Costa Mesa High School/Middle School

Costa Mesa High School
Location
2650 Fairview Road Costa Mesa, CA
Information
Type	Public
Established	1958
School district	Newport Mesa Unified School District
Principal	Phil D'Agostino (High School) Aaron Peralta (Middle School)
Grades	7-12
Enrollment	1864
Color(s)	Green and white
Mascot	Mustangs
Information	(714) 424-8700
Website	Costa Mesa High School website

Costa Mesa High School, otherwise known as CMHS or "Mesa," is a public middle school / high school for grades 7 through 12 located in Costa Mesa, California. It is part of the Newport Mesa Unified School District and is located at 2650 Fairview Road. The school's rival is Estancia High School. Their colors are green, white and black

Engineering

• Math Engineering Science Achievement

Notable People

• Sharon Day Class of 2002- 2008 Olympian Beijing - Women's High Jump, NCAA Champion at Cal Poly San Louis Obispo, winner of multiple CIF and State titles during her high school career.
• Brent Mayne class of 1986 is a former Major League Baseball catcher who has played with the Kansas City Royals (1990–1995, 2002–2003), New York Mets (1996), Oakland Athletics (1997), San Francisco Giants (1998–1999), Colorado Rockies (2000–2001), Arizona Diamondbacks (2004) and Los Angeles Dodgers (2004). Mayne batted left-handed and threw right-handed.
• Benito 'Benny' Concepcion Ricardo Class of 1971 was a Place Kicker in the NFL (1976–1984).
• Dan Quisenberry class of 1970 was a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher who played with the Kansas City Royals (1970–1988), St. Louis Cardinals (1988–1989), and San Francisco Giants (1990). Dan died of a brain tumor in 1998.
• Doug Brown—Driver's Ed Teacher and Football Coach- Played for the Oakland Raiders in the 1960s

Sports

• Cross Country
• Water Polo
• Cheerleading
• Swimming

Each year, rival football teams from Costa Mesa High School and Estancia High School play each other in a game known as the Battle of the Bell.

Swimming

From 2001 Mesa has been a small school power house in Orange County. From 2001 to 2005 the team was awarded the CIF Academic Award for Excellence. After three undefeated Golden West League Championships the 2005 Men's swim team placed 4th in CIF Division III with only four team members in the finals. The team of Adam Douglas, Evan Spencer, Kyle Thorsness and James Fowler won the CIF Championship in the 4 x 100 Freestyle Relay. Douglas, Thorsness and Spencer each recorded points in their non relay events to increase Mesa's point totals. They were the smallest represented swim team with a top five finish in the last 30 years. Spencer went on to University of the Pacific (Pacific) 2005 (Swimming & Water Polo). Thorsness went on to CSULB 2006 (Water Polo). Mesa has had both male and females advance to CIF every year from 2001 to 2010. The new state of the art 6 million dollar aquatic complex was completed and opened in 2010. CMAC (Costa Mesa Aquatics Club) was formed for youth ages 5-14 for Club Water Polo and Swim in 2010 in the new Aquatics Complex.

Drama

CMHS has a very notable Drama Club. Awarded numerous Cappie Nominations.

Notable Drama Alumni

Jaime Presley- Actress starred in Numerous Hollywood films and My Name is Earl tv Show Bret Anthony- Actor starred in Newsies, several TV sitcoms and commercials, Portrayed John Ritter in the Behind the scenes TV movie about Three's Company

M.E.S.A.

Math Engineering Science Achievement (M.E.S.A.) is an engineering program throughout California and eight other states. In 2003 Costa Mesa High School was the first student team to place first overall in the JPL Invention Challenge, beating the engineers from NASA in an aerodynamic competition on the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' famous flight. The Costa Mesa High School team was the first M.E.S.A. team to compete at the state and the national level from the Cal State Fullerton Center. In 2007 Costa Mesa won the California State Championship and placed third in the Nationals. The 2008 M.E.S.A. team again swept the state level competition and placed 3rd overall with two individual first place finishes in the National M.E.S.A. Engineering Design Competition in Maryland on June 19. The 2008 team consisted of Raymond Lumantas, Alex Krochman, Cory Kiefer, and Dante Flores (in order of age, ascending). They set an all-time state record of shooting 27 meters with their trebuchet. Steve Nelson was the M.E.S.A. Advisor. M.E.S.A. is looking forward to further state support as the state looks to bolster its math and science programs.

Water Polo

The Costa Mesa High School Water Polo team had an impressive DECADE OF DOMINANCE from 1986-1996. They were league champions and held numerous CIF titles. Water Polo Coaches

• Conroy
• Bell / Maness
• Shubert
• Olsen
• Shupp
• Lynch
• Krutzkamp
• Shupp 2000–2003 2nd Time Head Coach
• Postiff
• Taylor

Choir

The Costa Mesa High School choir department is divided into five different choirs: Girls Chorus, Boys Chorus, Concert Choir, Vocal Ensemble, and the Madrigal Choir.

Girls chorus consists of 7th and 8th grade girls. Boys Chorus is made up of 7th and 8th grade boys. Concert Choir is made up of 8th grade - 12th grade boys and girls, is an audition choir for 8th graders, and is an elective for 9th-12th graders. Vocal Ensemble is an audition choir for 9th- 12 grade girls. The most advanced choir is Madrigal Choir and is an audition-only 9th-12th grade boys and girls choir. The Madrigal Choir, commonly known as "Mads," is very selective and there is an equal number of boys and girls members. Currently all the choirs are under the direction of Jon Lindfors, who can often be seen drinking coffee in the Baker Street branch of Starbucks. In 2007, the Madrigal choir performed in Carnegie Hall under the conducting of John Rutter along with a few other selected choirs. In the previous years the Madrigal Choir also performed with American Idol finalist, Clay Aiken.

