Hosting an ESIAC quad meet Dec. 19 proved to be an early present for Delmarva Christian’s swim teams.

The boys scooped up their first two wins of the year by besting Sts. Peter & Paul 41-4 and Salisbury School 39-15. Salisbury Christian’s talented team got the best of the Royals 49-31.

“Tonight, we just got every guy qualified for states,” said senior Cole Parker. “Last year, almost everybody went.”

A legend was born during the quad meet when the 200 freestyle relay team qualified. Trax Rogers was the second swimmer to leap off the blocks, and if you can believe it, the junior had just wrapped up swimming the 500.

“The 500 is distance, a long-haul race, and Trax gave it his all in that race and turned around and did the relay right after,” said coach Laurel Kamosa. “He did great, and they ended up qualifying for states at the exact time, which was amazing.”

Diving over to the girls, they got a taste of each outcome in the quad meet, edging out the Dragons 39-36, tying the Sabres 31-31 and losing to the Jaguars 66-16. The girls stand at 2-3-1 with just three meets left when they come back from their January term.

“We’re doing really good,” said senior Libby Dawson. “We’re pushing ourselves to be the best we can with limited practice in limited time.”

At 2-5, the lads have a bit more ground to make up, but lucky for them, one of the three meets is a tri-meet and another is a quad meet.

“We’ve had our ups and downs a little bit, and like Libby said with limited practices and stuff, I think that’s made it a little bit tougher, but other than that, I think all the guys at least have been pushing themselves, and that’s just great to see,” Parker said.

“We’ve got a lot of good swimmers,” Kamosa said. “We’re working on technique, we’re working on getting faster, and we’re definitely seeing that with the kids. At the end of the day, we want to have fun and have a good time, but make strides along the way, so I think we’re doing that.”

Gains this season are a result of buy-in from the older swimmers who have seen the program grow year by year.

“Freshman year to now, the growth is insane, and just building the program more and more each year is just the biggest thing we can do,” Dawson said. “Building it more in our school and putting more of a light on swimming at Delmarva Christian.”

“The confidence is definitely building with the kids,” Kamosa said. “They’re building that camaraderie with each other, and with the other teams as well. I really appreciate their sportsmanship with the other schools.”

Orange High School is the site of the 60th annual Orange Holiday Basketball Classic beginning Friday, Dec. 26. The event will include both boys and girls divisions and wrap up on Tuesday, Dec. 30.

Coach Jake Rhodes will lead his Orange Panthers boys basketball team into the long-running tournament.

In the boys division, Pool A consists of Incline, Nev; Irvine, Orange and Shadow Ridge, Nev. Pool B will include Boulder City, Nev., Cerritos, Fullerton, and Long Beach Wilson.

In the girls division, Pool A includes Apple Valley, Laguna Hills, Montclair, and Valley Christian. Pool B includes Cabrillo, Fullerton, Irvine, Orange.

Pool play games:

FRIDAY, DEC. 26:

Girls: Orange vs. Cabrillo, 9 a.m.; Irvine vs. Fullerton, 10:30 a.m.; Valley Christian vs. Montclair, noon; Apple Valley vs. Laguna Hills, 1:30 p.m..

Boys: Cerritos vs. Long Beach Wilson, 3 p.m.; Orange vs. Incline, 4:30 p.m.; Shawdow Ridge vs. Irvine, 6 p.m; Fullerton vs. Boulder City, 7:30 p.m.

SATURDAY, DEC. 27:

Girls: Laguna Hills vs. Valley Christian, 9 a.m.; Cabrillo vs. Irvine, 10:30 a.m.; Montclair vs. Apple Valley, noon; Fullerton vs. Orange, 1:30 p.m.

Boys: Cerritos vs. Fullerton, 3 p.m.; LB Wilson vs. Boulder City, 4:30 p.m.; Shadow Ridge vs. Orange, 6 p.m.; Irvine vs. Incline, 7:30 p.m.

MONDAY, DEC. 29:

Girls: Fullerton vs. Cabrillo, 9 a.m.; Laguna Hills vs. Montclair, 10:30 a.m.; Apple Valley vs. Valley Christian, noon; Orange vs. Irvine, 1:30 p.m.

