Latest news with #Koski
Los Angeles Times
18-05-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Connor Koski lifts El Camino Real to City Section Open Division boys' volleyball title
It was fitting Connor Koski clinched El Camino Real's championship with a block on match point in Saturday night's City Section Open Division boys volleyball final at Birmingham High in Lake Balboa. 'I timed my jump and I thought it was going out but I guess it hit [an opposing player's] foot on the way down,' said an exuberant Koski, who moved from middle blocker to opposite hitter before the playoffs. 'I asked [coach Alyssa Lee] to switch me and it worked.' El Camino Real's triumph culminated in a 25-21, 25-20, 20-25, 25-21 victory over top-seeded Venice, but the title was four years in the making. Eleven of the Royals' 12 players are seniors. 'We're all friends, we all trust each other and it's a dream come true to win a championship in one of our last matches together,' said Tyler Lee, who paced the squad with 14 kills. 'We've lost our share of five setters, so we wanted to end this thing in four.' Koski, El Camino Real's lone junior, had eight kills, including one to end the second set. Dev Vunnam and Christian Romero also each had eight kills, Jackson Riepe had seven and Nicolas Gerola served four aces, the first of which gave El Camino Real the first set. The third-seeded Royals (27-13) got hot at the right time and avenged a pair of West Valley League losses to Chatsworth by ending the Chancellors' bid for a third straight Open title with a shocking 25-23, 25-16, 25-22 semifinal upset Tuesday. 'I've known this group since their freshman year and I've push them hard in practice to prepare them for those situations,' said Lee, who understands the intensity of every match in the West Valley League, having played libero for Granada Hills before graduating in 2009. 'The physical talent is there but the mental training is so important. You have to stay focused and can't let up.' Lee coached the boys to the Division I title in 2016 (the Open Division debuted in 2018) and guided the girls to the Open championship in 2023. She also has coached the girls to two beach volleyball crowns. 'The first two times we played Chatsworth I just let the boys play but I game-planned a lot for the semifinals,' Lee said. 'We needed a big guy on the right like Connor to block and get some kills.' Trailing by four points early in the third set and in danger of being swept, the Gondoliers (36-6) used an 8-0 run to surge into the lead and finished it on Nathan Hoggatt's emphatic kill. Noah Smith had 10 kills for Venice, last year's Division I champion. Something had to give as Venice entered on an 11-match winning streak dating back to April 21 (dropping only one set in the process) while El Camino Real had won five consecutive matches and 15 straight sets since April 9. In Saturday's Division II final, hitter Izac Garcia helped Valley Academy of Arts and Sciences take home its first City title after a 20-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-15 triumph over Mendez, which was seeking its first crown since back-to-back Division III championships in 2021-22. Hamilton, last year's Division V champion, moved up to Division IV and beat Port of LA for the championship. In Division V, Wilson downed Harbor Teacher for its first-ever title. On the same floor Friday, top-seeded Taft captured its seventh section crown, sixth in Division I and first since 2015 with its 25-10, 25-20, 25-17 sweep of No. 2 Carson. Arman Mercado, who took over the girls' program in 2000 and the boys two years later, coached the girls to their first Open Division title in the fall and has guided the Toreadors to 22 finals appearances. East Valley swept Maywood CES for the Division III title — the Falcons' first in boys volleyball. Also on Friday, Mira Costa outlasted Huntington Beach in five sets in a South Bay showdown for the Southern Section Division 1 championship at Cerritos College. The top-seeded Mustangs prevailed, 25-19, 22-25, 25-19, 29-31, 15-11, behind 25 kills from Grayson Bradford — the last from the right side to end the match. Mateo Fuerbringer added 17 kills for Mira Costa, which fell in three sets to Loyola in the finals last spring. Logan Hutnick led the charge for the second-seeded Oilers, who staved off four championship points in a wild fourth set. It was the Mustangs' ninth section title and first since 2021. Mater Dei rallied to beat Peninsula 20-25, 25-17, 25-13, 25-19 in Division 2.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Minneapolis City Council member Emily Koski ends mayoral campaign
Minneapolis City Council member Emily Koski announced Monday she's ended her campaign for mayor. Koski, who represents Ward 11 in south central Minneapolis, is considered one of the council's more moderate Democratic members. In a statement Monday, Koski said she made the "difficult decision" to end her challenge to Mayor Jacob Frey. "I see a Minneapolis that is multigenerational, family-friendly and a city where residents feel they always come first," she wrote. "That vision still lives in me. It always will." "But I've come to a hard truth: under the current political climate, I can't be my authentic self and be a candidate in this race the way it demands," she continued. "I tried to balance it all—be a mom, build a great team, serve as a Council Member, raise a million dollars, show up for my kids, show up for every event, all while being a person driven by honesty and