With Segerstrom winning this afternoon, the semifinal lineups are now complete:
BOYS TENNIS
DIVISION I
Semifinals, Tuesday, 3 p.m.
#1 Irvine University at #4 Peninsula
#3 Mater Dei at #2 Santa Barbara
DIVISION II
Semifinals, Tuesday, 3 p.m.
Palm Desert at #1 San Marino
#2 Diamond Bar at #3 San Luis Obispo
DIVISION III
Semifinals, Tuesday, 3 p.m.
Santa Monica at #1 Brentwood
#3 Crossroads at #2 Beverly Hills
DIVISION IV
Semifinals, Tuesday, 3 p.m.
#1 Cerritos at Buckley
#2 Rowland at #3 Viewpoint
DIVISION V
Semifinals, Tuesday, 3 p.m.
#1 Cate at #4 La Salle
#2 Thacher at #3 Segerstrom
Notes: Championships, May 28 at Claremont Club (Div. III, 11 a.m.; Div. II, 11:30 a.m.; Div. I, 1 p.m.; Div. IV, 2 p.m.; Div. V, 2:30 p.m.)
Individual championships: Sectionals, Friday at Cate/Carpenteria, Arcadia HS/Arcadia County Park, Costa Mesa Tennis Center, and U. of Redlands. Final rounds, May 23-24 at Seal Beach Tennis Center.
SOUTHERN SECTION BOYS VOLLEYBALL
DIVISION I
Quarterfinals, Friday, 7 p.m.
San Clemente at #1 Newport Harbor
#4 Santa Margarita at Woodbridge
#3 Loyola at Los Alamitos
#2 Mira Costa at Orange Lutheran
There have been some date/time/site changes since Monday -- here's the latest information we have:
SOUTHERN SECTION BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
DIVISION I
First round, Thursday, 3:15 p.m. unless noted
Long Beach Poly at #1 Los Alamitos
Royal at Anaheim Canyon
Valley View at Capistrano Valley
Corona Roosevelt at Mater Dei
Tustin vs. Lakewood at Blair Field (Long Beach), 6:30 p.m.
Fountain Valley at Valencia
JSerra at King
Vista del Lago at #4 Simi Valley
Westlake at #3 Hart
Corona Santiago at Canyon Springs
Riverside Poly at Tesoro
Edison vs. Long Beach Wilson at Blair Field (Long Beach)
Millikan at Thousand Oaks
Saugus at Norco
Aliso Niguel at El Modena
Riverside North vs. #2 Orange Lutheran at Hart Park (Orange), 7 p.m.
Top Teams: 1. La Palma Kennedy (26-3), 2. Etiwanda (22-3), 3. Lakewood (23-5), 4. Mission Viejo (22-6-1).
Dark horse: Pacifica (17-12) doesn’t have its typical pitching, but the 11th-seeded Mariners hit like sledgehammer and could definitely knock off a favorite.
How it shakes out: Kennedy, led by twin sister outfielders Elia and Jamia Reid, is the best all-around team, but a potential semifinal against El Modena (21-8-1) could be the real championship game. That’s because unproven Etiwanda was placed at No. 2 and the dominoes stacked the bracket elsewhere. In Kennedy’s half of the bracket are two of the three teams it has been beaten by, Long Beach Wilson (20-8), a potential quarterfinal opponent, and Ayala (19-10-1). Hard-hitting Lakewood and Anaheim Canyon (22-7) are the class of the field in the lower bracket, but the latter has four freshman starters, including pitcher Cheyanne Tarango, and it may be too much for them to make a run this year.
Top teams: 1. Simi Valley (27-0), 2. Corona Santiago (24-3), 3. Valencia (24-5), 4. Norco (26-5).
Dark horse: Rosary (20-9) is a longshot in the truest sense. It could lose in the first round, or make noise throughout. It got off to a poor start, but the young pitching, in particular Alex Peyton, has come around and the Royals have won 10 in a row.
How it shakes out: The three likeliest candidates to emerge are Santiago, Norco and Hart because they have superior pitching in Kamerin May, Teagan Gerhart and Destiny Rodino. Losses the past two weeks show a vulnerability in Santiago which is hard to ignore, even though it won the 2006 title after losing three of its last five games heading into the playoffs. Still, it has an easier path than Norco and Hart, who could meet in the quarterfinals. Simi Valley must deal with the pressure of being No. 1 – and unbeaten – after having not been challenged much outside its league.
The CIF state football championship bowl games have been expanded from three to five games for 2008, but the only one that most folks are going to care about is the new open-division game that will be played on Saturday, Dec. 20 at 8 p.m. at the Home Depot Center in Carson.
That game will match the best team in Northern California, regardless of enrollment, against its counterpart from Southern California. It's the closest thing yet to crowning a true state champion in football.
