Boys' tennis: Quarterfinal matchups set for Division I playoffs

We're through two rounds of the Southern Section-Toyota Division I playoffs and each of the top four seeded teams are still alive. On Tuesday's slate are two particularly intriguing quarterfinals.

The first pits No. 5 Harvard-Westlake against No. 4 Peninsula in a rematch of a regular-season meeting won by Peninsula. In the other, second-seeded and unbeaten Santa Barbara should get its first real test from a Thousand Oaks squad that features a formidable singles trio in Kyle McMorrow, Denis Lin and Marcos Giron. 

Reigning champion and top-seeded Irvine University is rolling along, having won 35 of 36 sets so far, and will be a heavy favorite to eliminate Troy and advance to the semifinals. Third-seeded Mater Dei, which has lost only to University, must knock off Dana Hills to set up a final four showdown against the Thousand Oaks-Santa Barbara winner.   

Click here for a look at the bracket.

-- Steve Galluzzo

Swimming: Hart's girls open Div. III finals setting a meet record

The Newhall Hart girls’ swimming team opened the Southern Section-Toyota Division II finals in record-breaking fashion and ended it as team champion.

The Indians scored 207.50 points at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach, easily outdistancing runner-up Westlake, which had 165. Flintridge Sacred Heart was third with 139.

Hart won the meet-opening 200-yard medley relay in 1 minute 47.81 seconds, surpassing the previous meet record of 1:48.59 set by Corona del Mar three years ago. Sophomore Maggie Hanson led off, followed by junior Jordan Danny, senior Rachael Krager and junior Rachael Stoffel.

Badminton: Villa Park wins boys' doubles, San Marino takes girls'

A pair of brothers and sisters took home the Southern Section-Toyota badminton individual boys' and girls' doubles titles at the Orange County Badminton Club.

The top-seeded duo of Calvin and Marvin Lin of Villa Park won their second consecutive boys' title by beating the second-seeded team of Derrick Poon and Hy Ia of Alhambra, 17-16, 15-13. Poon and Ia were up, 14-5, in the first game, but the Lins rattled off nine unanswered points to tie the score. They used the momentum they gained to win the match.

The second-seeded team of Cheryl and Chloe Chow of San Marino upset the top-seeded team of Isabel Zhong and Victoria Bundy of Mira Costa, 15-4, 11-15, 15-1, to win the girls' title.

-- Jaime Cardenas

Swimming: Oaks Christian's boys set Div. III meet records in two relays

When it comes to team efforts, few can keep up with the Westlake Village Oaks Christian boys’ swim team. The Lions set meet records in the 200-yard medley and 200 freestyle relays at the Southern Section-Toyota Division IV finals Saturday afternoon at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach, giving the program all three meet relay records in only its second year in the division.

Oaks Christian broke the 400 free relay mark last season en route to setting a meet record with 419 points.

The Lions came close to matching that mark on Saturday, winning six of eight individual events and all three relays to help bolster their winning point total to 377. Cerritos finished a distant second with 169 points.

Badminton: Garden Grove's Hoang wins girls' singles title

Garden Grove's Thuy Hoang and Hacienda Heights Wilson's Qiu-ming Wu proved that the girls' singles finals was the finals match to watch.

After losing in the finals each of the last two seasons, top-seeded Hoang, pictured, finally broke through and won her first Southern Section-Toyota badminton individuals championship, but needed three sets to do it, winning, 11-1, 6-11, 11-4.

Second-seeded Wu had only lost only one point the entire day as she headed into the finals at the Orange County Badminton Club. She was tough, but Hoang proved tougher.

Hoang's drop shots and ability to set the pace proved the difference. Both girls are juniors, so it's quite possible they will meet in the finals again next year.

-- Jaime Cardenas

-- Image by Jaime Cardenas

Badminton: Anaheim Canyon's Shu wins boys' singles title

Anaheim Canyon's Howard Shu, pictured, didn't need a lot of time to win his third consecutive Southern Section-Toyota boys' singles title.

Shu, a junior, needed fewer than 20 minutes to beat Fountain Valley's Eric Kuo, 15-5, 15-7, in the finals at the Orange County Badminton Club. Shu, the top-seeded player, did not lose a game all day.

After the match Kuo, a junior and the third-seeded player, was in good spirits and kept saying to anyone who would listen that Howard was at "full-power" for their match.

-- Jaime Cardenas

-- Image by Glenn Koenig/Los Angeles Times

Track and field: Radke sets Division IV meet record in pole vault

To say that I had a busy afternoon during Saturday's Southern Section-Toyota Division IV preliminaries at Carpinteria High would be an understatement. Chasing around after all those athletes and gathering official times, honestly, it felt like I was competing at times.

With so much going on, there was no possible way to catch every event. But those in attendance to see Lauren Radke of Oaks Christian participate in the pole vault were treated to a record-breaking performance as the senior cleared 12 feet.

-- Sean Ceglinsky 

Track and field: Woodruff is in a class all her own

Got to admit something ... After watching my fair share of talented athletes at the Southern Section-Toyota Division IV preliminaries at Carpinteria High, I came away most impressed with Yasmin Woodruff of St. Mary's Academy.

The senior is flat-out talented.

Earlier today, I blogged about how impressive she looked in the 100 meters. Woodruff then proceeded to outdo herself in the 200 meters, completely outclassing the competition and winning in 24.60.

-- Sean Ceglinsky

Track and field: There's a reunion, of sorts, in the hurdles

Races don't get much more competitive than the girls' 100-meter hurdles during Saturday's Southern Section-Toyota Division IV preliminaries at Carpinteria High. Guess that's what happens when three of the top finishers in the event from a season ago get together in the starting blocks.

Marlborough's Ashtyn Baltimore used last year's third-place finish as motivation this time around, winning in a time of 14.40. Malibu's Emani Truluck, second last season, duplicated that feat with a time of 14.50 to narrowly edge defending champion London Finley of St. Mary's Academy, who finished in 14.51.

-- Sean Ceglinsky

Track and field: Even more highlights from the Division II preliminaries

Here's a quick look at some of the more notable performances to come out of the final hours of the Southern Section-Toyota Division II preliminaries at Moorpark:

• For the last two hours, people have been poking their heads into the press box and asking if we had the boys' and girls' 3,200-meter results. Well, consider yourselves lucky to find out Rex Nelson of Newport Harbor posted an impressive time of 9 minutes 18.52 seconds -- more than six seconds faster than his seeding time. Whittier's Luis Dorantes was second (9:19.12) and James Kostelnik of Loyola qualified third (9:20.78).