Vallejo’s Ryan Bourland is a big name around Solano County because of his boxing resume but a relative unknown in the social media world.

Those two worlds collide Saturday in San Juan, Puerto Rico when the two face off in a cruiserweight undercard. Many consider Bourland (17-2, six knockouts) the underdog against the relatively inexperienced but powerful Paul (8-1, five knockouts).

“He’s a strong guy, and I know he’s knocked some people out,” Bourland said by phone earlier this month. “He’s pretty new to boxing. I’m pretty experienced, but I know he’s very dedicated. It should be a good fight. He’s a strong dude.”

The 35-year-old Bourland said the arena in Puerto Rico sits about 18,000 fans and is expected to be a sellout. The bout will begin around 4 p.m. on the West Coast and will be televised on DAZN, a subscription streaming service.

Bourland, nicknamed “Rhino” has been living in North Dakota since 2018 and working long hours on the oil rigs.

“It’s a very physical, tough job,” he said. “It’s long hours and the weather is very extreme. Mentally and physically, it’s very tough work.”

Bourland got married in North Dakota and just bought a house in Dickinson, N.D. area.

“I moved out here for work, but I continued to fight out here,” he said. “I continued to train at the gym. I haven’t had that many fights here, but I had one about a year and a half ago.”

Bourland knocked out Santonio Martin in the fifth round at Four Bears Casino in his last fight in 2022. His last fight in Northern California was in 2018 when he beat Jose Hernandez in a 10-round rematch in a super middleweight bout at Cache Creek Casino.

“I moved out here for work, but I’m always training,” he said. “I’m always in the gym.”

Bourland even ran a 58-mile marathon in June of last year through the mountains.

He had heard that Paul knocked a guy out and planned to fight again in March but didn’t have an opponent. Bourland Googled his manager and found him on social media. After some back and forth, they sent over the contracts, and Bourland signed.

Mario L’Esperance, Bourland’s coach when he trained in Solano County, flew out to North Dakota about 4-5 weeks ago, and the two have been training together.

“I’m still going to do what I do, but I think we have a great game plan for the fight,” he said. “I’m going to keep my same style, but it will be a different game plan than other fights.”

Paul rose to fame when he played the role of Dirk Mann on the Disney Channel series “Bizaardvark” for two seasons. He is known around social media circles because of his own YouTube channel. He dabbled in Mixed Martial Arts before moving to boxing.

Bourland knows that some people were surprised that a relative unknown was picked to fight Paul, but that’s OK with him. He joked with FightsATW that he was going to get some shirts made that said, “Who the f*** is Ryan Bourland?”

Paul is age 27 and Bourland is 35, but “Rhino” doesn’t see that as a disadvantage.

“I don’t feel old,” he said. “I’m in great shape. I’ve always taken care of my body.”

SJSU will be the practice home of the club for its inaugural season in the National Women’s Soccer League, which kicks off March 17 against Angel City in Los Angeles. Bay FC will play its home games at PayPal Park.

The team had 23 players take the practice field Tuesday, though a few were missing, notably Barcelona’s Asisat Oshoala and Madrid’s Racheal Kundananji, a pair of prolific scorers and two of the best players in Europe who will be joining the squad soon.

Until Tuesday, the club had been couch-hopping from place to place while practicing on three different training grounds in a hectic preseason that began in early February.

“We’re excited to be in Northern California, for the players to get settled in,” said head coach Albertin Montoya, the longtime club director at Mountain View Los Altos. “That’s really important. And for the coaching staff to get into their offices and get the lay of the land. Now we’ve got a great field here in San Jose State that we’re looking forward to playing on. We’re excited to get home and get started.”

Montoya began Tuesday’s training session by calling his team together and congratulating Scarlett Camberos, a former player with the Mexican women’s national team, on Mexico’s 2-0 victory over the United States in the CONCACAF Gold Cup on Monday. It was just the second time Mexico has beaten the U.S. women in 43 tries, and the first since 2010.