integrity." Koski has been an outspoken critic on what she describes as "toxicity" within Minneapolis politics — something she has often blamed, in part, on Frey's tenure. In her statement Monday, Koski said the environment within city politics "punishes integrity, vilifies collaboration, and prioritizes power over people." "It's a system where doing what's right isn't just difficult, it's discouraged at every turn," she wrote. Koski said she hoped her campaign could begin to foster "real, systemic, courageous change." "But instead of spending time with residents and talking about how to fix the real problems facing our neighborhoods, I found myself spending hours and hours fundraising just to stay afloat, working tirelessly to reject lies spread by anonymous donors and political action committees," she wrote. "That's not the city I want to lead—or the example I want to set for my children." Frey said he is seeking reelection to a "final term" as mayor, promising "good thoughtful governance" in a time of political "extremism." "I have stood up for what's best for our city even when it was not politically expedient to do so. It's time for us to love our city more than our ideology," he stated in a campaign message. "Together, we can make Minneapolis a national model for progressive governance that is laser-focused not on politics, but on delivering for residents." He faces a challenge from DeWayne Davis, lead minister of Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis; Howard Dotson, a pastor at Urban Presbyterian; Sen. Omar Fateh, a democratic socialist who is the first Somali American to serve in the Minnesota Senate; Jazz Hampton, a community advocate, attorney and business owner; and Brenda Short, who became a Minneapolis homeowner and small business owner after experiencing homelessness.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
School choice coming to Texas?
The Brief School choice legislation could pass the Texas House soon. House Bill 3 sparked fiery discussion from lawmakers in committee last week. School choice has been a top priority of Gov. Greg Abbott. AUSTIN - Leaders of the Texas House are facing a very big decision after last week's pressure-packed school choice rally and a marathon committee hearing on House Bill 3. House Bill 3 is the House's version of school choice. The bill is slightly different from Senate Bill 2, which passed last month. In order for any bill to reach the governor's desk, a backroom compromise will be needed. What they're saying FOX 7's Rudy Koski sat down with Mandy Drogin, the campaign director of Next Generation Texas at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, to discuss school choice. Drogin: "It's critical that all lawmakers realize that we can empower parents to make the best decision for their child and love their child and know where they should be going to school and empower them to make that choice." Koski: "Is this a punt on public education?" Drogin: "Absolutely not. I'm a public school parent myself. We have to acknowledge that there are 50% of the children in our classroom right now that cannot read on grade level. And that's been going on for over a decade […] This is not in any way saying that public schools should not be fully funded and lifted up. It means that every single parent should be in charge, and that a one-size-fits-all system based simply on the street that you live on, does not serve every child." Koski: "This current plan isn't every parent. It really isn't universal. The only universal part is the application process, not the selection process." Drogin: "The eligibility." Koski: "So a very limited number of people who are actually going to benefit from this program." Drogin: "I wouldn't say it's limited. 100,000 children will have access." Koski: "Of five million children." Drogin: "So let's be clear. We can do both. We can say what we want to do and then HB 2 has about 8 billion more dollars. We are going to spend more than $100 billion." Koski: "Opponents will say that's just a buy down. That's buying down the tax rate, and it's really not giving new money." Drogin: "Well, that is completely incorrect. There are two different pieces of legislation." Koski: "So, is it a labeling problem that the people are missing here? Drogin: "It's not a labeling problem. It's not a voucher, which is what opposition likes to use. No. An education savings account allows parents to truly customize their child's education […] it's not a scholarship. […] There is not going to be a mass exodus from our public school system. So claiming that it's not truly universal is false. Eligibility, every single child in the state of Texas is eligible. Now, the appropriation is what you're talking about. There is $1 billion appropriated this year. That would be enough for approximately 100,000 students whose families needed another choice. And then there's the prioritization. As we've heard in the committee, it is prioritized for low and middle-income families as well as our special education students." Koski: "Is the plan to come back later and create more money and is that contingent on the surplus?" Drogin: "At this moment? Yeah, absolutely. It's contingent on demand." You can watch 'Texas: The Issue Is' Sundays on your local FOX station or on the free FOX LOCAL app. The Source Information in this article comes from FOX 7's Rudy Koski's sitdown with Mandy Drogin of the Texas Public Policy Foundation and a House hearing on school choice legislation on Tuesday, March 11.
