Empire notes: Santa Rosa grad Morgan Bertsch wins top Big West honors

Morgan Bertsch, the senior hoops star who has rewritten the record books for UC Davis women's basketball, has been named the Big West Player of the Year. Bertsch, a Santa Rosa High grad and The Press Democrat's All-Empire co-Player of the Year in 2013, owns the Aggies' career scoring record, as well as the blocks record. She was just named Big West player of the week after averaging more than 25 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots in the Aggies' two road games. It's the sixth time this season she's grabbed that honor, tying yet another record. She's won that award nine times in all and for kicks won it in track for her high-jump exploits in 2017.

Carter makes a splash

And in related Aggies news, how often can this possibly happen? While Bertsch was winning the top hoops honor, Kirsten Carter, a freshman on the UC Davis track and field team - and also a SRHS grad - was winning athlete of the week honors in track. Carter earned her first athlete of the week nod after running to second-place finishes in both the 100- and 200-meter races at the Cal Opener on March 2. Carter ran a 11.88 and 24.46 in the 100 and 200 meters, respectively, setting the fastest Big West marks of the young season.

Puma sets course record

Maria Carrillo junior Tom Anderson is the new owner of the course record on Oakmont Golf Club's east course. Anderson, who plays for the Pumas, shot a 57 - six under par - thanks to six birdies and 12 pars on March 6. It was the best score, by two strokes, ever recorded.

Puma in print

Spotted: Alia Gray's byline in Runner's World magazine. The 2007 Maria Carrillo grad who went on to run at Chico State, where she was the CCAA Runner of the Year as a senior, penned a piece in the latest issue of the magazine tackling how to bounce back from injury. Gray finished ninth at the USA Track and Field 15K Championships in Florida Saturday with a time of 52:27.

Andokem breaks more basketball records at SSU

Ugochi Anudokem earned All-CCAA first team honors for the Sonoma State women's basketball team while breaking two more school records. Anudokem, a junior who prepped at Homestead High in San Jose, broke Jann Thorpe's single-season rebound record of 318, finishing the year with 329. She also broke Thorpe's season double-double record of 16. Anudokem finished with 17 double-doubles on the season. The Seawolves finished 11-15 overall and 9-13 in conference.

Kiech leads Seawolves in final game of season

Cardinal Newman grad and Sonoma State junior Kylie Kiech led all scorers with 19 points in the Seawolves' final basketball game of the season when they fell 66-59 to Cal Poly Pomona. Kiech, who was The Press Democrat's All-Empire player of the year in 2015, averaged nearly 11 points and four rebounds per game on the season.

Bear Cubs swim to 2nd place

The Santa Rosa Junior College men's and women's swim teams both took second place at the Riverside City College Invitational Friday and Saturday. Sophomore Alex Langley, who graduated from Summerfield Waldorf, won the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke for the women, while Reilly Clarkson from Santa Rosa High won the 200-yard individual medley and Katie Morrison, another Santa Rosa grad, won the 100-yard backstroke. The Bear Cubs also won the 200-yard medley relay, the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 400-yard medley relay.

On the men's side, sophomore Mark Sidorenko, who hails from Kazakhstan, won three individual events: the 500-yard freestyle, 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard freestyle. Sophomore Novato High grad Julian Schiano Dicola doubled with wins in the 500-yard freestyle and 400-yard individual medley. Freshman Cameron Flood, who prepped at Maria Carrillo, won the 1,650-yard freestyle. The Bear Cubs won the 200-yard free and 200-yard medley relays.

Haley heading to Big Apple

Montgomery High senior Leah Haley is signed to run for NYU in the fall. Haley, who finished ninth in the CIF Division 3 Cross Country Championships in the fall, led the Vikings to two first-place relay finishes (4-x-800 and 4-x-1,600) and a second (1,600-meter sprint medley) at the North Coast Track Extravaganza Saturday. Last season she posted the seventh-fastest times in the Redwood Empire in the 3,200 meters and 800 meters and the 8th fastest in the 1,600 meters.

Vogel to be a Charger

Analy grad and Santa Rosa Junior College football player Spencer Vogel is signed to play football for NAIA program Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa in the fall. Vogel earned second-team All-Empire honors as a senior at Analy and was on the Bear Cubs' 2016-17 roster. The Chargers compete in the Great Plains Athletic Conference.

You can reach staff columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com or Twitter @benefield.