SPORTS MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 2019 | napavalleyregister.com | SECTION B YOUTH SWIMMING COUNTY FOOTBALL INSIDER Vintage ranked in NCS Top 25 Crushers No. 17 on prep2prep.com rankings MARTY JAMES [email protected] Vintage High School is No. 17 in the www.Prep2Prep. com North Coast Section Top 25 Rankings, which were an- nounced on Aug. 23. “There are no surprises at the top, in our first set of rankings, which rely completely on infor- mation provided by coaches and what we were able to observe last season. That being said, there are a handful of games in the first SUBMITTED PHOTO S week which involve ranked teams Members of the Waves Swim Team pose in front of a sign at the Olympic Training Facility. The members are: Anthony Krieter, Ben Gardner, Lila playing each other, so changes Heffernan, Rowan Knight, Sabrina Wells, Quincy Frommelt , Carson McClintick, Sander Izzi, Lauren Hamilton, Andrew Dillon, Sterling Schwartz, will happen quickly in our early Lucas Padewon, Victoria Creaves, Will Walter, Graciela Lopez, Rachel Galvan, Sophia Conley and Parker McClintick. editions of the NCS pecking or- der,” Prep2Prep.com reported. At No. 1, De La Salle-Concord leads the rankings. De La Salle is followed by No. Memorable week for 2 Liberty-Brentwood, No. 3 Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa, No. 4 Pittsburg, No. 5 Monte Vista-Danville, No. 6 Clayton Valley Charter-Concord, No. 7 Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland, No. 8 San Ramon Valley-Danville, No. Waves in Colorado 9 Rancho Cotate-Rohnert Park, No. 10 Marin Catholic-Kent- field, No. 11 California-San Ra- mon, No. 12 Campolindo-Mor- Paralympians made “They probably spent more aga, No. 13 Las Lomas-Walnut time in the cafeteria than any- Creek, No. 14 Antioch, No. 15 biggest impression where else,” Twohey said with Amador Valley-Pleasanton, No. a laugh. “It almost offset how 16 Moreau Catholic-Hayward, GUS MORRIS many hours they were in the No. 18 Miramonte-Orinda, No. [email protected] pool. It was probably the same 19 Benicia, No. 20 Acalanes-La- Members of the Napa Waves as they were eating.” fayette, No. 21 Freedom-Oakley, Swim Team took a week-long And for good reason. No. 22 Encinal-Alameda, No. 23 trip in late July that they won’t Twohey and the staff put their Kennedy-Richmond, No. 24 San soon forget. team through exhausting two-a- Leandro and No. 25 El Cerrito. A total of 18 youth swimmers day workouts, made only more and three coaches had a chance difficult by the 6,000-foot alti- Please see INSIDER, Page B2 to work out at the United States tude of the facility. Olympic Training Center in Col- “At lower altitudes you’re orado Springs alongside some of still running out of breath, but the country’s top athletes. at higher altitude it’s harder to AP COLUMN “We got the opportunity and catch your breath and you really we were really grateful that (USA feel your lungs burning,” said Swimming) called and offered St. Helena resident Ben Gard- us that week and I immediately ner, 17. “You definitely run out Luck makes jumped at it,” said Waves head of oxygen a lot faster, so you coach Kevin Twohey. “It’s some- Members of the Waves enjoying some freshly made food in the Olympic need to use a different breath- the decision thing that only comes along ev- Training Center cafeteria, pictured from left to right, Lila Heffernan, ing technique. You blow all the ery once in a while and you’ve to Quincy Frommelt, Andrew Dillon, Sterling Schwarz, Sander Izzi, Rowan air out of your lungs and purge take that opportunity.” Knight, Lucas Padowan’, Will Walter, Ben Gardner and Rachel Galvan. all the CO2 and take much big- of his life, Through a heavily compet- ger breaths. So it’s a lot more itive application process, the and serves as a training loca- Among its state-of-the-art challenging just as far as lung Waves were selected as one of tion, for Olympic, Paralympic, features are two swimming capacity goes. And you also for his life only a handful of youth swim Pan American and Para-Pan pools, 242 dorms, and a cafeteria get more sore because you get teams to make the trip to the American athletes who com- that serves more than 300,000 more lactic acid build-up and he timing was bad, but 35-acre campus in the heart of pete in boxing, cycling, figure meals a year, all aspects of the less oxygen to your muscles. So even worse was the re- Colorado Springs, about an hour skating, gymnastics, judo, pen- facility that the Waves became it’s pretty intense.” T