Friends of Conrad Murphy share their thoughts

Valley Center High School senior baseball player Conrad Murphy remains in critical condition after a head-on collision on Hwy 76 on Saturday morning (click here for the full story).

To contribute your own story about Conrad, as well as any comments, encouragements or anything, click here to visit the Get Well Soon, Conrad Murphy page on Facebook.

Here are some stories shared by some of Conrad's friends at VCHS:

David Last
My favorite memory of conroid (some of us in 2nd period Mr.Chews last year called him conROID because we all knew he could jack the baseball so we just liked messing around with him and mixing the word steroid in with his name) was in 2nd period Chew when he would always finish Mr. Chews sentences because he already knew mostly everything about history.
Conrad is a great guy and i cant wait for you to teach me some sign language so i can sign back to you know who haha

Eric Brothers
Conrad correcting Mr. Chew in US history last year and signing spider always made me laugh. He knows how baseball needs to be played and how a team needs to act together. If I could talk to Conrad I would tell him we know he is a fighter and that he is going to pull through this.

Taylor Oshinski
Last year in Mr. Chew's class Spider attempted to play Conrad in chess and in (no exaggeration) two minutes she had given up. Conrad is very intelligent and stumps the teachers more than anyone I know. Conrad is never in a bad mood and always has something comical to say. He is eager to help in class and will not hesitate to correct the teachers if they have dates in history wrong. My favorite story about Conrad is when the life skills class put bird feeders up, Conrad saw the opportunity to get a quick snack and took a bite out of the pine comb filled with seeds. Conrad we miss you buddy. Can't wait for you to get back to strength and we have your seat on the bench cleared off waiting for u.

Martin Cunningham
Conrad is definately that guy you dont find every day. He is definately a down to earth kind of guy and will eat anything healthy and edible haa.The first year here got here me and him were just buds and had the most respect for eachother. He had to play jv baseball as a junior even tho he was way good enough to play varsity, but since he transfer thats what happened. The funniest thing that would always make me laugh a tad bit was when he would make fun of drama or put him in the most awkward situations. Conrad is really good at keeping a straight face and you can never tell when he was serious. The other thing that we always do when we see eachother is just compliment eachother until one of us stops, and it all started when he came up to me one day and said with the straightest face, " Martin how come your so cool?" and i laughed a little bit and said " na conrad you got it all wrong man your the cool one" haa just stuff like that. We always ask eachother for advice but the most times it is for odd reasons like the day he shaved his chest hair into an arrow and the words that said hi, i was the first person he said he would listen to when he asked me and i told him go for it. The next day he shows up to school with his chest/stomach hairs in the shape of an arrow and the word hi hahaa Conrad is my boy and i hope he never forgets that... The rest of this season I am playing for him and i will pray for him every night until he is back and healthy. I have been praying every night since saturday and dont plan on stopping and i ask all my other brothers out there to pray every night too and dont forget because he needs it... I know Conrad will pull through this because some people know how to battle but we know how to war!!! haa inside joke with my boy kidder... get well conrad

Ryan Gerlach
my favorite story with conrad by far was when us baseball guys put a dead rat in his cleat and he didnt notice so he came out of the clubhouse with half his foot out of the shoe. He said "i think my right foots bigger than my left because my shoe doesnt fit anymore." Qualites that make conrad a great friend and teammate is the fact that he is super smart and is really down to earth. If i could talk to conrad right now itd be that there r too many people out there praying for anything else to happy to him and conrad is my main man and i got his back on everything. Get well conrad im praying night and day

Garrett Fiehler
ya i know conrad from working out with him and he is one of the most hard working guys in the weight room and hes always down to do anything you need. hes a great guy and iknow he can get though this and i will be praying for him as long as it takes. we all will

Tom Aguilar
My favorite story from Conrad would have to be, him always bagging on kyle or the time he shaved "HI" and an arrow on his stomach. The random things he would say to all make us laugh was hysterical. it seemed like he always had a HUGE smile on his face and just all around a happy kid.
what makes Conrad a good friend is that no matter what he always has your back. if someone was picking on me he would always be the first one to step in and ask me if i wanted him to beat them up hahaah . . . . and what makes him a good Team mate, he would always cheer me up when i was down. that's what i good team mate does... and of course he always wanted to win!
if i could tell Conrad something, i would tell him to always stay strong and fight thru this struggle. i would also say , God has a plan for you so trust in him.....

John Jensen
My favorite Thing about Conrad is that he always has something funny to say. For example: when I accidentally broke his cheek while hitting him grounders, the only thing he had to say was, "Does it look cool?". Conrad is a very positive person, and he always has a smile on his face. When Conrad wakes up, I know he's going to have that same smile and funny personality. I know Conrad can do this, and I can't wait until he's back to health. Get Well Conrad.....