Montoya’s job will be to elevate the level of play of a talented roster that includes several players like Camberos, who have already been tested at the international level.

Historically, it’s been hard for expansion teams in the NWSL to make an immediate impact. The San Diego Wave is the only team to have been competitive in its first year as an expansion franchise.

But Bay FC has already invested heavily in its roster while luring several top players from Europe, including Kundananji, who commanded an estimated $789,000 transfer fee that set a new worldwide record for women’s soccer.

Deyna Castellanos, the captain of the Venezuela women’s national team and a proven goal-scorer who could operate out of an attacking midfield role for Bay FC, said the talented roster has big expectations.

“Winning the league, winning everything,” she said. “That’s the goal for all of us. We know it will be a hard year for us but we’re here to take the challenge. We like that.”

Montoya has been vocal about his desire to play a possession-heavy brand of soccer out of a 4-3-3 formation. General manager Lucy Rushton tried to recruit players who could fit. And through two preseason games, Bay FC out-possessed Angel City and San Diego, Montoya said.

“Preseason went really well for us,” he said. “We achieved what we wanted to do, getting the team to understand the way we want to possess the ball. And also controlling the tempo of the game as much as possible.”

Montoya wants to play out of the back with possession rather than using a more freestyle approach of clearing the ball up the field to escape danger.

“Obviously it’s a different style that most of the players are not used to,” Castellanos said. “But they’re getting what Albertin is asking from us. That’s something we wanted.”

Melissa Lowder, a former Santa Clara University standout competing to be the team’s starting goalie, said Montoya’s desire to play calmly out of the back has encouraged the players to solve problems.

“We were able to do that, build confidence playing out of the back under pressure in a real game scenario against a real opponent,” she said.

Bay FC will rely on some veteran center backs to control the tempo.

The club will likely deploy two-time NWSL champion Emily Menges, 31, and former Arsenal standout Jen Beattie, 32, to lead the squad from the back line, though Kayla Sharples, 26, has had a strong preseason and could push for playing time.

Savy King, the team’s first-round pick at No. 2 overall out of North Carolina, is transitioning from center back to left back, while veteran Caprice Dydasco is expected to play right back.

Positions have yet to be decided upon, however, as Montoya has made it a point to make every player earn their starting spot, no matter their pedigree.

“The coaches have really pushed us,” Lowder said. “We’ll be excited to show that to everybody.”

Montoya also wants his team to press high up the pitch to create quick counter-attacking opportunities.

“That’s going to be part of our DNA, hunting the ball down, having a mentality of winning it back as soon as possible,” he said.

It’s the trendy way of playing the game at the highest levels across the world. The question is whether or not Bay FC will have enough time to get its fitness and chemistry right before their first match on March 17.

“The chemistry has been absolutely incredible,” Montoya said. “Now the challenge is going to be when these other players arrive, because we have some really good players coming in who will have an immediate impact.”

Bay FC will continue training at SJSU until leaving for Los Angeles ahead of its season opener. The club plans to open practices to the public at some point this season.

US women’s cycling team Cynisca has been suspended by the International Cycling Union (UCI), the sport’s global governing body, for perpetrating a “fraud” and dressing a mechanic as a rider in order to avoid disqualification from a race.

In a statement, the UCI said Cynisca required five riders in order to take part in last July’s Argenta Classic in Belgium but arrived at the start line with only four.

The UCI said Cynisca’s then sports director, Danny Van Haute, told the four riders – Anna Hicks, Cara O’Neill, Katherine Sarkisov and Claire Windsor – to “lie about the whereabouts of a fifth rider,” who they said was ill.

After informing the team they needed a fifth rider in order to compete, the UCI said Van Haute told team mechanic Moira Barrett to wear a rider’s clothes and face mask, sign the start sheet as a rider and then present herself at the starting line.

