With fall CIF playoffs behind them, some athletes at Point Loma High School (PLHS) find themselves exchanging uniforms for winter sports, while others poise to represent their school in athletic competition for the first time. Seasons have begun for boys\u2019 and girls\u2019 teams on the soccer pitch and basketball courts, while girls on the water polo team are jumping into chilly pools. Perhaps the most unusual development is taking place in the Pointer wrestling room, where coach Phil Moore has witnessed a rebirth of the once-mighty sport. When Moore took over the program three years ago, only three boys turned out for the team. Now, Moore is overseeing a turnout of 45 athletes, including two girls who Moore said are putting opposing boys in some serious pain. Tournaments in all sports are being held over the two-week school holiday, allowing coaches to prepare their teams for league competition that begins next month. Here is a roundup of the six Pointer winter teams: BOYS\u2019 BASKETBALL<\/b> Head coach:\u00a0Chris Brisco (fifth year) Last year: 9-14, 6-6 Central League (fourth place) CIF playoffs:\u00a0 Did not qualify Top returners:\u00a0 Cody Harvey, Nate George, Ryan Gardocki, Marquis Clifford, Christian Heyward Notable newcomers:\u00a0 Kohl Meyers, Dan Enright, Iontez Wright, Peter Busalacchi, Zac Wood Team strengths:\u00a0 “We have lots of good shooters, good balance and team speed which we hope will take us a long way,” Brisco said. GIRLS\u2019 BASKETBALL<\/b> Head coach:\u00a0Eric Brown (second year) Last year: 10-14, 6-6 Central League (fourth place) CIF playoffs:\u00a0 Lost in first round to West Hills 69-23 Top returners:\u00a0 Jacque Weymann, Justine Otsuka, Nicole Tartre, Natalie Smith Notable newcomers:\u00a0Entire roster is returning, including eight seniors and one sophomore Team strengths: “We will have a very good offense. We rebound well. Everyone on the team will get a lot of playing time and we also have good team chemistry,” Brown said. BOYS\u2019 SOCCER<\/b> Head coach:\u00a0 Elliott Savitz (first year) Last year:\u00a010-7-6, 5-3-3 Eastern League (third place) CIF playoffs:\u00a0 Beat West Hills 5-0 in first round, lost to Mt. Carmel 2-0 in quarterfinals Top returners:\u00a0Oscar Casillas, Ruben Diaz, Joe Romano Notable newcomers:\u00a0Kenny Ortega, Noah Bunton, Devon Patane, Eddie Gallardo, Pedro Basaca Team strengths: “We are definitely good in possession. We\u2019re able to score a lot of goals and we\u2019re very, very technical. Everyone is comfortable with the ball and we have fast players on the outside. Our youth is a strength \u2014 they are capable now and will only get better,” Savitz said. GIRLS\u2019 SOCCER<\/b> Head coach:\u00a0John Murphy (fourth year) Last year:\u00a08-11-3, 7-4-1 Eastern League (fourth place) CIF playoffs:\u00a0 Lost to Valhalla 1-0 in first round Top returners: Captains Megan O\u2019Beirne, Marie Laube, Carly Holly and Colleen O\u2019Brien; Erika Hanson, Veronica Perez and Lily Edwards Notable newcomers:\u00a0Graysen Choy, Jewell Roth, Veronica Perez Team strengths: “We\u2019ve got a balanced offense and defense, very strong senior leadership and good team chemistry. All the girls get along great,” Murphy said. GIRLS\u2019 WATER POLO<\/b> Head coaches:\u00a0Jerry Rich (12th year) and Jeff Hunt (fourth Year) Last year: 18-13, 1-5 Eastern League (fourth place) CIF playoffs:\u00a0 Beat El Capitan 6-3 in First Round, lost to Bishop\u2019s 16-2 in the Quarterfinals Top returners:\u00a0 Captains Sam Pugh and Lexi Bohlman; Arianna Conger, Monica Longworth, Carolina Saboya, Cristina Colloca Notable newcomers:\u00a0 Sydney Bohlman Team strengths: “The girls all depend on each other \u2014 there\u2019s nobody who is a big standout except for our goalie (Pugh). Everyone is on the same level and they help each other. And our defense, I would say, is a strength,” Rich said. WRESTLING<\/b> Head coach:\u00a0Phil Moore (third year) Last year:\u00a02-4 Eastern League (fourth place) CIF:\u00a0 No wrestlers qualified Top returners:\u00a0 Marty Gelenter, Duncan Swain, Sean Cruz, Christian Martinez Notable newcomers: Ryan Martinez, Elvira Gonzalez, Olga Hereer Team strengths: “In our first matches this year, we have beat some good schools by big scores. One of our girls (Gonzalez) pinned her opponent in her first match ever! The crowd went crazy! We\u2019ve got great heart and tremendous will,” Moore said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With fall CIF playoffs behind them, some athletes at Point Loma High School (PLHS) find themselves exchanging uniforms for winter sports, while others poise to represent their school in athletic competition for the first time. Seasons have begun for boys\u2019 and girls\u2019 teams on the soccer pitch and basketball courts, while girls on the water […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":280797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Pointer teams jump into winter sports","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11561,11553,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-280796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-peninsula-beacon","category-sports","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}