The Davis Diamonds youth gymnastics team had success at both the Xcel State Championships and the Level 6-7 state championships recently.

Local standout Lainey Swanson won the Xcel Platinum beam gold and Serena Shimada took the Xcel Silver floor exercise gold at Del Oro High. Meanwhile at Folsom High, Davis qualified all four of its eligible gymnasts — Isabela Martinez, Chloe Chan, Marishke Pretorius and Sonia Sutton — for Regionals in Phoenix (Level 9) and Long Beach (Level 7).

Additionally, 10 of 11 Diamonds Xcel gymnasts qualified for their Regionals, also in Long Beach.

A Level 5 State Champion on floor, Pretorius started her quest for Level 7 Regionals with a fifth-place 9.325 in floor, while Sutton also tumbled well to take eighth (9.175).

Both gymnasts followed up with good vaults — Sutton with a 9.0 and Pretorius with a personal-best 8.8 — before each added season highs on bars.

Davis’ Vivian Lee, a state beam champion at Level 3, 4 and 5 who was competing in just her third Level 6 meet, earned fifth place for her 9.35 beam performance. She added a 9.05 on floor to total a 36.125 in the all-around.

Reyna Shauman’s powerful handspring vault earned the Diamond a 9.2 as part of a 35.225 all-around score. Scoring 9.0 or higher on three events for the first time, Isabel Lavallee placed sixth on beam and totaled 35.1 all-around, while Julia Miyamoto’s 9.1 on vault helped her to a 34.75 all-around.

Another local, Maeve Kelly vaulted to a 9.1, taking ninth there and on bars on her way to 34.6 all-around. Carmin Fisk’s steady beam earned her an eighth place on that event and she totaled 34.5 around, with teammate Katie Borowsky taking ninth on bars scoring 34.125 all-around.

Swanson became Xcel Platinum state beam champion with a sensational 9.5 and followed up with an excellent 9.05 for her floor exercise that lifted her to ninth all-around (35.475).

In the Xcel Gold session, Gabriela Caceres-Fernandez was steady on beam, earning a silver (9.4) to finish seventh all-around (35.4), with Kaelyn Perkins taking 18th all-around and Avital Schwarz and Maya Dhond gaining valuable experience.

Among the Xcel Silver performers, Shimada’s floor exercise stood out, earning a gold medal with her 9.25. She also took fourth on vault to tally a 35.7 all-around score and finish ninth.

Davis’ Veronica Roe took 17th all-around, Elisa Bourne’s 9.3 on bars was good for a bronze — she was 14th all-around— and Emma Hudson also performed well for the Diamonds.

In the Xcel Bronze session, local Kalea Cavins won a bronze on vault (9.275) and finished sixth all-around (36.6), while Ruby Adler vaulted to seventh (8.95) and took 12th all-around.

U13 girls lacrosse

The Davis Knights’ U13 girls lacrosse team played a pair of tough teams last weekend and competed well in losses to Walnut Creek (12-2) and Granite Bay (15-2).

First, against Walnut Creek, Davis goalie Stella Cardenas made 11 saves, while goals came from Amara Higgins and Samantha Koeberer.

Cardenas posted 14 more saves against Granite Bay, with Koeberer scoring twice.

Throughout the weekend, the Knights passed well and played tough defense.

U15 boys lacrosse

In a matchup of top-five Northern California boys lacrosse teams, the U15 Davis Knights scored in the final seconds to top Novato on Saturday at Playfields Park.

Down 3-0 after one quarter, the locals got a goal from Sam McGlynn in the second period to go into halftime down 4-1.

The third quarter belonged to Davis (9-1) with four unanswered tallies, two of which came from Justin Qvistgaard. Corbin Russo also had one of the Knights goals, then Jordan Murga gave the locals a 5-4 lead.

After Novato tied the contest, Murga scored the game-winner with 30 seconds remaining.

Helping the Davis offense keep the pressure on were Sean Smith, Griffin Stone, Ryan Fisk, Evan Long, Chris Plasterer, Lucas Kinder, Michael Barr, Zach Leaver, Nick Mahoney and Nick Hicks, while Cole Hein had 14 saves in front of the Knights goal.

Stanly Topete, Kyle Difuntorum, Charlie Whitcomb, Logan McNamara and Max Woodland played tough defense for the locals.

U13 boys lacrosse

The Davis Knights’ U13 boys lacrosse team scored nine goals on consecutive days this weekend to post a pair of convincing victories.