“The above-mentioned members of the team were therefore all found to have participated in a fraud under article 12.4.008 of the UCI Regulations, with different levels of implication,” the UCI statement read.

In a statement sent to CNN, Cynisca called the incident a “one-time mistake by a rogue director.”

“At the time of the event, other team management/staff were unaware of the deception carried out by Mr. Van Haute and the mechanic,” the statement added.

“Upon learning of the incident, the team took actions internally and terminated all current and future relationships with Mr. Van Haute and the mechanic. The team then fully cooperated with the UCI investigation.

Cynisca said Hicks has also since left the team, adding: “The team looks forward to continuing our mission to advance more women in cycling.”

The UCI said Van Haute “was found to be the main perpetrator” and suspended from all cycling activity until December 31, 2025, as well as being fined.

Barrett, who the UCI said “played an active role in the fraud by wearing a rider’s clothes and attempting to sign the start sheet as the team’s fifth rider,” was suspended until September 1, 2024.

The four riders were given a reprimand, while the team has been fined and banned from the next race on the UCI International Calendar.

“The decision remains subject to a possible appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS),” the statement added.

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His club still has a designated player spot available, meaning it could add a player whose total compensation exceeds the maximum salary set by MLS, and the Quakes have a need at the No. 10 position.

“There’s always another addition,” Leitch said by phone Thursday. “Everyone always says, ‘there’s another player coming,’ or, ‘two players coming,’ or they don’t say anything at all. Depends on who you ask.”

If there are no more additions, the Quakes, owned by A’s owner John Fisher, expect to open the year with a similar payroll as they did last year, when their $14 million payroll ranked 18th out of 29 teams.

The roster is largely the same as it was last season, when the Earthquakes finished 10-14-10 while securing the ninth and final playoff spot.

But there was one change that, if successful, could end up shifting the way the Earthquakes look on the attacking end.

Cade Cowell, the 20-year-old United States youth national player who has long been viewed as a budding star, was sold to Chivas for a $4 million transfer fee, plus additional compensation tied to Cowell’s future.

In San Jose, Cowell showed only flashes of brilliance working primarily as a No. 11 on the left wing. He was not chosen to start their lone playoff game against Sporting KC (though he did impress after being substituted on in the second half). And he finished his MLS career with 10 goals in 104 matches over four years.

To replace him, the Quakes spent less money (about $270,000) to acquire a far more proven goal-scorer: Amahl Pellegrino, a 33-year-old from Norway who totaled a ridiculous 75 goals in two seasons playing in Eliteserien, the top Norwegian league considered somewhat comparable to MLS.

“Pellegrino was a late developer,” Leitch said. “He wasn’t lighting it up before 25. He’s coming on later on than most players, which is fine. We have a legend of our own in Chris Wondolowski, who came on a bit later in his development.”

Wondolowski wasn’t a regular starter until he was 27. He then scored double-digit goals in 10 straight seasons.

The Earthquakes see great value in their new left winger, Pellegrino, who is left-footed and can both create and score goals from the left side. The club already has MLS All-Star Christian Espinoza on the right wing. He’s coming off a season in which he scored 13 goals and added 13 assists.

The threat from the wings could take pressure off Jeremy Ebobisse, the 27-year-old striker who saw his goal production drop from 17 in 2022 to 10 in 2023 while being asked to play a more defensive role under first-year coach Luchi Gonzalez.

Everything under Gonzalez, the former assistant for the United States Men’s National Team, looked more defensive, but also more under control, more composed and more organized.

While the Earthquakes tightened up on the defensive end, cutting their goals allowed from a conference-high 69 in 2022 to 43 in 2023, they also looked tighter on offense, scoring just 39 goals, second-fewest in the conference.

In the end, the Earthquakes weren’t quite good enough to turn close games into wins on a regular basis. It’s why they led the conference with 14 ties and came up one point short of hosting a playoff game for the first time in PayPal Park’s existence.

