Long before this morning’s scheduled 10 o’clock start for a campus-wide rally for the Culver City High School girls basketball team, excited singing, dancing, blue banner-waving students, adorned almost exclusively in blue and white, were warming up for a happy explosion.
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Dr. Seuss, Cat in the Hat or funloving Supt. Dave LaRose? Photo, George N. Laase.
Not exactly bashfully, voluble recorded music happily floated through the surrounding residential neighborhood. And it surely entertained the understandably distracted students at the adjacent Middle School and Farragut Elementary.
Coach Julian Anderson and his smiling, cheering, championship-dreaming players ran and danced a gantlet.
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The 11 Lady Centuars, who face Murrietta Valley at 3:30. Photo, George N. Laase.
Took them merely a flash to dash from mid-campus out to the waiting yellow bus on Elenda Street:
- Taylor Tanita, senior
- Kailey Tooke, freshman
- Katherine Lin, sophomore
- Capt. Kelsey Ueda, junior
- Gwen Machado, sophomore
- Alexis Aquino, freshman
- Megan Yoon, sophomore
- Lindsey Tanita, sophomore
- Kate Suyetsugu, freshman
- Kelli Tademaru, junior
- Shannon Yahn, senior
With only two seniors on this championship-breathing team, Coach Anderson may be in position next year at this time to repeat this unprecedented trip.
Only the hearts of corpses did not beat faster once the students began assembling.
Drums pounding in the background, this was a morning for participating or shouting, but a couple of people stopped by.
“Today is a huge day for our school and for our community because our girls are going to finals,” huffed and puffed Lindsay Farris, Culver High’s cheer coach, who took a lightning three-sentence pause.
“We are going to give them a great sendoff.”
The players’ bus departed at 10:30, and two busloads of 125 fans will leave campus at 1:30.
“The free transportation has been provided by our wonderful Boosters Club,” Ms. Farris said.
Amber Masek, Culver High’s cheer and dance advisor, talked about how the enormous rally was organized.
“Once we won Tuesday’s game,” she said, “we went to the athletic director Tom Salter), to ASB, to the Booster Club, and we all decided to organize a rally to support our girls.”
By now, the Lady Centaurs have arrived at the Anaheim Convention Center,800 W. Katella Ave., site of this afternoon’s CIF 2-A championship showdown, at 3:30, with No. 1-seeded Murrietta Valley.
How did they get here?
For the Lady Centaurs, Taylor Tanita scored the decisive basket on Tuesday when they scrubbed No. 2-seeded Orange Lutheran.
If the Lady Centaurs, 24-5, measure Murrietta Valley, they will have taken the most authentic and difficult route to the title – through the two top-ranked teams.
Murrietta, 25-5, qualified this week by edging No. 6 Redondo, 60-56.