In beating the Gold Country Stampede, 9-3, on Saturday the locals took over in the second half after the game was tied 1-1 at the break. Scoring from Nathan Ceppos (hat trick), Keaton Massey (two), Lang Bledsoe, Niko Natsoulas and Taylor Vaughn — who also had an assist — made the Davis offensive dangerous, while Knights Goalie Gerad Christian-Lichtenhan made five saves.

On Sunday at home, the locals raced out to a 6-1 halftime lead and never let up in a 9-2 win over Sierra Foothills. Massey scored four times on four shots and Ceppos added another hat trick for Davis, which saw goalie Mason Johnstone make five stops.

Other strong Knights contributions came from Benjamin Thompson, John Campi, Wade Walters, Charlie Streeb, Lucas Griffiths and Kaden Andolina.

U11 boys lacrosse

The Davis Knights’ U11 boys lacrosse team crushed Pleasant Grove, 15-2, on Saturday at home.

Matthew Ceppos led the scoring with a hat trick, while Declan Fee, Mason Heard, Jude Vaughn, Ethan Cavanaugh and Dominic Freedland-Wolford each tallied twice for the locals. Davis’ Evan Morris and Zach Ayers scored one goal apiece, with Matthew Kenney and Cavanuagh providing assists.

On the other end of the field, the tough Knights defense was paced by Milo Kerr and Tristan Johnson and goalies Cole Wittkop (two saves) and Cavanaugh (one) also playing well.

Blizzard soccer

It was truly for the love of the game as the Davis Blizzard, a U10 girls soccer team, joined some Bay Area teams for an impromptu Saturday tournament.

The locals went 1-3 on the day, as highlights included Caroline Murdoch’s impressive goal off a perfectly bent corner kick and another tally off a powerful indirect kick that found its way into the net after it was deflected by the goalie.

In addition, Davis’ Ella Heringer showed her tenacity and inexhaustible energy on defense, where she was helped by Sophia Spangler. Blizzard standout Kate Nelson made several runs on the goal — resulting in at least one score and a beautiful assist through the middle to Nithmi Jayasundara.

Los Azules soccer

The Davis Los Azules, a U18 boys soccer team, posted a 2-0 win over CVU Barcelona last weekend.

Martin Castillo opened the local scoring and Raunak Manandhar doubled the lead in the second half. The successful offense was supported by Rudy Campos, Otto Nichols, Kyle Gold and Barrett George.

Los Azules secured the shutout thanks to three saves by Kevin Riley and good defense from Ryan Tinsley, Joe Zoldak, Luis Morales and Bryant Murray.

Adam Ramirez, Ade Lebimoyo, Juvenal Alvarado, Ryan Quinn and Liam Mayr also contributed for Davis.

DARTS swimming

The DARTS had a great showing at the Far Westerns swim meet in Morgan Hill last week, taking 11th at the 103-team event. Many local athletes made their mark at the event, which featured more than 1,000 swimmers from all over the western part of the country.

Zoe Cosgrove, 14, qualified for finals in each of her seven events and posted eight lifetime bests, while DART teammate Emily Castles placed in three finals and broke two team records. Castles improved her own team benchmark in the 100 butterfly (1:08.65) then captured the 10U girls 500 freestyle record with a 5:50.50. Swimming in the same final, Ella Lapuz would have set a new team record herself with a 5:51.91 effort.

On the boys side, Connor Daniels (11-12 age group) placed in three finals, while Ben Culberson took first place in the 15-16 1,650 free with a personal-best 16:14.76, just ahead of teammate Sean Kos in fourth (16:39.82).

Additionally, Cameron Wright (200 fly and 400 individual medley) and Tucker Fisk (50 free and 100 backstroke) each placed in two 15-16 finals.

The DART squad also came up big in the relay races, especially in the 10U events.

A girls team of Castles, Lapuz, Julia Miles and Lucy Huang took sixth in the 200 free (1:57.10), while another local quartet — Sara Kos, Sarah Bennetts, Charlotte Rosendale and Audrey Portello — finished 10th in the same race. Later, Castles, Portello, Lapuz and Huang teamed up to capture sixth in the 200 medley relay (2:10.86).

Meanwhile, Brennan Fuchslin, Andrew Wong, Nick Goldberg and Milton Nguyen joined forces to touch in eighth place (1:58.77) in the 10U boys 200 free relay.

Other strong DART efforts, both individually and in relays, came from Iz Meraz, Grace Lapuz, Sophia Chun, Erika Dahlgren, Emily Wells, Izzy Urlando, Mia van de Heetkamp, Valerie Vong Keianna Pineda, Meg Erickson, Luca Urlando, Noah Crawford and Anthony Cannata.

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