On the upside, the fact that Gonzalez inherited a new team and immediately guided them to the postseason play-in game is a good sign. Their cautious playing style allowed them to stay close in games against teams with arguably more talent.

It’s exactly what happened in the playoffs, when they lined up against a strong Sporting KC side that wanted to attack. KC had most of the chances, but the Earthquakes held them to a 0-0 draw for the entirety of regulation before losing in penalty kicks, 4-2.

Looking back, that game looks like an example of the entire season: the Earthquakes played better than the sum of their talent, but they were cautious and didn’t look threatening until late in the game.

Leitch agreed with that assessment. He also said MLS teams tend to play passively while on the road in the postseason.

His hope this year is that the Earthquakes position themselves to host their first-ever playoff game at PayPal Park. If so, it’d be a magical year for the stadium, which is also the new home of Bay FC, the expansion team in the National Women’s Soccer League that will play its first home game on March 30.

The Earthquakes have their home opener on March 2 against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Here’s a sobering thought from The Athletic: all six of their MLS writers picked the Earthquakes to finish no higher than 11th out of 14 teams in the Western Conference. As of Thursday, DraftKings sports book ranked the Earthquakes 13th with long odds of plus-2,500 to win the conference.

Will they at least be better than they were last year? A lot depends on the impact of Pellegrino and the potential of a new acquisition at some point this season.

On defense, expect the Quakes to be solid yet again, this time with the addition of Portuguese center back Bruno Wilson and Brazilian left back Vitor Costa to protect the net in front of Brazilian keeper Daniel.

Watch out for these future stars: 18-year-old Niko Tsakiris and 17-year-old Cruz Medina, a pair of homegrown, Bay Area kids who are poised for breakouts at some point this year.

Here’s the club’s projected starting XI:

GK: Daniel

Defenders: Costa, Rodrigues, Wilson, Carlos Akapo

Midfielders: Jackson Yueill, Carlos Gruezo, Jack Skahan

Forwards: Pellegrino, Ebobisse, Espinoza

Leonardo Soulett, 32, of San Jose, was charged and Thursday. The murder charge filed by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office includes several potential sentencing enhancements based on the violence of the killing and the fact he is currently on probation for a 2023 criminal conviction.

He was scheduled for arraignment Thursday, but he did not appear in court; a deputy public defender and a bailiff said in court that he was not transported because he was “unstable.” The hearing was postponed to Friday.

Soulett was arrested after the noontime encounter Monday at Williams Liquor on Leigh Avenue. Officers responding to a report of a fight found an unresponsive man lying on the floor of the store, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. His name has not been released by coroner’s officials, but a probable cause affidavit — written by San Jose police and attached to the criminal charging complaint — identified him as Zachariah Fierro.

According to the affidavit authored by Detective Jose Montoya, multiple witness accounts and surveillance video from the store illustrated a sequence of events that began with Soulett entering the business with his 4-year-old daughter. A brief conversation took place between Soulett and Fierro.

“Without warning, the suspect (Soulett) ripped the victim’s (Fierro) shirt off his body and punched him, knocking him to the floor,” Montoya wrote. “The victim fell face first on the floor and then (Soulett) applied a rear-naked choke hold on the victim for approximately 8 minutes, killing the victim.”

There is no indication that any of the witnesses or a store security guard intervened while the alleged choking unfolded.

Soulett is a former amateur MMA fighter who fought out of Gilroy and had a 1-2 record in official bouts. His last sanctioned fight was in 2018.

In August 2022, court and police records show Soulett went on a rampage through a Morgan Hill grocery store in which kicked in a bathroom door, throwing a can of paint at a wall, throwing bottles of soda on the floor and throwing assorted construction materials out into the street. A police report stated that after his arrest and as he was being driven to jail, he was screaming and trying to hit his head on the walls of a patrol vehicle.

Soulett was sentenced in January 2023 to a short jail sentence — his jail time already served was factored — and probation after he was convicted of felony vandalism and misdemeanor battery on a peace officer.

