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Updated: December 25, 2024 @ 11:52 pm
It was an eventful calendar year for sports in San Clemente, filled with championships, Olympic medals, record-breaking performances and singular achievements.
We present some of the Top Moments in San Clemente Sports that made headlines in 2024:
MARKS WINS OLYMPIC GOLD: Coming off a world title at the WSL Finals in 2023, San Clemente resident Caroline Marks, 22, backed it up in 2024 by winning the Olympic gold medal in women’s surfing at the Paris Games, defeating Brazilian Tatiana Weston-Webb by 17 hundredths of a point in the final during the Olympic competition contested in Tahiti at legendary Teahuop’o.
San Clemente’s Griffin Colapinto also qualified for the Paris Olympics and was eliminated in the third heat in the men’s competition by Tahitian Kaui Vaast, who went on to win the gold.
BOYS BASKETBALL SETS SCHOOL RECORD: With junior guards Porter Hansen and Christian Fernandez and center Will Whidden leading the way, Landon Pluimer’s 2023-24 boys basketball team posted a school record with 24 wins, went 8-0 to win the South Coast League title and came within two points of reaching the CIF-SS semifinals.
The Tritons’ 24-6 season ended in heartbreaking fashion with a 61-59 loss to Santa Barbara High in the CIF-SS Division 3 playoffs.
YESKULSKY TWINS POWER GIRLS LACROSSE: Led by twin sisters Charlotte and Sophia Yeskulsky, San Clemente’s girls lacrosse team rolled to an 18-3 record in the spring of 2024, going undefeated in South Coast League play for the fourth consecutive season, outscoring their league foes, 136-48, in those eight games, to extend their league winning streak to 34 games (dating to April 16, 2019).
The Tritons won 11 games in a row going into the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs, including an upset of No. 1 Foothill, and defeated Huntington Beach, 13-3, in their playoff opener before being eliminated by Redondo Union.
As juniors, Charlotte Yeskulsky led the team with 88 goals and finished with 100 points; Sophia Yeskulsky had 86 goals and a team-high 105 points.
Senior goalie Kayla Jones starred in net, allowing 7.4 goals per game.
BOYS VOLLEYBALL DOMINANT: San Clemente High’s boys volleyball team was the personification of dominance during the 2023-24 season – with two notable, heartbreaking exceptions. The Tritons (27-8 overall) coasted through the South Coast League with a perfect 8-0 record and earned the No. 1 seed in the CIF-SS Division 3 playoffs, where they dropped just one set in four playoff matches while running their winning streak to 13 matches to reach the CIF Final against San Juan Capistrano neighbor St. Margaret’s.
Unfortunately for the Tritons, St. Margaret’s ended San Clemente’s impressive run with a tightly contested three-set victory in the May 11 Division 3 title game at Cerritos College. But as a CIF-SS Finalist, the Tritons earned qualification into the CIF State Regional playoffs, where they upset No. 1 seed Santa Margarita on the road, setting up a rematch with St. Margaret’s in the Division II Regional semifinals. But again, it was St. Margaret’s (34-5) prevailing in four sets.
TRITONS FOOTBALL: Despite finishing 6-6 during an up-and-down season, the San Clemente High football team made the playoffs by defeating Edison High, 21-17, in the final game of the regular season to finish in a three-way tie for second place in the Alpha League. Jaime Ortiz’s Tritons then traveled to La Verne and dominated Damien High, 42-7, in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 2 playoffs before being eliminated by undefeated Newbury Park, 24-13, in the quarterfinals.
Interestingly, Edison went on to win the CIF 1-A state title after losing to the Tritons. And Newbury Park went on to win the CIF-SS Division 2 title.
KOHL HOMECOMING HERO: As a member of San Clemente High’s Homecoming Court, senior Colin Kohl rode in the annual Homecoming parade down Avenida Del Mar on Sept. 20. Hours later, Kohl scored three touchdowns, including the game-winner with 1:42 left, in the Tritons’ 35-28 victory over Chino Hills at Thalassa Stadium. Homecoming hero, indeed.
BACK-TO-BACK STATE TITLES: With senior Brett Ephraim running the anchor leg, San Clemente High’s 4X800-meter relay team repeated as state champion at the 104th CIF State Track and Field Championships on May 25 in Clovis. Ephraim and teammates Pierce and Taj Clark and Jackson Brownell were clocked in a state-meet record of 7:38.07 to beat the rest of the field by two seconds and bested their prior year state title time of 7:38.59 with the same four runners.
