Year in review: 2011′s top five sports stories

No 1: Union Mine girls volleyball wins state title

The narrative on the 2011 Lady Diamondbacks was taking shape as it hit the home stretch: talented, scrappy and defensive-minded, but unable to distance itself from Sierra Valley Conference rival Vista del Lago and facing an uncertain postseason road ahead.

Then the switch flipped.

It what could be the most improbable, yet impressive, playoff runs El Dorado County has ever witnessed by a prep sports team, Union Mine defied all the odds in blazing a trail right to the top of Division IV to win the CIF State Volleyball Championship at Concordia University in Irvine.

The D'backs' 25-18, 27-29, 25-19, 25-18 victory over three-time defending state champion La Jolla Country Day cemented the team's place in history as the only county team to win a state banner.

As the seventh seed for the Sac-Joaquin section playoffs, the D'backs were expected to reach the section title match at UC Davis and did — taking on and defeating Bear River in four games.

Union Mine grabbed the top seed for the Northern California playoffs and home court advantage. Winning out, which the D'backs ultimately did, gave them a clear path to the state finals — a task easier said than done considering Union Mine faced a competitive field dotted with private school power houses.

The D'backs had an easy opener in ousting North Section runnerup Yreka 25-5, 25-8, 25-17 for the school's first-ever NorCal victory. T he competition increased 10-fold as Atherton's Sacret Heart Prep rolled into town and slinked out on the short end of Union Mine's 23-25, 25-20, 25-22, 20-25, 15-6 five-set thriller.

In the NorCal final, nothing stopped a hot D'backs' squad which stunned Soquel 25-21, 16-25, 25-23, 25-12 to reach the state finals.

Though Union Mine was undersized the whole way through, nothing stood taller than the size of its heart. The girls relied on Yates' direction, each other and a never-give-up attitude all the way to the end.

The D'backs' big hitter was Mikayla Tucker who rose to the challenge and saved her best for last. The University of Fresno, Pacific-bound senior wore down the opposition, mainly from the back row, with a combination of power, placement and finesse.

Union Mine's defensive leader was camera-shy Madison Berridge who gutted out an assortment of injuries/ailments to sparkle in the back row. Setter Lea Howton ran the team as the setter, assisting Tucker and her feeds on one-sets from Jacqueline Swarbrick were lethal in the playoffs.

Swarbrick's steely determination and presence at the net was huge as was the above-the-net play of Sarah Phillis whose best performance came against Country Day.

Malia Conzales was rock-steady in her role as was sophomore Andrea Barnes whose left-handed swings complemented Tucker's hitting. Rounding out the team in support roles were Savannah Rye, Amy Pedretti, Jordan Buxton and Ashley Reese.

No. 2 CIF State wrestling

The pinnacle of individual prep sports, the most difficult to obtain, is winning the top spot at the CIF State Wrestling Championship at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield. The next is being one of eight medalist per weight class. Simply qualifying is a major accomplishment.

El Dorado county had two wrestlers, Union Mine's Cody Tow and Oak Ridge's Vince Waldhauser, compete on center stage for a state title last March in front of 18.900 fans. Both finished as runnerup to take the silver medal while Trojan Keaton Subject took eighth.

Tow's medal was extra special as the senior hit a milestone in becoming the school's first wrestler to medal all four years, the county's first-ever, and just one of 23 ever to do it in the entire state.

Ironically, the wrestler Tow lost to in the 130-pound championship bout, Selma's Nick Pena, also made that list.

"Four times ... it was a great career," said Tow. who was sixth as a 119-pound freshman, seventh as a sophomre and sixth in 2010 at 125 pounds.

Waldhauser (160) had a deja vú experience in his finals bout — facing for the second straight year hometown favorite Bryce Hammond of Bakersfield High. The senior Trojan graduated as a three-time state medalist — the school's ony grappler to do that — after his two second-place finishes and a seventh in 2009 at 145s.

Tow is wrestling at Cal Poly while Waldhauser competes for the University of Virginia.

No 3: D'back boy snowboarders take state championship

The D'backs' victory at the CNISSF championships last March at Northstar didn't have that win by a nose feeling to it but the meaning was just the same.

A rule violation by Colfax resulting in 10 lost points stripped the Falcons of first place and handed the 2011 state banner to an unsuspecting Union Mine squad at the awards ceremony. The announcement caught the boys and coach Nathan Foltz off guard — Foltz' calculated numbers didn't cover the spread — as the D'back contingent was prepared to accept second place.

"I told the kids we were in second (place) and when Colfax was announced at that spot my instant reaction was 'did we get fourth?' I must have butchered the results and you could see every one's morale and hearts drop. Something wasn't right, there was a lot of confusion and I was worried I'd have to tell them we didn't 'podium.' But when we were announced at No. 1 the kids exploded," Foltz said.

Union Mine's win was poetic justice after its second place finish to El Dorado in the South I Division by a mere point. The team was led all season by Ian Diem, Stephen Tindell, David Michaels, Dylan Staples, Carter Price, Victor Stefan and Alex Ward.

Staples and Diem took 1-2 in the slalom while Price, just a sophomore, turned in two, top-three finishes. Diem was second on the all state team; Staples, fifth; Michaels, sixth; and Price, ninth.

The state banner was the D'backs' second after taking third in 2010.

No 4: Bullring Nationals

Individuals and team accomplishments aren't the only ones holding sway with respect to best-of lists — events can too. One of the biggest to grace our area was last July's two-day Bullring Nationals hosted at Placerville Speedway.

The brainchild of Placerville Speedway promoters Alan and Diane Handy, the inaugural Bullring Nationals brought national-level competition to the 46 year-old dirt track for the first time in more than two decades and featured the nation's best 36o sprint car drivers to create quite a buzz amongst area racing enthusiasts.

"Placerville Speedway has always had great support from the community and the businesses in the area and that's one of the reasons it's been so successful," Alan said. "This is a big undertaking for us but it's going to bring something back to this community that it hasn't seen in many years."

With a purse of $6,000, additional seating was installed to accommodate the expected big crowd to what was promoted as the biggest event in the history of Placerville Speedway.

No. 5: Ponderosa's boys ski team is state's second best

For the second straight year, the Bruin boys took second in the state. Up against a tough, competitive field of  teams vying for the top spot, Ponderosa came in 33 points shy of defending champ Shasta and a point above third place.

The Bruins' boy ski program has steadily risen in the last five years and has overtaken El Dorado as the best team in the South I Division.

"It took everyone to do this. We practiced all year to beat El Dorado in our division and then gave it our all at states," Ponderosa's Nolan Leupp said.

The Bruins featured Leupp, Reid Lambres, Alex Matzat, Michael Duhain and Andrew Olson.

"It was defonitely a good finish for us and we're happy with the result and how the team and individuals did," Lambres said.

Lambres was No. 5 and Leupp, 7, on the all state team.