Other court records show he is currently being sued by child-welfare officials for failure to pay child support for the daughter who was on hand for the Monday homicide.

Apple is taking an even bigger swing at sports.

The company on Wednesday launched Apple Sports, a free app for the iPhone that delivers real-time scores, key statistics, and live betting odds.

At launch, users will have access to live data from the NBA, NHL, and MLS, among other leagues. The app, Apple’s first in the sports arena, is being released ahead of March Madness, offering real-time data for both men’s and women’s NCAA basketball. Other leagues will be added over time, including the NFL and MLB.

“We created Apple Sports to give sports fans what they want — an app that delivers incredibly fast access to scores and stats,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services who oversees the app and was personally involved in its creation.

The app, which will not include advertising at its launch, represents Apple’s latest dive into the world of sports, a multibillion-dollar business that technology companies have made recent entrants into, challenging the legacy media companies who have traditionally held the lucrative broadcast rights. It also threatens to upend the mobile sports app space that has long been dominated by advertising-supported apps from ESPN and others.

While Apple Sports can alert users to where a game is being broadcast, it will not stream games directly inside the app, instead pointing users to the correct app to watch the action.

Technology and media companies are increasingly eyeing sports rights to amass a paying audience for their streaming services. In recent months, the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl shattered ratings records and NBCUniversal’s exclusive Peacock broadcast of a wild card game led to the biggest single day of streaming on record, according to Nielsen.

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Court records show this isn’t the first time 32-year-old Leonardo Soulett has been in this position: In 2020, he was arrested and later convicted of beating a relative and trying to strangle him with a ratchet strap at the Sunnyvale construction site where they were both working.

Soulett was arrested Monday at Williams Liquor in the 1000 block of Leigh Avenue, where the fatal encounter was reported just after 12:20 p.m.

A San Jose police news release would only confirm that a fight took place. But a source familiar with the homicide investigation told this news organization that Soulett placed a man — who he does not appear to have met before — into a chokehold that ended with the man’s death.

Responding officers found the man already unconscious, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. His name has not been released by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office pending his formal identification and notification of his next of kin.

Soulett is a former amateur MMA fighter who once fought out of Gilroy and had a 1-2 record in official bouts. His last sanctioned fight was in 2018.

He was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in 2021 stemming from a May 7, 2020 incident at a Sunnyvale home construction site where he worked alongside a man related to his wife, according to court records. The relative criticized him for ogling a female worker at the construction site, leading to a fight dominated by the 6-foot-2 Soulett that left the relative bloodied with his left eye swollen shut and a 3-inch cut on his head.

Near the end of the one-sided fight, Soulett grabbed a ratchet strap and tried to strangle the relative, who eventually broke free and ran away. The police report initially classified the assault as an attempted murder, owing to Soulett’s notably larger stature over the other man.

Soulett served just under a year in county jail after he pleaded no contest to the assault with a deadly weapon charge.

Two years later, in August 2022, court records show Soulett was convicted of felony vandalism and misdemeanor battery of a police officer after he went on a rampage through a Morgan Hill grocery store in which he was seen kicking in a bathroom door, throwing a can of paint at a wall, throwing bottles of soda on the floor and throwing assorted construction materials out into the street.

Police eventually arrested him; a police report states that as he was being driven to jail in a patrol car, he was screaming and trying to hit his head against the walls of the vehicle.

Other court records show he was currently being sued by child-welfare officials for failure to pay child support for his now-4-year-old daughter.

San Jose saw two other killings over the Presidents Day weekend. On Saturday night, police responding to a 911 call found a woman dead in a home in the 2300 block of Arden Way. Police said they suspected her boyfriend killed her and fled in a vehicle, but he died soon after in a car crash.

Just before 9 p.m. Sunday, police responded to a parking lot in the 3000 block of Story Road after a report of gunfire. There, officers found two people had been shot at a gathering that one witness said was a candlelight vigil. A man was pronounced dead at the scene, and a woman was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. Police discovered later that another woman who had been at the shooting site was dropped off at a hospital with gunshot injuries.