The back-to-back state titles are the only two track titles in school history.
CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON FOR GIRLS BASKETBALL: Led by sophomores Reese Tremper and Ellie Anderson, Kerri Husbands’ 2023-34 girls basketball team won the South Coast League and finished 22-8 overall after a second-round loss to Rancho Christian High in the Division 2AA playoffs.
Tremper and Anderson both were first-team All-South Coast League selections. Freshmen Izzy Simms and Kiley Husbands received second-team league honors.
BOYS LACROSSE WINS SOUTH COAST LEAGUE TITLE: The Tritons’ boys lacrosse earned a share of the South Coast League title, their first since 2019, and took a six-game winning streak into the CIF-SS Division 2 playoffs. The Tritons (14-6 overall) earned the No. 2 seed in the playoffs and defeated Crean Lutheran, 7-6, in the first round before being eliminated by Agoura High.
Brady Fish led the team with 44 goals and added 17 assists for 61 points; Trey Ghyzel contributed 39 goals and 12 assists for 51 points.
SC SPORTS WALL OF FAME: Surfing pioneer Mary Lou Drummy, former National Team water polo player Jeremy Laster, and SCHS Athletics legend Tim Butler were the 30th, 31st and 32nd additions to the San Clemente Sports Wall of Fame during a May 18 ceremony at the San Clemente Aquatics Center at Vista Hermosa Sports Park.
Drummy was the first woman to judge both men’s and women’s international surfing competitions and has been the Western Surfing Association’s executive director for over 30 years. Laster was the CIF-SS water polo Player of the Year at SCHS, a three-time All-American at Stanford and played five years on the U.S. National Team, including during the 1996 Olympics. Butler has excelled as a player and coach at SCHS – the 1978 Triton Athlete of the Year, a member of the Triton Football Hall of Fame, and a 50-year career as cross country coach at Dana Hills and San Clemente, winning six state titles, seven CIF titles and 27 league titles.
WSL FINALS AT LOWER TRESTLES: The World Surf League Finals were contested at Lower Trestles in San Clemente on Sept. 6 for the fourth – and what might have been the last – time at our world-renowned surf break. Oceanside’s Caity Simmers outdueled Caroline Marks, San Clemente’s newly crowned Olympic gold medalist, in the decisive third heat of the women’s final to finish at the top of the Championship Tour. Hawaii’s John John Florence won the men’s world title.
The WSL world championships are moving in 2025 to Cloudbreak in Fiji, off the island of Tavarua
BOYS SOCCER BOYS SOCCER ROLLS ON: Coming off a CIF-SS Division 2 championship in 2022-23, San Clemente High’s 2023-24 boys soccer team once again dominated league play with a 7-0-1 record and 15-3-3 overall record. But the Tritons’ postseason ended much sooner than anticipated after a 4-3 loss to Del Norte High in a first-round CIF SoCal Division 1 game.
GIRLS WATER POLO WINS SOCAL DIVISION II Title: Led by junior Phoebe DeMoss, the San Clemente High girls water polo team went undefeated again in South Coast League play – the Tritons have not lost a league game since 2016 – en route to a 24-8 overall record, advancing to the Division I semifinals before their playoff run ended in loss to powerhouse JSerra.
But after that postseason exit, Logan Powell’s Tritons regrouped and went on to win the CIF SoCal Division II Championship by defeating Coronado High, Centennial High and Claremont High. DeMoss was a second-team All-County selection.
WRESTLER BERLYN DAVIS CAPS
STELLAR CAREER: Senior Berylyn Davis closed out a record-breaking career at San Clemente High by leading the Tritons’ girls wrestling team to a league championship, becoming the school’s first wrestler to win a CIF-SS weight divisional title at 145 pounds, also winning back-to-back CIF-SS Masters titles and capturing a bronze medal in the CIF State Championships.
SCHS GIRLS FLAG FOOTBALL: In San Clemente High’s inaugural season of girls flag football, Marc Popovich’s Tritons won five games in a row to advance to the CIF-SS Division 3 championship game before being stunned in the final seconds of a 33-32 loss to Troy High.
The Tritons finished 12-11-1, with three players earning All-CIF honors: senior quarterback Kirra Clavijo, senior linebacker/wide receiver Tenely Hill and freshman wide receiver Gigi Nacelli. SC
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