Kristich Sisters Lift La Habra to New Heights

I am short. My family is short. My dog is short. For 5-foot and not-quite-an-inch me, life is best viewed on tippy-toe.

Oversized fashion is a cruel joke; baggy pants a bane to my existence. In a world that’s always two sizes too big, my credo is this:

I hem, therefore I am.

Maybe that’s why I find Ana and Zrinka Kristich, the two towers of La Habra High School’s girls’ volleyball and basketball teams, so fascinating.

Ana, a senior middle blocker and forward, is 6-2. Zrinka, a junior outside hitter and center, is 6-5.

It’s almost difficult to imagine how wonderful this must be.

To stand on the sideline during football games and not need a 30-inch vertical leap to see over the players--or even the ball boys? Such a deal.

To look down on your teachers, administrators and coaches while they’re trying to criticize you? Pretty nifty.

To be able--as Zrinka is--to reach over the net without jumping? Cowabunga.

Some old-fashioned types might feel sorry for the Kristich sisters, thinking the girls might feel awkward and insecure about their height. Nope. Not even close.

“We love being tall,” says Zrinka, named for Zrin, the Croatian town where her father was born. “Lots of times I’ll just be standing there and I’ll notice people staring. I just smile at them and say ‘6-5.’ It’s a great way to make friends.”

Aside from their blonde hair, green eyes and love for volleyball, basketball and palachinka --a Croatian dessert of crepes stuffed with preserves and cheese--Ana and Zrinka have little in common.

Zrinka is outgoing and gregarious--making new friends is one of her favorite hobbies. Ana is quiet and shy, preferring to spend her spare time reading, especially mysteries.

Zrinka, known to her friends as “Z,” subscribes to an electronic mail system, meeting and getting to know people through her computer. She’s big on the environment--the failure of the Big Green initiative at the polls this month infuriated her--and belongs to a Greenpeace-type organization called Beyond War.

Ana wants none of this. She works three nights a week bagging groceries, and maintains a 4.0-plus grade-point-average, as does her sister.

Zrinka loves to dance. Ana doesn’t care for music. Zrinka gets dressed up for school. Ana wears shorts, sweats and hightops. Zrinka is a part-time model. Ana is camera shy.

Zrinka’s room is plastered with pictures of friends. Ana’s walls have posters of the Bahamas and mountain scenes. Zrinka loves candy corn. Ana prefers Fig Newtons. . .

On the court, Zrinka is aggressive, and Ana is more graceful. La Habra volleyball Coach Sandy Blumenthal says both are Division I players.

Tuesday night, Zrinka had 12 kills and Ana eight as La Habra defeated La Jolla, 15-4, 15-4, 15-7, in a first-round match of the Division II Southern California regional playoffs.

The victory was La Habra’s 42nd in a row. Three more victories will give the team its second consecutive state championship.

Too tall of a challenge? Not for these skyscraper sisters.

The football highlight of last week was at the Edison-Rubidoux game Friday. Despite his team getting pounded by a 4-6 team, Edison Coach Dave White never lost his cool.

Throughout the game, White made a point to pat his players on the shoulders, offering praise when deserved and a reasonable, controlled talking-to when a player made a mistake, proving again he’s a class act all the way.

Two minutes before race time at the Southern Section cross-country championships Saturday, Corona del Mar Coach Bill Sumner got some bad news. His No. 3 runner, Tim Timmons, said he had an injured knee and couldn’t run.

Sumner went to his first alternate, Steve Lesieur. Lesieur said he had a cold and a bad side ache. Sumner went to the second alternate, Khris Hirtz. Hirtz said he was ready, but he didn’t have a uniform or his racing flats.

The announcer called the Sea Kings to the starting line for the third and final time.

Hirtz borrowed some shoes and a uniform, made it to the line just in time, and eventually finished as Corona del Mar’s fifth man. His performance was the difference in the Sea Kings qualifying for Saturday’s state championships.

Add cross-country: Santa Ana Valley’s season came to an end Saturday, leaving the team to contemplate a lot of would’ves, could’ves and should’ves.

At the beginning of the season, Falcon Coach George Payan decided he would hold his boys’ team out of all invitationals--except for the Orange County Championships--so it would better be able to peak for the state championships, which he believed his team could win.

“The kids are all angry because I told them we weren’t going to any invitationals,” Payan said in September. “But I said, ‘Hey, do you want the fun of invitationals or do you want to win the whole banana.’ ”

Forget the banana, Santa Ana Valley isn’t even getting the peel; the Falcons failed to qualify for the state meet last week.

High school cross-country, like most high school sports, should emphasize participation, and give athletes the chance to compete as much as possible. Invitationals, generally low-key affairs, allow runners to experience the sport in full. A runner can test his mental and physical toughness, but without the pressure that comes with league, section and state meets later in the year.

Next year, Payan should forget the “whole banana” and aim instead for a complete season.