Anyone with information about the Monday homicide can contact the SJPD homicide unit at 408-277-5283 or email Detective Sgt. Rafael Varela at 3638@sanjoseca.gov or Detective Jose Montoya at 3644@sanjoseca.gov. Tips can be left with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or at siliconvalleycrimestoppers.org.

The group includes Olympic gold medal winners, league champions, record breakers, franchise architects, and MVPs. One member of the class will be the first representative from his team in the 46-year history of the BASHOF.

“We are extremely excited to induct the 2024 class into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame (BASHOF),” said Mario Alioto, Board Chair of BASHOF in a release. “Each of these individuals has achieved a rare level of success during their careers and helped bring worldwide attention to the Bay Area.

“It’s especially gratifying that this class also recognizes athletes in several sports that have been historically underrepresented in BASHOF relative to their positive impact on the greater Bay Area community.”

The class will be enshrined on May 6 during a ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero in San Francisco, with a portion of the proceeds of the event benefiting Special Olympics Northern California.

Here’s a look at the Class of 2024:

Marleau is the Sharks’ all-time leading scorer and the NHL’s all-time leader in games played. Marleau played his final NHL season in 2020-21 with the Sharks. Marleau was 17 when he was the second overall pick in the 1997 draft. He was a four-time NHL All-Star and won two Olympic gold medals with Team Canada (2010 and ‘14) and the World Cup of Hockey gold medal in 2004. He’s the second Sharks player to join the BASHOF, joining Owen Nolan.

Sabean is the longest-tenured general manager in San Francisco, overseeing the franchise for 20 seasons. He was the chief architect in the franchise’s three World Series titles in five seasons (2010, ‘12 and ‘14)  and his teams reached the playoffs seven times. He was named the MLB Executive of the Year award in 2003.

Thompson starred at Stanford, amassing 19 individual and relay NCAA titles over her career from 1991-1995, earning the honor of the outstanding college female swimmer of the year in her senior season. On the international stage, the Danvers, Massachusetts native won 12 Olympic medals (eight gold) across four Olympic Games between 1992 and 2004.

Wondolowski, a Danville native and De La Salle graduate, is Major League Soccer’s all-time leading goal scorer after tallying 171 over his 17-year career, primarily with the San Jose Earthquakes. He won two MLS Cups with the Houston Dynamo and led the Quakes to two Supporters’ Shields, capturing the league’s Golden Boot in 2010 for most goals scored and tying for the lead in 2012. Wondo is the first Earthquake to be named to the BASHOF.

Taylor played key roles on the 49ers’ three most recent Super Bowl-winning teams 1988 (XXIII), 1989 (XXIV), 1994 (XXIX). He caught the winning touchdown pass from Joe Montana in the closing seconds of Super Bowl XXIII against the Bengals. Taylor was a two-time Pro Bowl selection and was named to the NFL’s 1980’s All-Decade Team.

The design, created by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder, could help advance foams and padding that have been used for decades, improving safety and preventing head injuries.

“The need to protect fragile objects and human bodies is really widespread,” Lawrence Smith, an author of the study and CU Boulder doctoral graduate said. “It touches transportation, shipping and handling, sports, defense — all industries you’re trying to move things around safely.”

The researchers looked at how to improve the kind of foams found in items like bike helmets, football helmets or packing peanuts by focusing on structure and geometry. They discovered that their designs could absorb roughly six times more energy than standard foams made out of the same material and up to 25% more than other similar design structures.

“We’re doing this work to look at the relationship between material geometry and its ability to mitigate impact,” Robert MacCurdy, study author and CU Boulder professor in mechanical engineering, said. “Of course, it may someday be useful in helmets or pads or crash barriers or bumpers or packing materials, but we haven’t validated its use in any of these things. It’s just samples in the lab.”