Cole Howard
conrad is the warmest and nicest person i have ever met.. he is like a big teddy bear.. he knew what to say to make me laugh after a bad at bat or things to say to help my swing.. any question i ever came to him with he always had an answer to.. ever since i have been one the team with conrad i have thrown with him. every practice and every game for almost a year. he has made such a huge impact on so many people and it shows through this tragedy. his smile was contageous just like his laugh. one of the last things he said to me before the accident was when i told austin that he was my brother and conrad turned to me and said if hes ur brother who am i? andi replied that he was my cave bear. i look up to conrad as a person and as an athelete. the first day i met him. i asked him how high up i was on his friendship scale.. he told me i was the number i.. which is the square root of negative one. hahahhah since then i have made it up to a 99.7 was my last check point. there is so many things id like to say to conrad if i could.. but one thing especially is id like to hug him, and thank him for being such a great person on and off the baseball field.. i miss him so much and baseball doesnt feel the same. i pray every time i have a new thing to say and i know my cave bear will pull thru this tragic accident. miss you conrad come back to us soon

Zach Dewey
Conrad is the mos unique person I know. He has many hidden talents, such as an incredible piano player and he is brilliant at chess. He is very humble and suprises us all sometimes at things we didnt know he could do. At the end of the year party last year Conrad off the top of his head made up a song for me called Silly Dewey. For making it up in a couple of minutes it was really good and i hope i get to hear it again someday. I know my cave bear will get through this he strong and has a lot of will. Get well Conrad you are in our prayers.

Ricky Eldridge
Conrad is a very funny, talented, and loyal person. Conrad and I were always able to talk candidly about baseball from hitting techniques to different teams we played on. I talked to Conrad everyday and if always tell him that he's "looking like a stud" and he'd say "thanks but I think you are." me him and Brett would have long conversations about everything from physics to the apartheid to how to pronounce words. Conrad was always funny and always wanted to play baseball. Conrad was a great friend and I hope he gets well soon

Morgan Boberg
Hey Dan! I got your message about Conrad and I wanted to write you some stuff about him.
Conrad always has a smile on his face. If you didn't know Conrad, you would be able to find him on the bench eating his lunch people watching! He's quiet and funny like that! He's such a sweet guy with the best smart ass (smart aleck) comments. He always put a smile on your face on the worst of days with his comments.
I want his family to know that Conrad is missed at school. It just wasn't the same today not seeing him in his usual spot and talking as we pass each other in between classes. All we can do is pray and be optimistic! We all need him back at school and to graduate with us. We miss you Conrad.

Nikki Paredes
Conrad, always had a smile or a smirk on his face, as if he had something clever to say back to any comment or whatever. He has a MASSIVE appetite- about 5 peanut butter and honey sandwiches on rye, and a few 7 handfuls of pecans and apricots(or brazilian fruit by his standard) make up his lunch! It was also really quite comical when we had about a half an hour Lon convo about where the Vikings came about( Conrad is a history genius). Another memorable moment is when he confessed that he was scared to go night fishing because he was afraid he was gonna fall in (he claimed he'd fallen in previous times). Anyone who missed out on a convo with this clever fellow surely does not know what's in store. You have a lot of support and many people who are rooting for you to recover as quickly as YOU can. Stay Strong!

VCHS spring sports photos

Be sure to check out our Facebook page for new galleries of photos from VCHS spring sports. We've got plenty of baseball and softball photos up now, and will have lacrosse, volleyball and golf coming shortly.

Click here to see the photo galleries.

And be sure to send us your sports photos, either by e-mail to sports@valleycenter.com or by uploading them on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/valleycenter/

Hoofs & Woofs Animal Rescue--photos

Check out some photos from our trip to Hoofs & Woofs Animal Rescue here in Valley Center on our Facebook page.

VC track & field teams solid against Escondido and at Sundevil Invite

Kaylee Hudson set a new school record in the 3,200 at the Sundevil Invite.

Valley Center’s varsity track and field teams put together another group of outstanding individual performances this week in a dual meet against Escondido on Thursday, followed by the Sundevil Invite at Mt. Carmel on Saturday.
The Jaguars hosted Escondido on Thursday, and after winning a total of 15 events in both the boys and girls events, ended up splitting the meet with the Cougars.
Valley Center won the girls meet 71–64 behind phenomenal performances from triple-winner Sidney Reilly and four more first-place finishes for the team.
Reilly won the 100 hurdles (16.39), the 300 hurdles (47.92) and the long jump (16-feet-3) to lead the Lady Jags, while also taking second in the triple jump after tying the top mark but coming up just short on her second-best attempt.
Sidney Reilly was a triple-winner for the Lady Jags against Escondido.

