A year full of highlights

The past 12 months have been full of highlights and superlatives for Laguna Beach High athletes.

Since January, Laguna teams have captured several league champions, a CIF Southern California Regional title, a CIF Southern Section title and along the way, several individuals went into the school record books.

Below is a look at some of the key highlights reported to the Coastline Pilot during the past year.

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January-June

Laguna's girls' water polo team made its way again to the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center in Irvine for the CIF Southern Section final four. The Breakers, who had won their fifth straight league championship, took top-ranked Dos Pueblos to the wire in a semifinal game but lost on a "golden goal," 14-13. The Breakers, playing their first season in Division 1, ended their year 22-8. Seniors Jessie Holechek and Jessica Shusko were co-MVPs of the Orange Coast League.

The season came to an end in February for both the Laguna girls' and boys' soccer teams, as neither qualified for the playoffs.

The season also ended in mid-February for the Laguna girls' basketball team in a CIF playoff loss to St. Anthony (Long Beach), which won the Division 4A championship.

The boys' basketball team bowed out of the CIF 4A playoffs a day after the girls' team was eliminated. The Breakers went 17-10 and won the league championship for a fifth straight year. Junior Tyler Masukawa was co-MVP of the Orange Coast League.

The Laguna girls' track and field team finished first and the Breakers' boys' team was third at the Orange Coast League Track & Field Championships on May 5. The same day, the Laguna boys' and girls' swimming teams won their divisions at the Orange Coast League Swimming Championships.

The Laguna girls' team finished second and the boys' team was fifth at the CIF Division 3 Swimming and Diving Championships at Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach. Freshman Lila Vera was part of two CIF championship finishes, winning an individual title in the girls' 100 butterfly with a school-record time of 56.20 seconds. She also swam the fourth leg of the girls' 400 free relay team that was powered by Yoshi Andersen, Melena Masson and Jessica Shusko.