Fall Rec League Sports Champions Crowned
For the members of UCSF’s recreational sports leagues, the year 2014 presents new opportunities. Champions will either be toppled or continue their reign. Although the winter quarter leagues began last week, there’s still time to recognize the five winning teams of the fall at the Parnassus campus.
The student basketball league crown was captured by the first-year medical student squad, Med ’17 or Bust. Comprised of medical students Norver Trinidad, Jackie DesJardin, Jameze James, Stephen Brown, Ranvir Dhillon, John Bonano, Ruiji Jiang, Frank Lu, Dennis Zheng and physical therapy student Dorian Danic, the team won four of its seven regular-season games to enter the one-day playoffs as the second seed.
In the post-season semifinals, Med ’17 or Bust defeated its elders, the second-year medical team, We Get Buckets, before squeaking by the previously undefeated Flossoraptors of the dental school for the title.
“Stephen (Brown) and John (Bonano), both of whom are former Pac-12 athletes, were key to our ability to dominate the paint,” said team captain Norver Trinidad.
The Penetrators, made up of Brandon Chu, Terry Lee, Jun Loayza, Vannor Phan, John Kwon, Emmanuel Igbinosa, Ryan Satcher and Gary Anderson, won the six-feet-and-under basketball league title.
After suffering only two losses — both of which came when short-handed — during its seven-game regular season, the group entered the one-day playoffs as the fourth seed of four teams but remained confident.
Down big in the first half of the semifinal game, the Penetrators fought back to win that game and the next for its second straight league title. A former Stanford walk-on, Igbinosa led his team by making plays on both ends of the floor.
“He’s six feet, so that helps,” captain Chu said. “He might be 6’1 or 6’2, but every team in this league has at least one person pushing the limits.”
Finally, the champions of the Monday intermediate basketball league were the Threat Matrix, led by captain Christopher Knight.
The volleyball league at Parnassus was won by Joyce Lin, Kristen Honma, Helen Lam, Carl Arevalo, Alvin Woo and Brian Koga, who collectively made up the Giant Warriors, a team of former pharmacy students and non-UCSF affiliates.
They entered the playoffs with a 6-1 record, having lost only to the overall No. 1 seed, Two Dink Minimum, during the regular season. But once they were in the playoffs, the Warriors, whose core has been together since 2008, found themselves playing their best volleyball of the season and cruised to their fifth championship in six tries.
“Every team that we’ve played has said we’re very consistent,” said first-time captain Koga. “Without good team passing and defense, our hitting and offense wouldn’t be as effective.”
Team D2, featuring Zach Lee, Conrad Drinkwater, Sean Silvereo, Randy Rosales, Reina Kawazoe, Ricardo Jara, Fernando Vargas and Ricardo Vargas, took home the title in the futsal recreational league. It was the group’s fourth consecutive championship, according to captain Ricardo Vargas.
“We tend to slack a bit in the beginning of the season and then turn it on and really click as a team toward the end of the season and during playoffs,” he said.