Meanwhile, Leina Villemez was the winner in the 100 (13.29), Caty Alvarez won the 200 (28.03), Kaylee Hudson won the 400 (1:02.77) and Lauren Gilster took first in the discus (106-0 3/4). The Lady Jaguars also won both the 400 relay (52.62) and the 1,600 relay (4:24.57) in the meet.
Gilster also took second in the shot put, while Vinessa Perryman took second in both the 100 and 300 hurdles. In the sprints, Alvarez and Villemez finished one-two in both the 100 and 200, while Hudson ran strong in the distance events to also take second in the 800.
The boys team, however, lost their meet 75–51 despite wins in six of the 15 events.
Jean-Marc Brierre dominated the throwing events, winning both the shot put (42-6) and the discus (133-6), while Ronnie Bourguignon won the 200 (23.07) and took second in the 400, Logan Fiddler won the 3,200 (10:13.65), Armando Diaz won the triple jump (39-0) and Nick Villemez won the pole vault (10-0).
The Jaguars also posted five top-ten individual finishes in the Sundevil Invite on Saturday, including two top-five overall finshes.
Reilly won her heat in the 300 hurdles (46.37), which gave her fourth place overall in Division II, while Hudson finished third in her heat in the 3,200 (11:20.49), good for third place overall in the division and a new school record.
Also for the Lady Jaguars, Gilster took second place in the discus (100-6) and eighth place in the shot put (32-1), while for the Jaguars, Nicasio Westlund took fourth in his heat in the 800 (2:01.69).
Both Jaguars teams will be back in action on Thursday at 3:15 p.m. at Del Norte to open league competition.

Fast, physical play has Jags’ lacrosse team thrilling the home crowd

Damian Stehly (in white) puts pressure on a St. Augustine attacker.

Valley Center’s JV boys lacrosse team has played a pair of thrilling games in the past two weeks, as the Jaguars rolled to a big win over St. Augustine on March 16 then came back from a two-goal deficit late in the game to register a tie against Rancho Bernardo on Friday.
The Jags jumped out to a big lead early in the game against St. Augustine and never looked back, as they cruised to a 6–3 victory.
Conner Macfarlane scored just two minutes into the game to get things started for the Jaguars, then Jason Blasius added a goal three minutes later and Sullivan Shimer closed out the first period with a goal that came 12 seconds before the whistle.
Leading by three after the first quarter, the Jags scored less than 30 seconds into the second period when Nick Sharp curled in front for the score. St. Augustine forced its way back into the game with two goals in less than 30 seconds to make the score 4–2 at halftime.
The teams traded goals in the third quarter, as Shimer scored his second of the game with just over two minutes left in the period. The Saints answered with only 19 seconds left in the quarter after a turnover in the Valley Center zone led directly to a goal.
As time wound down, the Jaguars got the insurance goal they were looking for when Macfarlane finished off a series of scintillating passes on the fast break with the score that sealed the win.
Friday’s game against Rancho Bernardo was a much more physical contest, and as both teams absorbed big hit after big hit, the Jaguars steadily clawed their way back into the game to make it a 5–5 tie.
The game might have turned out much differently had the first shot of the game, an absolute laser from Garrett Fiehler, found its way into the net instead of clanking off the post and finally coming to rest about 30 yards out of bounds.
But Fiehler wasn’t to be denied, as he took the ball from behind his own net, outran the defense and bounced a shot past the goalie to score the first goal of the game less than three minutes in.
Rancho Bernardo answered in the second quarter, scoring a goal on a shot to the top shelf just 48 seconds into the period to tie the game. The Broncos took the lead just over a minute later on a spinning shot that found its way home. The first half wound down as the physicality of the game heightened, punctuated by a big hit from Fiehler that earned him a penalty for unnecessary roughness.
Fiehler atoned for the penalty early in the second half, as he once again took the ball coast-to-coast and slung a sidearm shot past the goalie to tie the game up once again.
But the Broncos scored two quick goals as the third quarter came to an end, the first a bouncing shot with just over a minute on the clock and the second a Valley Center turnover that wound up in the back of the net with 43 seconds left in the third period.
The Jags came back with a goal from Blasius just over a minute into the fourth, but Rancho Bernardo pulled ahead by two with five minutes left in the game, using consistent pressure in the offensive zone to wear down the Valley Center defense.
Blasius scored another big goal a minute later, as he faked out his defender in the corner and found a sliver of open net for the score. As he put the shot home, one of the Bronco defenders delivered a crushing hit that temporarily knocked Blasius out of the game. The Broncos took an unnecessary roughness penalty for the hit, which led to a one-man advantage for the Jags.
Fiehler took advantage of the open space, as he casually drifted toward the zone and unleashed another sidearm shot from about 20 yards away that may have left a vapor trail.
As the final three minutes of the game ticked away, Fiehler had another shot ring off the post, then the Jaguar crowd leapt to its feet when defender Damian Stehly took off on a long run and let fly with a huge shot that just went wide as time expired.
Valley Center’s next game is at Scripps Ranch at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, then the Jaguars return home to face Serra at 6:30 p.m. on Monday.