Their goal was to find ways to improve impact mitigation, or minimize the impact from an outside force. For example, using foam within a football helmet to reduce the impact on a player’s head from a tackle during a game.

“Most folks have tried to make better materials … that have a greater ability to absorb or dissipate impacts,”  MacCurdy said. “What we have done in our lab is not that. We have not tried to create some new material, instead what we’ve tried to do is discover a new arrangement of material.”

MacCurdy and Smith used a 3D printer to create testable samples of the foam.

“Bringing (samples) to life with a 3D printer and then smashing them with this test apparatus was really exciting,” Smith said. “A lot of the work we do in research is a little abstract and maybe even theoretical, so to have the chance to take real data on our actual designs in a real impact scenario was really fun.”

By using this design and geometry-driven approach, MacCurdy hopes they can make foams that have a broader bandwidth for mitigating impact. For example, when riding a bike, there’s no way to know in the event of a crash if it will be low-speed or high-speed. Regardless, the helmet needs to perform well. The team of researchers aims to create a geometry that performs well no matter the scenario.

MacCurdy said impact mitigation is widespread, and the need is universal.

“It’s just everywhere,” he said. “I used to play hockey until I had two concussions, for example, and hockey is not thought to be one of the more dangerous sports for concussions, but it affected me. People are talking about that in all kinds of contact sports. I continue to ride my bike and I wear a helmet when I do it, and I ski and I wear a helmet whenever I do that. So I’m hopeful that this approach is relevant in those kinds of applications.”

Smith said he hopes their research generates interest and gets more people researching so that eventually the technology is commercialized.

“Eventually, (I hope) this tech is commercialized and we can start making everything from helmets to knee pads to transportation packaging safer,” Smith said.

But that feel-good moment came to an abrupt end when 26-year-old Chris Wessels’ tone turned, and he uttered: “I feel like I’m going to faint.”

Then he slumped over onto his surfboard. His heart had stopped.

Friends Jeffrey Weber and Shayla Bauer frantically paddled him to the sand, pleading with others to call 911.

Weber put his hands onto Wessels’ chest and pressed down. A scene from the popular television show “The Office” played in his head – in the episode, during a CPR class, actor Steve Carell pressed down on a dummy to the song “Stayin’ Alive” as a way to remember how to time the compressions.

“Ah, ah, ah, ah, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive,” the beat racing through Weber’s mind with each chest compression.

California dreamin’ 

Samantha Dellenoci and Wessels met while in college in Maryland. That was October 2019 and less than a year later, the pair moved to Orange County to start their lives together.

“We both had the California dream,” Dellenoci said. “Once we got here, we just made it our home.”

And part of that dream was learning to surf, hitting the waves two or three times a week between Newport Beach, Dana Point and San Onofre.

“We were just loving starting our day together in the ocean, that for us felt so spiritual,” she said. “It was just so grounding for us.”

The couple created a community here, meeting on Friday mornings at Blackies beach in Newport Beach with fellow surf enthusiasts, including Weber and Bauer, and making friends at Canopy Church in Costa Mesa.

The couple stayed active together, both running a half marathon in San Diego in December, exactly one month before Wessels’ heart stopped.

“He was in great shape and his heart withstood a half marathon,” Dellenoci said. “And then he’s out on his surfboard and his heart stops. It’s mind boggling.”

Stayin’ alive

On a recent day driving to Hoag Hospital to visit his friend, Weber recounted that fateful Jan. 16 morning in Huntington Beach; they were surfing off the dog beach, a remote area tucked behind cliffs where lifeguard towers are spread far apart.

They were about 20 minutes into their surf session when Wessels passed out and had no pulse.

“We didn’t know if it was serious or what was happening initially,” Weber said. “We paddled toward him and realized quickly there was something wrong.”

Even with small waves, getting Wessels to shore wasn’t easy, Weber said. They managed to wedge him between their boards and paddled him to shore, screaming out to two young surfers “We need help, now!”

