He shot a two-over-par 72 in Sunday's final round.

Last season, Levin's third on the tour, he ended up 31st in the money list.

The tour this week comes to California for the Humana Challenge in La Quinta. Levin will be in the field.

Spencer Levin

MLK Weekend Results

Franklin High School scored a big 54-51 win over Deer Valley Monday in the Martin Luther King Classic at Cal's Haas Pavilion. Franklin got a huge game from 6-2 junior forward Victor Rustin, who not only scored a team-high 15 points but he helped hold Deer Valley's 6-9 post Marcus Lee to just four points. 

"He's a high-energy and team guy so it's nice to see him have such a big game," said Franklin head coach Jesse Formaker told Maxpreps.Com. "This is a big win for us. We got better as the game progressed."

It game showcased evenly matched teams as neither squad led by more than six points and the score was tied after the second and third quarters. Deer Valley took its biggest lead 48-42 early in the fourth quarter.

But Franklin battled back and took its first lead of the fourth quarter 52-51 on two free throws by Kelton Newman with 50.1 seconds left. After Deer Valley missed a layup, Rustin took an inbounds pass from Newman to score a layup with 17 seconds remaining.

Franklin (14-4) got 14 points by Darin Johnson and 12 by Theo Johnson.  ...


Laguna Creek was defeated by Hiram Johnson, 59-52, Monday.

Bradshaw Christian's girls defeated Pitman, 49-42, as Ashley Jones scored 24 points for the Pride.

Wrestling - Elk Grove's Martin Ramirez and Josh Letuligasenoa each earned second place medals last Friday at the Temecula Valley Invitational Tournament. At the Lloyd C Engel Tournament the Herd's 103-pounder Tristan Scott was named the most outstanding wrestler.

The Latest Recruiting News

Despite a national television audience, Pleasant Grove football player Arik Armstead did not use the setting of the U.S. Army’s All-American football game in San Antonio to announce his plans for college. The 6-8, 280-pound lineman did wear #99 and play defensive end for the victorious West squad as they defeated the East All-Stars, 24-12, a week ago Saturday.

The game, televised on NBC, has become a stage for the nation’s top high school recruits to play one final game as a prep star and, for many of the participants, announce their choice of college football programs. Grant’s Shaq Thompson during the game’s fourth quarter said he’s following his brother Syd and former Pacer teammates Vei Moala and Puka Lopa to Cal. Moala and Lopa will be sophomores this fall in Berkeley. The elder Thompson is now a reserve defensive back with the Denver Broncos.

Elk Grove’s Steven Moore, an offensive lineman, has also verbally committed to Cal.

Is It Really Baseball Season?

The Elk Grove Youth Baseball League (EGYBL) held its first day of tryouts on Saturday at Rau Park. There will be tryouts for those who did not attend this weekend on Jan. 21.

EGYBL’s counterpart, Laguna Youth Baseball (LYB), will have its tryouts Jan. 21 and 28 at Morse Park. EGYBL draws its participants from east of Highway 99 while LYB takes players who live west of the highway.

New this year for EGYBL is its “Prep” Division, intended for boys ages 13 and 14. They will play on diamonds with 80-foot base paths and the pitching mound 54 feet from home plate. According to EGYBL’s president Dan Woodward, the new division is an attempt to help boys not physically able to play on the regulation 90-foot diamonds.

The 1947 Okmulgee (Okla.) High School Bulldogs

I am working on a very special project. I could use some help from anyone, particularly those in Okmulgee, Okla., who may know anyone or they themselves attended Okmulgee High School.

As some background, a couple days prior to the passing of my father, Dick Hull, on April 19, 2011 at the age of 81, Dad asked me to write a book about his most proudest accomplishment, winning the Oklahoma State football championship in 1947. So this project is something I'd like to complete this year to fulfill what I consider as my Dad's final request.

The Bulldogs did lose a couple games that year, yet still qualified for the post-season. Interestingly, in the opening round of the Class A playoffs, Okmulgee tied Wewoka, 7-7, but Okmulgee advanced because the Bulldogs had more penetrations into the "red zone", that is inside the 20-yardline. Starting left end Andy Musgrave, a childhood friend of Dad's, tells me Okmulgee got inside the 20 four times, as opposed to Wewoka's one. Yes, this was in the days before overtime.

A Tough Question

I was asked recently a question that has made me think:

As the nation approaches its 57th Presidential Election, we're asking the future leaders of this country, students, to define the single most important political issue in this election. Tell us not only what that issue is, but also tell us why and how you propose we come to a solution that benefits the majority?"


I don't think any of the candidates running for office have all the answers but one issue I find important to everyone is how involved government should be in our lives. If we get right down to the Constitutional guidelines for the federal government, it's pretty simple: protect and serve the United States.


 It doesn't say anywhere to line people's pockets with money. It doesn't say anywhere to provide healthcare. It doesn't say anywhere to provide jobs. It doesn't say anywhere to send troops overseas or give other countries money.


The federal government, and really the state governments, too, is to provide a military to protect us and provide for an infrastructure so that commerce and society can operate. It's a pretty simple objective.


What concerns me and where the big debate exists is how involved the government should be. Too many people want the government to give them a job, provide them with money when they don't have one and to enforce some ridiculous laws.


I think the one thing we all have to agree upon is that government cannot any longer be the source of solutions. Let's allow our free enterprise to do that. Let's allow business to flourish without government intervening or asking for too much money. 


The presidential candidate that expresses smaller government frankly is the one we all should support, whoever they are and whatever party from which they belong.


This is an official blog entry for the YourLocalSecurity.com Blogging Scholarship. If selected, I'll receive $1000 towards my college expenses in 2012. This scholarship is sponsored by YourLocalSecurity.com