Offense key for Lady Jags in big win, but untimely errors lead to tough loss

Jasmine Contreras smashes a home run against Westview.

A powerful offense has been the hallmark of the Valley Center varsity softball team so far this season, and the Lady Jaguars took advantage of their big bats in taking a big win over Holtville last week. But Wednesday’s home loss against Westview has the Lady Jags focusing on defense and fundamentals heading into the Jaguar Classic Tournament this week.
The Lady Jaguars hosted Holtville on March 18 and exploded for seven runs in the first inning en route to a dominating 12–2 victory.
After the big first inning, Valley Center added another run in the fourth before Holtville pushed two runs across in the top of the fifth. But the Lady Jaguars put the seal on the win with four runs in the bottom of the fifth to end the game.
Leadoff hitter Jasmine Contreras came up big with a home run and a double, with two RBIs and two runs scored, while Stephanie Koishor smashed a two-run home run in the game. Alex Scoles added a double and a single, with two runs scored and a stolen base, while Emma Sloman had two hits, two RBIs and two runs, Andrea Torres had a hit, two RBIs and two runs, Raelyn Rodriguez had a hit, an RBI and a run, Ashley Nuñez had a hit, a run and a stolen base, Anna Luna scored a run and Mindy Faber stole a base.
Anna Luna rips this pitch for a hit.

Sloman pitched an excellent game to get the win, giving up two runs on four hits, with two walks and six strikeouts, in five innings of work.
The Lady Jaguars couldn’t get in rhythm offensively at home on Wednesday against Westview, and a number of errors doomed them to a 9–2 loss.
Valley Center committed five errors in the game, and they came at the most inopportune times. The Lady Jags had three errors in the third inning and the Lady Wolverines scored four runs, then Valley Center made two errors in the fifth, allowing Westview to bring four more runs across to put the game out of reach.
The Lady Jaguars had another good start on offense, as Contreras blasted a solo home run to lead off the first inning. But they couldn’t bring another run in until the fourth, when Rodriguez drove in Luna from second base with an RBI single to right field.
Contreras led the offense with a home run, an RBI and a run, while Rodriguez had a hit and an RBI, Luna had a hit and a run, Koishor had two hits and Scoles had a hit.
Jill Johnson took the loss, pitching five innings and allowing nine runs on seven hits, with seven walks and two strikeouts.
The Lady Jaguars are 7–3 so far this season, with the Jaguar Classic Tournament beginning this week. Valley Center will play at La Jolla on Wednesday at 4 p.m. before returning home to host Kearney on Friday at 4 p.m. The Lady Jags also play a non-league game at San Pasqual on Saturday at 9 a.m.

Jaguars beat Fallbrook, but fall to San Marcos in volleyball

Taylor Oshinski keeps his eye on this serve.

It was an up-and-down week for the Valley Center varsity boys volleyball team, as the Jaguars rolled to a big win over Fallbrook to start the week, but came home to face San Marcos and suffered a tough loss as the week came to an end.
The Jags had everything working for them against Fallbrook last Monday, and they had no trouble finishing off a 3–0 win, with game scores of 25–15, 25–18, 25–20.
Taylor Oshinski was all over the court, registering eight kills and seven digs, while Beau Reilly had ten assists and six aces, Mitchell Rush had nine kills and Anthony Cozzi had ten assists.
Valley Center’s home game against San Marcos on Wednesday turned out much differently for the Jaguars, even though they fought hard until the end in a 3–0 loss, with game scores of 15–25, 18–25, 25–27.
After falling in the first game, the Jags battled for every point in the second game, never letting the Knights get ahead by more than four. After appearing to tie the score at 24 late in the second game, Valley Center was ruled to have been under the net on the point that would have kept them alive in the game.
Game three was another back-and-forth nail-biter, as San Marcos would pull ahead by three or four points, then the Jags would fight back and pull within one. The Knights had a chance to put the game away at 24–22, but two consecutive kills by Reilly pulled the Jags back even. San Marcos eventually held on for the win, but not without a valiant effort from Valley Center.
Oshinski once again led the way with 12 kills, while Reilly had five kills and five blocks and Rush had six kills.
The Jaguars are now 2–3 overall and 0–1 in Valley League play, with the next match coming at home on Thursday against San Dieguito Academy at 4:45 p.m.