More versatility: Takata, Quach among the multi-sport student-athletes

Nate Takata warms up on the

driving range at Steele Canyon

before his CIF foursome

early Monday morning, May 19.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

I did a piece earlier in the year on Viking athletes who play more than one sport. A recent article I wrote had to do with a profile on Nico Bardaro, a La Jolla High sophomore who spans the range from football tight end to soccer goalie to volleyball front-line player.

I want to echo those words with a shout-out to Maddie Quach, a junior, who lettered in wrestling again the past winter, a golfer in the fall who also took part in the Viking softball team's 13-1 win over High Tech SD at home in the CIF Division 5 playoffs yesterday (May 21). She plays left field.

In addition, senior Nate Takata continues to amaze. He showed up at the CIF golf tourney Mon., May 19 (read my earlier entry on getting up at 5 a.m. to cover him and teammates Gabe Vargas and Justin Woods) to play on the first day of the two-day competition.

Takata, who I first heard of three years ago, when he was playing quarterback for the freshman football team, came to an interview on campus I conducted at the beginning of soccer season for an article I was doing for the La Jolla Village News. Coach Pilar Flores had chosen him as a rep for the team--he is a senior, and so versatile. He and captain Mateo Peniche, a soccer "lifer" (only sport he plays) did a great job in the interview, though it got pretty hilarious, as they reacted off the video screen in the Athletic Conference Room to each rotating image projected there of classmates playing football, baseball, volleyball, you name it. Quite a few off-the-cuff anecdotes about friends they know in class and on campus.

While he was golfing, Nate was starring concurrently for the Viking lacrosse team, which also qualified for the CIF playoffs. How do you do that, with one body, one set of arms, one set of legs? Is this guy human?!?

A recent addition to the multi-multi-sport group is junior Carson Diehl, who added sprinting (Sat., May 17, in the CIF Division 3 Finals at distant Valley Center High) to his bag of tricks, which already included football (safety/receiver) and basketball.

I'm sure there are others I could include in my recognition of "multi-sporters"--some I don't recognize by sight as I take photos, though if I checked closely by name on the rosters, I would be able to identify them.

One other mention: At the girls' lacrosse playoff last week, I saw field hockey coach Amanda Combs Warford, and called out, "Your stars are all out here": Pixie DeLeon in goal, Allison Hawthorne, Lily Mebust, Stella Perez, and others at positions on the field. The two sports share a lot in common.