Hansen's Sunday Notebook: Star freshmen continue to impact high school sports in Southern Arizona

The Star columnist dives into how much freshmen have impacted Southern Arizona high schools, Kerr "Three"-sa's historic first half against Utah, and how the transfer portal has fared for departures from the UA football team with spring ball approaching. 

Over the past 25 years or so, I’ve watched what I believe are the two best freshmen performances in the history of Tucson high school sports.

In 2006, Canyon del Oro softball pitcher Kenzie Fowler went 28-4, struck out 421 batters in 201 innings and had an 0.13 ERA. She would go on to be the two-time Gatorade national player of the year.

In 2011, Sahuaro outfielder/pitcher Alex Verdugo hit .456 with 26-extra base hits and also was 7-3 as a starting pitcher with 100 strikeouts in 66 innings. Almost predictably, Verdugo is now a starting outfielder for the Boston Red Sox.

This month, Fowler and Verdugo have company, times two.

As Salpointe Catholic won the boys state soccer championship, freshman Leo Gutierrez scored 29 goals with 14 assists. Those numbers are almost unattainable by a senior.

Salpointe coach Wolfgang Weber, who has been coaching high school and youth soccer in Tucson since the early 1980s, told me that Gutierrez’s performance was indeed special. “In my 40 years as a high school coach, I don’t know of any big school’s freshman who has ever put up in his first year, 29 goals and 14 assists — meaning he was involved in 43 of our 110 goals. It’s a truly remarkable achievement.’’

A few days earlier, Sunnyside High School freshman wrestler Sergio Vega won the state championship at 106 pounds with a perfect 36-0 record. You don’t have to go far to put Vega’s performance in perspective. He comes from what is probably the No. 1 wrestling family in Tucson history. His brother, Danny Vega Jr., won three state championships at Sunnyside (2013-15) and was 181-3 overall. His father, Danny Vega Sr., also won three consecutive state titles as a Blue Devil (1992-94), including a 38-0 junior season.

To cap it off, Sergio’s grandfather, Andres Villa, won the 1975 state championship while at Pueblo.

And there’s one other connection to Tucson wrestling excellence. Sergio’s father operates the Tucson Cyclones wrestling training facility, which he started with Michael Bravo, grandfather of Sunnyside wrestling legend Roman Bravo-Young, who went 183-0 as a four-time state champion at Sunnyside and last year won the NCAA championship at Penn State.

It used to be rare for a freshman to just make the varsity roster in big school’s prep sports. Not any longer.

Kriisa’s half at Utah matches Kerr’s half at ASU in 1988

Early Friday morning, Star reader Roger H. Taft emailed me to suggest the UA public address announcer begin referring to sophomore Kerr Kriisa as “Kerr THREE-iisa.” It’s a latter-day take on the way McKale Center’s 1980s PA man, Roger Sedlmayr, used to follow ever Steve Kerr 3 with “Steve KERRRRR!”

In late February 1988, Kerr had the half of his Wildcat career. In the infamous 101-73 victory at ASU — some Sun Devils students jeered and heckled Kerr during pre-game drills, chanting unspeakable phrases about his late father, Malcolm, who had been assassinated in Lebanon four years earlier — Kerr shut them up in a hurry. Kerr went 7 for 7 from 3-point range in the first half, and had 21 points at the half.

Thursday at Salt Lake City, Kriisa went 7 for 8 from 3-point distance in the first half for 21 points as Arizona won 97-77.

What made Kriisa’s performance so compelling was that he made those 3-pointers in a space of 11:51. Here’s how it went:

11:51: Made 3-pointer

10:08: Made 3-pointer

8:38: Missed 3-pointer

6:12: Made 3-pointer

5:27: Made 3-pointer

1:57: Made 3-pointer

1:26: Made 3-pointer

0:01: Made 3-pointer

There were other strong comparisons between the Kerr and Kriisa 3-point shows; Kerr scored just one point in the second half of that 1988 game; Kriisa scored none. More? The ’88 Wildcats were 26-2 after that win, ranked No. 3 nationally. The ’22 Wildcats were 25-2 after winning in Utah, ranked No 2 nationally.

Salpointe coach climbs state championship ladder

When Salpointe Catholic’s boys soccer team won the state championship last week, it gave coach Wolfgang Weber his ninth state title: 1985, 1986, 1996, 2004, 2012, 2013, 2019, 2021 and 2022.

It put Weber strongly on the leaderboard — sixth — among all Tucson prep coaches of the last 100 years. Here’s how they rank (none of those in front of Weber remain active).

15: Bobby DeBerry, Sunnyside wrestling, 1996-2011. DeBerry went on to become athletic director at Tucson High.

14: Kristie Stevens, Catalina Foothills girls tennis, 2000-19. Stevens is now athletic director at Ironwood Ridge.

13: Doc Van Horne, Tucson High track and field, 1927-53. Van Horne went on to become the athletic director at Pueblo.

11: Nicole Penkalski, Catalina Foothills boys and girls swimming, 2000-06. Penkalski moved to California.

10: Hank Slagle, Tucson High baseball, 1942-54. Slagle went on to be principal of Rincon.

9: Weber.

9: Robb Salant, Catalina Foothills tennis, 1989-2011. He retired from coaching.

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9: Don Klostreich, Sunnyside wrestling, 1979-88. He moved to Yuma to coach.

