Latest news with #LagunaBeachHigh
Los Angeles Times
16-05-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Chase Shipp, Corinna Ruffini medal at CIF State Diving Championships
Laguna Beach High senior Chase Shipp and Newport Harbor junior Corinna Ruffini each medaled at the CIF State Diving Championships on Thursday at Clovis Olympic Swim Complex. Shipp, bound for Harvard, finished fourth place in the boys' competition with 509.55 points. Ruffini, a University of Houston commit, was fifth in the girls' competition with 451 points. Shipp, making his third appearance at the CIF State Championship meet, earned his best finish. He was seventh last year as a junior and sixth as a sophomore. The two-time CIF Southern Section champion said in a text message that his dives felt less consistent than they had been lately, but he couldn't complain about fourth place. 'As I close out my high school dive career I especially want to thank my coach, Curt Wilson, for his steadfast support,' Shipp said. 'I'm looking forward to seeing the next group of Laguna divers on the podium at CIF. Go Beach!' Ruffini earned her first medal at the state meet, as she finished 14th last year as a sophomore. 'It was a super fun meet with some good competition!' she said in a text message. 'I've been pretty sick all week and haven't been able to practice at all, so I really surprised myself with my performance since I wasn't feeling my best. I'm hoping that next year I can come back in better health and hopefully take the title as state champ!' Newport Harbor junior Violet Carone finished 11th at state finals in the girls' competition, while Edison sophomore Allison McNichols placed 18th.
Los Angeles Times
09-05-2025
- General
- Los Angeles Times
Laguna Beach Garden Club tour a showcase of collaboration and culture
Boundless beauty awaited hundreds who wanted to take a peek at the properties included on a gate and garden tour in Laguna Beach. Enchanting fairy gardens and fountains, lush green backyards with side entrances through towering hedges, and an exotic ceramic scarecrow draped in vegetation were just some of the sights on the walking tour. The Laguna Beach Garden Club organizes the tour, holding it annually on the first Saturday in May. As a primary fundraiser, the event allows the club to support several causes, including educational school gardens, local scholarships and community projects. 'We give scholarships to Saddleback College, to horticulture students, or college-bound seniors from Laguna Beach High who are interested in horticulture,' said Karen Nelson, the club's director of media publicity. 'We've donated and built the educational gardens at El Morro and Top of the World elementary schools and Thurston [Middle School]. … If you can get kids to grow stuff, they'll eat the stuff that they grow, and so there's a whole other way to teach them how to eat properly.' More than 600 people joined the gate and garden walking tour in its 20th year, which featured eight homes in the Lower Bluebird Canyon neighborhood. It's a chance for the horticulturists to appreciate gardening efforts in the community. For those less familiar with the subject, it presents an opportunity to be exposed to and learn about different types of plants. The garden club supplies a team to identify various species and genera of plants by placing labels in the flower beds, said Susan Denton, the tour director. Anemone, calla lily, cymbidium, euphorbia, hellebore, lithops, lobelia, Mexican mint, Santa Barbara daisy and veltheimia were among the plants pointed out to the patrons. The event was put on in collaboration with multiple groups, including local beekeepers, the Laguna Plein Air Painters Assn. (LPAPA) and the Laguna Beach County Water District. Those partnerships have become increasingly visible. In March 2024, Matt Willey's 'The Good of the Hive' bee mural went up on a wall outside the water district, a project that came together after the artist was a guest speaker for the club. Laguna Beach will celebrate its centennial year since it was incorporated as a city on June 29, 2027. The garden club was around in its infancy, and the water district is currently celebrating its 100th anniversary. 'In 1928, there were 275 actual full-time residents in Laguna Beach, and 205 of them were members of the garden club,' Nelson said, noting the history of the club. More recent history has brought forth the gate and garden tour, and now a hat contest, which has happened around other notable events known to put fashion in the spotlight. 'The first year we did, it coincided with [King Charles III] being coronated in England,' Nelson said. 'This year, it coincides with the Kentucky Derby, as it did last year, so kind of a double theme there. The hat contest kind of just keeps rolling.' Ally Cook, owner of the Lucky Cowboy hat bar in Laguna Beach, chaired the committee for the hat contest, which sported competitors in the categories of 'Best in Bloom,' 'Pollinator's Paradise' and 'Garden Party Glam.' The activities take place at the water district property, where tour participants also board buses to be transported to the featured properties in a given year. 'It also gives people the ability to come and see our demonstration garden,' said Christopher Regan, assistant general manager at the water district. 'The synergy between the right way to do gardening in Laguna and also our district being part of the fabric of this community — we are one of the oldest government agencies in Laguna — so having that ability to partner with other established organizations in town that have the same message that we do, it just fit together. 