Cross country

One of Mesa's cross country coaches was Joe Fisher, a X-country legend from 1969 through 1980. He had a record of ten straight years of varsity dual meet league victories and, in 1976, won a high school CIF Southern Section championship at the boys varsity 3-A level. Costa Mesa High School varsity boys cross country has won the Orange County championships six times under Coach Fisher. This is the record holder of Orange County victories in the history of varsity boys cross country. Coach Joe Fisher was voted California high school boys cross country coach of the year in 1978.

Coach Joe Fisher inducted into the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame

http://articles.dailypilot.com/2002-07-29/news/export34534_1_newport-mesa-school-district-league-titles-mustangs

The 1976 Costa Mesa Boys Varsity Cross Country team was ranked 1st in the state of California & 4th in the United States. Coach Joe Fisher The 1976 Team Joe Young, Bill Kolar, John Gerhardt, Brian Thompson, Scott Scheid, Dave Sprague, Alan Overholt. Rankings in 1976 were published in The Harrier Magazine

The 1980 Costa Mesa Boys Varsity Cross Country team was ranked 1st in the State of California & 6th in the United States. Coach Joe Fisher The 1980 Team Scott Lacrosse, Mark Howard, Victor Herrera, Jon Crackel, Robby Kuehne, Mike Kleck, Ken Levy, Darrell Walker. 1980 XC Legacy Rankings http://www.xcnation.com/1980xclegacy.html

List of past cross country coaches:

• Brian Springer, 1967-1968 - guided boys varsity cross country team to first Irvine League Championship in 1968 after team went undefeated in league dual meets.
• Joe Fisher, 1969–1980
• Joe Busi - led the boys varsity cross country team in two Pacific Coast league championships in 1995 and 1996. Busi was the Orange County Register boys Coach of the year in 1995 & The LA Times Orange County boys Coach of the year in 1996. Coach Busi also led the girls varsity team to a Division III State victory in 1997.
• Mark Howard, 1987-2001 A Costa Mesa High School 1982 graduate. Led the 1990 boys varsity team to a 2nd place finish in the Pacific Coast League. Howard was the assistant Coach under Joe Busi when Busi led the boys varsity cross country team in two Pacific Coast league championships in 1995 and 1996.

Cheerleading

The 2007-2008 cheer squads won numerous awards based on their outstanding community involvement and philanthropic activities. They represented Costa Mesa High School at events like: the OC Fair, Susan G. Komen for the cure events, Relay for Life, City of Costa Mesa events, CHOC Walk, Collected items for wildfire victims, performed in a fashion show to benefit Olive Crest Charities and continued to cheer for all athletic teams at the school while maintaining an impressive 3.3 collective GPA. They won: The Presidential Volunteer Service Award, The NMUSD outstanding program award, The Volunteer recognition award from the Costa Mesa City Council, A certificate of Recognition Award from the California State Legislature, a top 10 finalist in the American School Spirit Awards and a judges favorite and they were the featured cheer squad on Varsity.com for the Month of December 2007. They also had several featured articles in the local newspapers.no The 2008-2009 squad continued the winning streak and were featured in several newspapers and magazines. The began to compete this year and won grand master champions as well as a bid to nationals. The 2009-2010 squad won many more honors and were featured in several articles in leading cheer publications and a 4 page spread as squad of the month in the April 2010 issue of American Cheerleader Magazine. The squad was also featured on national TV in an episode of ABCs Nightline and international TV in 60 minutes Australia. Won the American School Spirit Award for the 2009-2010 year, and accepted the award in Florida in February 2010 naming them the top cheer program in the nation. This year their coach was also named cheer coach of the year for the state of California, Nominated for the top youth group for the National Philanthropy Day award. CMHS cheer continued with their honors and Awards winning Co-Ed Large Varsity division champions and placing 2nd in the CIF state championships in 2010 and receiving a bid to nationals in Florida for UCA. They also were honored with the Volunteer Group of the Year for Susan G Komen OC.

Sadness

On Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 4:40 PM, eight-grader Eric Valdez collapsed at the Costa Mesa High School hand ball courts while playing with his friend and brother. Paramedics performed CPR on Valdez and then he was taken to Hoag Memorial Presbyterian Hospital at 5:04 PM where he was pronounced dead at 6:21 PM. The Orange County Coroner determined the cause as an unexpected natural death. After his death students made a large poster card made out of sheets poster paper at the school to remember Eric. They even wrote on the walls of the hand ball courts with permanent maker of the hand of a prayer to remember him. Also students wore Eric's favorite color, red, as a sign of respect. On Saturday, March 20, 2010, at the Harbor Trinity Church at Costa Mesa, friends of Eric were fundraising by washing cars and raising money to pay for the funeral services and to make a memorial for Eric at Costa Mesa High School. In August of 1987, Hidi Ja Ratliff was killed in a tragic airplane crash in Detroit, Michigan. Hidi was returning home to start her Senior year. She was an outstanding student and a member of the varsity cheer squad. A memorial service was held in the schools gymnasium where hundreds of friends mourned their loss. In Hidi's memory, her mother set up a scholarship and purchased the schools trophy cases. A memorial is located in the gyms entrance.

Links

• CMHS website
• Costa Mesa High School Cross Country History web site link
• The CMHS Choir website
• CMHS Band webpage
• Eric Valdez Death at CMHS

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