Ex-Badgers star Lopez dies

Sad news: Al Lopez, who grew up in Barrio Hollywood near El Rio Golf Course, a 4.0 student who probably hit the most famous home run in Tucson prep history, died last week in Austin, Texas. He was 68. In the 1972 state championship game, Lopez, a first baseman, hit an extra-inning, walk-off home run to complete Tucson High’s historic 25-0 state championship season. Lopez was a starting lineman on Tucson High’s 1971 state championship football team, then went on to play baseball for four seasons under Arizona’s Jerry Kindall, becoming a key figure in the UA’s 1976 College World Series championship team. Lopez spent his professional career as an executive at IBM and Dell Technologies in Texas.

Andy Lopez disciple follows coach's steps

Daniel Schlereth, an All-Pac-10 relief pitcher on coach Andy Lopez‘s 2007-08 teams that went a combined 84-36, became a first-round draft choice of the Arizona Diamondbacks and played four seasons in the major leagues. Last week, the lefty pitcher became the manager of the Joliet Slammers of the independent Frontier League. Schlereth, the son of former NFL lineman and ESPN analyst Mark Schlereth, is married to former UA gymnast Breanne Workman.

Tucson native wins another ACCAC title

Salpointe Catholic High School and UA grad Jerry Carrillo won the ACCAC men’s basketball championship — again — last week at Cochise College. It was Carrillo’s 27th straight winning season and 11th league title (and fourth straight) in the formidable ACCAC. The Apaches, who lead the NCJAA with a 96 points scoring average, began the Region playoffs Saturday. Carrillo was inducted into the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.

Hi Corbett Field put into perspective with other college baseball programs

The NCAA arms race, continued: Coach Chip Hale’s Arizona baseball team beat No. 14 Texas Tech 14-3 last week in Texas, but the Red Raiders had a great triumph later in the week. The school announced it is building a $14.5 million baseball facility. But the Wildcats don’t take a backseat to many top-25 baseball schools when it comes to facilities. Oregon and Oregon State are the only schools in the Pac-12 whose facility can compare with Arizona’s Hi Corbett Field. Oregon and OSU have recently renovated PK Park and Goss Stadium, respectively. But the seemingly never-ending winter and spring rain in Eugene and Corvallis are problematic issues for college baseball’s players and fans at UO and OSU. Arizona? Let the sunshine in.

Wildcats' transfer portal departures not in high demand

Jedd Fisch begins his second spring practice season this week at Arizona, and he has one mostly unspoken offseason victory already: The Wildcats lost 11 players to the transfer portal since the 2021 season, but those players weren’t in high demand. Only five have found new schools: at Toledo, Boston College, Buffalo, Nevada and Hawaii. Six others have not yet announced what school they will attend. None of those six were considered valuable parts of the ’22 UA football season.

Sahuaro hires Al Alexander to be next football coach

Good news of the week in Tucson high school sports: Sahuaro High School hired Al Alexander to be its head football coach, replacing Scott McKee. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say Alexander has been the top assistant coach in Southern Arizona prep football the last 20 years. He spent 17 years working for Dennis Bene’s powerhouse at Salpointe and most recently worked at Mica Mountain High School. Alexander, who grew up in Los Angeles, played at both UNLV and Western New Mexico before moving to Tucson. He owns an auto detail shop here.

Tucson Rodeo pays well

According to the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association’s 2022 schedule, Tucson’s La Fiesta de los Vaqueros rodeo is No. 10 of more than 600 rodeos — yes, 600 — in prize money.

After Sunday’s final go-round at the Tucson Rodeo Grounds, the PRCA will have distributed $356,900 to cowboys and cowgirls. Here where the Tucson Rodeo stands in the vast PRCA prize money distributions:

1. Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, $1.7 million

2. Calgary Stampede, $1.35 million

3. Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days Rodeo, $1.1 million

4. San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, $1.05 million

5. National Western Stock Show and Rodeo, Denver, $600,000

6. Pendleton (Ore.) Round-Up, $575,000

7. Reno (Nev.) Rodeo, $500,000

8. Ellensburg (Wash.) Rodeo, $500,000

9. San Angelo (Texas) Rodeo, $360,000

10. La Fiesta de los Vaqueros, $356,900

The Tucson Rodeo this year welcomed first-year operations manager Stacy Madigan, a Marana High School and NAU grad who, among other occupations, spent 14 years as a managing partner of Taylor’s Holstein Dairy Farm near Marana.

Madigan is believed to be only the second woman at the elite level of the PRCA circuit to hold such a high management position.

“I learned from my dad; he had a great work ethic on our dairy farm,” said Madigan, who is a single mother of two young children. “I’m not new to rodeo. My daughter became a barrel racer; I’ve been to the National Finals Rodeo a couple of times.”

Madigan essentially replaced Gary Williams, who was the Tucson Rodeo’s general manager from 1995-2020. “Our rodeo certainly is in good hands with Stacy,” Williams said. “I have full confidence in her.”

My two cents: UA's stunner puts Cats back on map

𝑹𝒖𝒏 𝑰𝒕 𝑩𝒂𝒄𝒌!GymCats upset fourth ranked Utah! #BearDown pic.twitter.com/lnQ9NaGIfb

— Arizona Gymnastics (@ArizonaGymCats) February 26, 2022