Boys: Irvine vs. Orange, 3 p.m.; Incline vs. Shadow Ridge, 4:30 p.m.; Long Beach Wilson vs. Fullerton, 6 p.m.; Cerritos vs. Boulder City, 7:30 p.m.

The tournament wraps up on Tuesday, Dec. 30 with games starting at 9 a.m. The girls championship will be at 6 p.m. followed by the boys tournament final at 7:30 p.m.

“Looking forward to helping our AD host the oldest running Christmas Tourney in Orange County,” Rhodes said on X this week. “We have great teams ranging from LA County, OC, San Bernardino County and Southern and Northern Nevada.”

Send basketball news to timburt@ocsportszone.com

For the last 18 years, longtime Wellington resident Chris Fratalia has been serving as the volunteer president of the Wellington Wolves travel basketball program. During that time, he has been the heart and soul of the organization. Whether it was ordering uniforms, organizing practice times, planning travel for an out-of-town basketball tournament or running the longtime March Madness tournament in Wellington, Fratalia was very involved in getting things done.

As the old saying goes, all good things must come to an end. This past fall, Fratalia stepped aside as the president of the Wolves, which means the organization is now moving forward under the leadership of Mike Colin.

Longtime Wellington Wolves supporter John Sitomer said that Fratalia was a brilliant administrator and will be missed.

“Chris did the work of 10 people,” Sitomer said. “He showcased tremendous leadership. His legacy with the Wolves is amazing.”

Throughout the year, Fratalia oversaw the administrative and business side of the Wolves organization.

ADVERTISEMENT

“With my marketing and business background, I focused on the business operations of the Wolves,” said Fratalia, who grew up in Charlestown, Massachusetts, where he played football and ice hockey. “I always left the coaching of the Wolves teams to our coaches.”

Fratalia started his long tenure with the Wolves because of his son’s interest in basketball.

“Years ago, my son, Max, was in the fifth grade, and he wanted to play basketball, so we visited Village Park to see what opportunities there were to play youth basketball,” Fratalia said. “I quickly realized that I could help the Wellington Wolves organization. I was asked to join the board of directors. And then I was asked to be the president. That was 18 years ago.”

Through the years, one of Fratalia’s strengths was understanding marketing and branding.

“In the early days, I would get clothing made that showcased our logo and our organizational name. We would sell the items at cost,” Fratalia recalled. “Then, when I would visit gyms around Palm Beach County to watch a basketball game, and I’d see people wearing our clothing. That helped spread awareness.”

A big part of Fratalia’s work with the Wolves was organizing and conducting the annual March Madness basketball tournament, which attracts more than 100 youth basketball teams from Florida and elsewhere to Wellington for a two-day event, always held in early March.

“I would start my early preparations in August, and in the week leading up to the tournament, I would take a week’s vacation from work to take care of final details,” recalled Fratalia, now in his 27th year as a sales director for Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits. “Our March Madness tournament expanded to 18 basketball courts around Palm Beach County.”

The organizational tournament work performed by Fratalia did not go unnoticed.

“We won the U.S. Amateur Award for the top travel basketball tournament for seven straight years,” Fratalia noted.

Besides running a travel basketball organization, Fratalia oversaw the creation of a shoe drive, a food drive, and helped with the Council of Dads, a group of adults who help tutor student-athletes with the Wolves who needed a helping hand with homework and their academic obligations.

Looking back at his time with the Wolves, Fratalia is quick to thank other people for their support.

“I had a very supportive board of directors who understood our mission,” Fratalia said. “I also want to thank Eric Juckett and Ryan Hagopian with the Village of Wellington for their ongoing support. Also, my wife Kate was very supportive of the time that I spent with the Wolves.”

As Fratalia reflects on his time guiding the Wolves, he will miss the relationships he made with players, coaches, parents, sponsors and referees.

“It has been a great ride, and it’s time to turn over control to a new group of leaders in Wellington’s basketball community,” Fratalia said.

Without a doubt, Fratalia will be missed and never forgotten.

Coach Ringo Bossenmeyer leading the Tillers in a game last season. (PHOTO: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

The long-running Tustin Boys Basketball Classic has a new name.

It’s been renamed in honor of former Tiller coach Ringo Bossenmeyer, according to new Tustin Coach Jonathan Antolin. Bossenmeyer resigned at the end of last season after 25 seasons leading the Tillers. He joined the staff of the Chapman University men’s basketball team.

