Summerville goalie Larissa Barrett (above, right) makes a save with Calaveras star Tiffany Souza (3) hoping for a rebound on Thursday at Thorsted Field. Maggie Beck / Union Democrat

Bear senior Nicole Schultz converted a penalty kick after Darian Skellenger was fouled with three minutes left in the game.

“She nailed that penalty kick but we got a few shots in the last couple of minutes but couldn’t get it in the net,” said Redskins head coach Rob Leetham. “Summerville played a really good game. They were celebrating Senior Night and they were motivated and seemed pretty excited.”

Sonora sophomore Billy Kiriluk shot an even-par 36 on Thursday at Mountain Springs Golf Club to lead the Wildcats over rival Oakdale 215-218 and into first place in the Valley Oak League.

Kiriluk parred all nine holes on his way to earning co-medalist honors.

“It’s exceptional for a golfer in his second season to shoot even par in such a crucial match,” said Wildcat head coach Steve Lee. “He’s basically playing against the top players in the league who are seniors. The secret to this golf course is keeping the ball in the fairway and Billy has done that all year.”

The Sonora Wildcats are officially new members of the Mother Lode League, at least for two years.

The CIF Sac-Joaquin Section  Board of Managers ratified the new four-year realignment plan Tuesday during its meeting at The Reserve at Spanos Park in Stockton which moves Sonora from the Valley Oak League and into the MLL beginning in the fall of 2014.

“I’m looking forward to it,” said Wildcat athletic director Rick Francis. “I’m looking forward to the relationships that will form. We are a foothills school and they are foothills schools, we’re all the same type of kids. The MLL is a very solid league and I think it’s a positive for us to join that league.”

Calaveras Redskin forward Brianna McGinness (above) was named the Union Democrat's 2012-13 All-Area Girls' Basketball Most Valuable Player. Maggie Beck / Union Democrat

The senior team captain of the 2012-13 Redskin varsity girls’ basketball team had a tough act to follow. The previous squad claimed the 2011-12 Mother Lode League title before going on to win the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV Championship and a NorCal playoff game in the postseason.

As the only returning starter from that championship team, McGinness thrived on the lofty expectations placed on her to guide this year’s group to another successful season.

“She was the best captain I’ve ever had and I’ve been coaching a long time,” said Calaveras head coach Mike Lewis. “Brianna just always knew what to do and how to handle any situation that came up.”

The Summerville Bear golfers shot a season-low 214 to easily defeat Amador by 70 strokes on Tuesday at Mountain Springs Golf Club.

“I think the warmer weather agrees with us,” said Bears head coach Darcy Wingo. 

Charlie McClung led the Bears with a 3-over-par 39 to earn medalist honors.

The Bret Harte Bullfrogs golf team has been a model of consistency this season — they win and score low.

Tuesday against Linden it was no different.

The Bullfrogs had five golfers all within three strokes and remained unbeaten in the Mother Lode League with a 211-254 shellacking of the Lions at Lockeford Springs.

Kade Barajas shot a match-low 4-over-par 41 to lead the Sonora Wildcat golfers over Manteca 223-227 Tuesday at Manteca Municipal.

Barajas was co-medalist for the first time this season.

“He’s been really close before but this is his first time as the medalist,” said Wildcat head coach Steve Lee. “He did really well today. And Manteca (5-8 Valley Oak League) has improved a lot.”

Every March for more than 10 years, a globe-trotting Sonora woman has made the journey to Alaska where she volunteers to oversee a facility housing hundreds of world-class athletes.

Susan Shinkai, 54, a pharmacist at Sonora Regional Medical Center, takes a yearly vacation to serve as the nightshift supervisor of a dog lot in Nome during the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

“We take care of the dogs until the mushers get there,” Shinkai said.

Members of Foothill Gold Running and Track Club are (back row, from left) Jackson McIlroy, 14, coach Darren Holman, Cassi Land, 12, (front row) Ryan Dunlap, 12 (left), and Adin Dibble, 9. McIlroy was the top finisher at the Old Mill Run Saturday in Columbia. Maggie Beck / Union Democrat

By CHRIS BATEMAN
For The Union Democrat

The future of the venerable Old Mill Run was on gaudy display at the 34th edition of the Columbia State Historic Park race Saturday. 

Fourteen-year-old Jackson McIlroy, the youngest Old Mill winner ever, overtook eventual runner-up Mike Morris, 31, at the 10K’s halfway mark and cruised home in 41:15. Belleview School sixth-grader Ryan Dunlap, a 12-year-old, came in 30 seconds behind Morris to take third, crossing the line at 42:27.

Thirty-year-old Lia Jigour of Coulterville, a member of a Stanislaus National Forest Hotshot firefighting team, took the women’s title with a time of 46:25.

The Mother Lode Gun Club Nuggets, Sonora High Trap Club and Summerville Sporting Club competed Saturday at the Livermore Rod & Gun Club and battled wind gusts up to 20 mph that could cause the best shooters to struggle.