action of the fans who south of Denver. tathlon, shooting, swimming very familiar with over the du- took it upon themselves to boo The facility itself is home, and wrestling. ration of their trip. Please see WAVES, Page B2 Andrew Luck the last time he walked off a football field in an Indianapolis Colts uniform. He made the only decision PGA TOUR he could for his health and happiness. They TIM responded by DAHLBERG robbing him of McIlroy wins FedEx Cup, hefty prize what he so richly deserved for putting his body Justin Thomas was the No. 1 seed on the line for the Colts — one $15 million payout and started at 10-under par be- final moment to savor the game from win largest fore a shot was hit. McIlroy was he still loves despite all the pain the No. 5 seed and started at 5 it has cost him. in golf history under. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say I He finished at 18 under in the heard the reaction,” Luck said DOUG FERGUSON FedEx Cup finale. His actual score after it was all finally over for Associated Press was 13-under 267, better than good Saturday night in India- ATLANTA — The crowd rush- anyone else in the 30-man field. napolis. “Yeah, it hurt. I’ll be ing to circle the 18th green. The It will boost him to No. 2 in the honest, it hurt.” steady chants. It all sounded so world behind Koepka. Fans will be fans, of course, familiar to Rory McIlroy at East There also was a small matter especially after a night spent Lake, with one big difference. of payback. McIlroy had a one- drinking their way through yet On Sunday, it was all for him. shot lead over Koepka in a World another miserable preseason One year after he was an over- Golf Championships event last game. To be fair, the alcohol looked bystander as Tiger Woods month in Tennessee but made kicked in long before word celebrated the missing piece of his only one birdie in the final round started circulating at Lucas Oil comeback by winning the Tour ASSOCIATED PRESS as Koepka blew past him to win. Stadium that the Colts quarter- Championship, McIlroy surged They were in the final group back of the future was now the Rory McIlroy hugs his caddy after winning the Tour Championship past Brooks Koepka and delivered Sunday at East Lake, and McIl- quarterback of the past and the golf tournament and The FedEx Cup Sunday at East Lake Golf Club in a clutch par putt when he needed roy got the best of the No. 1 player. realization began to sink in that Atlanta. it to win the FedEx Cup and the The final round turned on the there would be no Super Bowl $15 million prize, the biggest pay- der Schauffele. He joined Woods did,” McIlroy said. “I never took seventh hole with a three-shot this season. out in golf history. as the only players to win the Fe- the fight to Tiger.” swing — McIlroy made a 25-foot One moment Luck was on “It’s amazing how different dEx Cup twice since it began in McIlroy had more than the $15 birdie, while Koepka lost his tee the sideline chatting and joking things can be in a year,” McIlroy 2007. million prize on his mind. shot in the trees and made dou- with teammates. The next he said. He smiled at hearing the chants, He wanted to win this outright ble bogey. There were consecu- was trying to avoid choking up With two final birdies, McIlroy “Rory! Rory! Rory!” from a gal- and was keeping score to the very tive two-shot swings on the back as he stood before reporters to closed with a 4-under 66 to end lery that came under the ropes on end. The format was changed this nine, and then it was a matter of officially tell the football world a marathon day at the storm-de- the 18th hole to watch the finish. year to give top players a head holding off Schauffele. he was done. layed Tour Championship and “I must say, I didn’t enjoy that start based on par depending on M 1 finished four shots ahead of Xan- walk last year like everyone else their standing in the FedEx Cup. Please see GOLF, Page B2 Please see LUCK, Page B2 B2 | MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 2019 THE SPORTS PAGE NAPA VALLEY REGISTER Djokovic not worried about blisters with US Open afoot HOWARD FENDRICH 1-1 at Flushing Meadows, where Associated Press he made his debut a year ago and NEW YORK — During a break in lost in the second round. practice two days before opening Djokovic, meanwhile, has won his U.S. Open title defense, Novak 33 of his past 34 Grand Slam Djokovic pulled off his blue shoe matches en route to collecting and white sock so a trainer could four of the past five major titles.