'We actually help each other. They get a great venue with us as name recognition, and we get the ability to reach 600 to 800 on that tour date that wouldn't normally come to our garden, wouldn't normally come to our district and hear about our message.' A property on the tour received recognition as the 'Most Waterwise and Fire Safe Gate and Garden.' '[The homeowner's] water usage was low for the amount of plant material that he had, for how beautiful it was,' Regan said. 'It was a perfect representation. It was drought-tolerant plants, it was low irrigation, it was beautiful, which is one of the huge things that we try to point out to people. You can have a beautiful landscape that is water-efficient. 'Their landscape personified that. … It still had some really cool things. It had a treasure chest in there. It was funky. It was Laguna.' Throughout the tour, participants gazed upon more than plants, also watching the painters who replicated the natural beauty in their midst. On a dreary, cloud-covered day, the artists stationed at the respective properties had more time than usual to capture their surroundings. 'The idea is for them to just be into the creative process, so when people are walking by, they can see the progress of the painting,' said Bonnie Langner, executive director of LPAPA. ''En plein air,' which means outside, usually a painting has to be done within a couple hours because the light changes. That was kind of a little different this weekend because we were drizzling the whole time, so the light didn't really change.' LPAPA artists seen on tour included Carole Boller, Denise Bradley, Tim Bush, Joni Emily, Mark Jacobucci, Kelley Mogilka, Lisa Mozzini-McDill, Nadalena Radis-Cobbs, Diane Snyder, Renae Wang, Kathleen Williams and Mason Williams. The painters acted as ambassadors for the local arts organization, and some sold the pieces they were working on to the owners of the homes, Langner said. 'The collaboration is a match made in heaven,' Langner added. 'Many of our artists paint flowers. That's what they do. They make a living painting flowers. … Our painters come in and love the exposure.'
Los Angeles Times
08-05-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
4 local high school divers advance to CIF State meet
WALNUT — Laguna Beach High senior Chase Shipp saved the best for last on Tuesday afternoon at the CIF State diving qualifier. He nailed his sixth and final dive, a reverse 1 ½ somersault 2 ½ twist free. The seven judges gave him a total score of 64.50, his top mark of the day. 'I was really happy with it,' Shipp said. 'I knew that I had to hit it to hopefully get first. I would have liked another four points on it hopefully, but it's all good. I felt the board really move well under my feet, and felt the entry line up pretty well.' Shipp ended up placing a close second to Grant Schneider of Capistrano Valley Christian at the qualifier meet, held at Mt. San Antonio College. The effort was more than enough to get him to next week's CIF State Meet for the third time. Edison sophomore Allison McNichols and Newport Harbor juniors Corinna Ruffini and Violet Carone also advanced to the state meet. Diving finals for boys and girls will be held May 15 at Clovis Olympic Swim Complex. McNichols qualified third from the CIF Southern Section on the girls' side, with Ruffini in fifth. Carone took the sixth and final qualifying spot, among the 12 divers assembled for Tuesday's meet. The conditions were cool and misty Tuesday, so the hot tub was the area of choice when the divers weren't actually executing their 1-meter dives. 'It could be a lot worse,' noted Shipp, who is bound for Harvard University. 'Last weekend, up at Novato [at the USA Diving Junior Region 10 Championships], 20 miles per hour gusts were literally blowing people off of the boards.' Shipp, who won his second straight CIF Southern Section Division 2 title last week, has little left to prove but is looking for a solid meet to cap his high school diving career. He finished seventh at the state meet last year, and sixth as a sophomore. 'I'm just going in there hoping to do as well as possible,' he said. 'I don't see a big difference in it being senior year. I'm just going out every time to do the best I can.' McNichols is headed to the state meet for the first time, and said she was thrilled. She started strong on Tuesday, with her first dive, an inward 1 ½ somersault pike, netting her a score of 50.40 that tied for her best. 'That's probably my favorite dive,' she said. 'I feel like that dive, I always hit really good. I really like it. At practice it's always a good, solid, consistent dive for me.' Newport Harbor's Ruffini and Carone are headed to the state meet for the second and first time, respectively. Ruffini, who finished second at the Division 1 finals, overcame a rough start with her second dive Tuesday. Her final dive, a forward 2 ½ somersault tuck, earned a score of 50.40 that was tops among girls' divers in the sixth round. 'My first two dives weren't my best, but I definitely came back,' she said. 'My last few, I had better scores on, which I was really stoked about. At state, I'm just going to need to be a little bit more consistent. That's definitely something that I've been working on this year, consistency.' With only the top six divers in each gender moving on, other locals saw their seasons end Tuesday. Newport Harbor junior Nikka Asgarian placed eighth at the qualifying meet on the girls' side, while Edison senior Ian Dien finished 12th on the boys' side. Asgarian, who dives club for Crown Valley Divers along with Shipp and Carone, was one of the most vocal in encouraging her fellow competitors after strong dives. McNichols and Ruffini dive for Coast Divers, which is headed up by Newport Harbor coach Kaeden Cogbill. 'We're not just competitors, we're all really good friends,' Shipp said. 'It's a really tight-knit community. That's one of the things that makes diving so much fun, instead of just intense, that collaborative community.'