“The transition from getting someone on the board to the beach was the hard part. He was limp and heavy so it took us longer to get him out and out of the waves,” Weber recounted. “It was a really freaky moment.”

Weber had taken a CPR course in high school, and somehow instinct took over. Then, as he pressed down, the melody from “The Office” episode kicked in.

“Ah, ah ah ah, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive…” 

“Even though it was super serious, I had that ringing in my head,” he said.

“I can do this,” he remembers thinking.

Bauer was on the phone with lifeguards, the operator on the other line counting out the beats.

“We were spiraling, mentally, trying to realize what happened, there were so many thoughts in our brains,” Weber said. “A lady walking her dog and a man came up and they were just quick to be there and stop what they were doing to help.”

They took turns pumping onto Wessels’ chest until first responders showed up.

Weber never caught the passersby’s names, he simply gave them hugs before they parted ways on the sand as Wessels was rushed away in an ambulance.

“They helped save his life as much as we did in those moments before the first responders came,” he said. “That was the crazy thing, for strangers to come and help. We are super grateful for them.”

Blessings

For Dellenoci, the kindness of others is what has been giving her comfort during the hard days since. Wessels was kept in a medically-induced coma for days, and then was on a ventilator, then slowly was able to give a peace sign.

His brain is foggy and slow, but he kisses Dellenoci on the cheek. He’s smiling and laughing. But even simple memories or tasks like walking and talking remain challenging.

“We have to be patient, but we are really hopeful with time and proper care and experts doing what they can that he will continue to make steps. We’re praying for a full recovery,” Dellenoci said. “It’s a crazy and horrible situation, but there’s been a lot of blessings along the way.”

Doctors still don’t have an explanation of why Wessels heart suddenly stopped. But it is clear that he will need much therapy and rehabilitation in the months, maybe years, to come, Dellenoci said.

He has been accepted into the Fudge Family Acute Rehab Center at Hoag Hospital, where he will get at least three hours of therapy, five days a week.

Friends set up a GoFundMe, already raising nearly $35,000 from the community to help toward what will no doubt be a pile of medical bills.

Wessels’ family recently met with every first responder who helped keep him alive that day, from paramedics to firefighters and lifeguards, thanking them for their part. They all said the same thing: Had Weber not started CPR right away, his friend would not be alive.

From the beach to the hospital, Wessels went without his own heartbeat for 45 minutes.

With so much unknown, Dellenoci had to cancel their big wedding planned for Feb. 24 overlooking the ocean at Casa Romantica, but hopes her fiance will be well enough to say “I do” during a small ceremony on that same day they picked to wed.

“My hope is to just marry the guy,” she said. “He is the love of my life.”

Whatever happens in coming days and months and years, she wants the people who have helped them on their journey to know they have made a difference.

“We have so much love holding us up,” she said. “You just start to realize how many people it took to get him to where he’s at now. This was such a crazy, horrible thing that happened, but the community is caring for him. It’s amazing to be a part of. I felt so safe and that God’s got this and there’s no need for me to worry and try and control the situation. The gift of that has shown up every single day.”

What’s also apparent is how CPR helped in those critical moments. Friends and family are already talking about organizing a CPR class for anyone who wants to attend.

Dellenoci is especially thankful to their friends for being next to Wessels and giving him the heartbeat he needed to survive.

“I think it was really difficult for them to witness,” she said. “But we have been covering them in prayer for peace and healing and blessing, because they saved his life.”

Weber is glad, he said, he remembered the basics from his high school class – and that he caught that Office episode years ago that was somehow still deep in his mind.

He also wants to urge people to learn CPR, in case there is ever a friend or stranger in need.

“I feel like it’s a no-brainer, to at least have that awareness,” he said. “It’s such a basic thing, but it’s a lifesaver.”

Want to learn CPR? Go to redcross.org to schedule a class.