The Ringo Bossenmeyer Tustin Holiday Classic begins on Friday at Tustin High School and has pool play games through Monday. The championship is Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at Tustin.

Tustin, Servite, Hawaii Baptist and Huntington Park are in Pool A. St. Anthony, Tesoro, Mercer Island and Beckman are in Pool B.

Pool play schedule:

Friday, Dec. 26:

St. Anthony vs. Beckman, 3 p.m.; Servite vs. Huntington Park, 4:30 p.m.; Tesoro vs. Mercer Island, 6 p.m.; Tustin vs. Hawaii Baptist, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 27:

Mercer Island vs. Beckman, 3 p.m.; Tesoro vs. St. Anthony, 4:30 p.m.; Hawaii Baptist vs. Huntington Park, 6 p.m.; Servite vs. Tustin, 7:30 p.m.

Monday, Dec. 29:

Servite vs. Hawaii Baptist, noon; Tesoro vs. Beckman, 1:30 p.m.; St. Anthony vs. Mercer Island, 3 p.m.; Tustin vs. Huntington Park. 4:30 p.m.

Send basketball news to timburt@ocsportszone.com

Lely’s 3-0 shutout of Estero on Friday, December 19, could best be described as workmanlike. Trojans coach Robbie Schank, in year 32 at the helm, has coached—and won—a lot of games over that span.

Schank got after his young team at halftime, even though they were sitting on a 2-0 lead.

“Yeah,” Schank said. “Sometimes we’ve got to do that.”

But that doesn’t mean the coach isn’t pleased with his talented but inexperienced squad.

“I thought it was good,” he said, “we scored early. We controlled it. We got the clean sheet.”

A clean sheet in soccer is a shutout.

“We didn’t get scored on,” Schank said, “so that’s always a good thing. We didn’t have to go too crazy because we had the comfortable lead in the first half. And then we just tried to limit it. We just controlled it, slowed it down. If we have the ball, they can’t score. That’s always a blessing when we’re on our attacking side.”

Senior Ty Collins, who leads the team with 18 goals, started the scoring with a close-in goal just three minutes into the game. Eight minutes later, freshman Daniel Otero nailed a goal from 30 yards out. Collins finished the scoring by advancing the ball from midfield, then scoring in front of the Estero goalie with two minutes left in the game.

Schank has just three seniors on his squad. He sees his team’s overall youth as a good thing and a challenge.

“The strength of our team is youth,” he said. “It’s a very freshman, sophomore underclassmen-laden team. Our weakness is just the lack of experience. We don’t have that senior leadership because we don’t have the experience. So, I’ll have to use my experience to guide them through that.”

Fortunately, Schank has a couple of outstanding seniors.

“We’ve got Ty up top,” he said. “He’s always a threat, and he’s rusty. He got beat up in football. So, he’s still nursing a couple little injuries. So, we don’t have him at 100 percent. But he’s always a threat. If he gets the ball, you’d better be on your A game. And we’ve got another senior, Stive Argueta. He’s been commanding the middle for us with his hustle and his tenacity.”

Another leader for Schrank is an underclassman.

“In the back, we’ve got Landon Harmon,” Schrank said. “He’s a sophomore on the left side. He’s our setup man in the back. He’s been really putting the ball up through and creating the attack from the back.”

With his team sitting at 8-3-4 heading into Winter Break, Schrank has an interesting plan for his squad.

“We have a bunch of alumni teams being set up that we’re going to be playing here in the evenings,” he said. “They all want to challenge this team.”

So how does Schrank see this team stacking up against some of his better Lely teams over the years?

“This one’s right up there with them,” he said with a smile. “And the postseason will show you that. We still have some key components out with injuries right now. When those guys arrive, we will be alive.”

Lely travels to Palmetto Ridge on January 6, then returns home against Cape Coral on January 13. Both games are at 7:00 PM.

Registration for Patterson Little League’s 2026 season is now underway!

Registration for both Patterson Little League’s baseball and softball programs are currently running until January 9, 2026.

For baseball, young athletes can start their baseball journey as early as four years old and registration is available for players up to the age of 15. As for softball, registration begins at the age of seven and, like baseball, is available until 15 years of age.

The season will begin in March, and registration is currently available at PattersonLittleLeague.org.