The remaining bowl games are about school pride. Only the individual schools and their fans will really care. The CIF can't even guarantee if all five games will be televised. It's negotiating a new contract after FSN's contract to televise the three bowl finals each of the last two years has expired.
With the first round of the Southern Section-Toyota Division I playoffs scheduled to start Friday, I wanted to get your thoughts as to which team will win the divisional title.
Los Alamitos, which is located just down the road from the section offices, was seeded No. 1 in the division, but also drew the toughest road to the semifinals, in my professional opinion. The best team in the division not to win a league championship is Mater Dei, and the Monarchs and Los Alamitos will meet in the quarterfinals should both win their first two games.
Not sure why the Monarchs couldn't have been placed in Valencia's spot in the same half of the bracket, forcing fourth-seeded Simi Valley to go through Mater Dei to reach the semifinals.
BOYS' VOLLEYBALL DIVISION I Second round, Tuesday, 7 p.m. #1 Newport Harbor at Tesoro San Clemente at Long Beach Wilson Woodbridge at Peninsula Thousand Oaks at #4 Santa Margarita Mission Viejo at #3 Loyola Los Alamitos at Huntington Beach Orange Lutheran at Fountain Valley #2 Mira Costa at Crespi
DIVISION I Quarterfinals, Tuesday, 3 p.m. Troy at #1 Irvine University #4 Peninsula at Harvard-Westlake Dana Hills at #3 Mater Dei #2 Santa Barbara at Thousand Oaks
DIVISION I First round, Thursday, 3:15 p.m. unless noted Long Beach Poly (Moore T4) at #1 Los Alamitos (Sunset 1) Royal (Marmonte 3) at Anaheim Canyon (Century T1) Valley View (Inland Valley T2) at Capistrano Valley (South Coast T1) Corona Roosevelt (Mountain View 2) at Mater Dei (Trinity 2) Tustin (Century 3) vs. Lakewood (Moore 1) at Blair Field (Long Beach), 6:30 p.m. Fountain Valley (Sunset 3) at Valencia (Foothill 2) JSerra (Trinity 3) at King (Ivy 1) Vista del Lago (Inland Valley T2) at #4 Simi Valley (Marmonte T1) Westlake (Marmonte T4) at #3 Hart (Foothill 1) Corona Santiago (Mountain View 3) at Canyon Springs (Inland Valley 1) Riverside Poly (Ivy 2) at Tesoro (South Coast T1) Edison (Sunset 2) vs. Long Beach Wilson (Moore 2) at Blair Field (Long Beach) Millikan (Moore 3) at Thousand Oaks (Marmonte T1) Saugus (Foothill 3) at Norco (Mountain View 1) Aliso Niguel (South Coast 3) at El Modena (Century T1) Riverside North (Ivy 3) vs. #2 Orange Lutheran (Trinity 1) at Hart Park (Orange), 7 p.m.
If you want to know who's going to be competing at next week's Southern Section-Toyota Division Championships, be sure to check out these links for complete results. Special thanks to DyeStatCal.com for making all the divisional preliminary results available in such a timely fashion -- you saved my fingers.
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.
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).
Chris Benard, the state leader in the boys' triple jump, was the top qualifer from the Southern Section-Toyota Division I prelims at Trabuco Hills.
Benard, a senior from Corona Santiago, won with a leap of 46 feet 5 inches. His best jump of the year was two feet better, 48-5, at the Arcadia Invitational.
Ryan Swafford of Vista Murrieta, who is No. 2 in the state, was second to Benard at 46-4 1/2.
Joey Hughes of Long Beach Poly turned in the quickest time in the state in the boys' 200 meters in the Southern Section-Toyota Division I preliminaries at Trabuco Hills.
Hughes, who came into the day ranked third in the state with a time of 21.40 seconds, peeled off a 21.10.
Hughes wasn't the only athlete to make a run at the state's best mark of 21.30 by Chris Owusu of Oaks Christian. Leon Dillihunt, a sophomore from Dominguez, fell just short with a effort of 21.41. Like Hughes, his time wasn't wind-aided. Dillihunt's time would move him into the state's top 10 with the No. 4 effort of the season.
Junior Rodney Storrs of Corona Santiago ran a wind-aided 21.34.
Three athletes shared the top height in the boys' high jump at the Southern Section-Toyota Division I preliminaries at Trabuco Hills, where Vista Murrieta junior Nick Ross, San Gorgonio senior Reggie Jackson and Diamond Bar junior Sam Rockwood all reached 6 feet 7 inches.
Ross qualified No. 1 based on fewer attempts.
Mike LaRocca of Dana Hills, who qualified for state last year, failed to advance to the divisional championships next Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College. Though he was among eight athletes at 6-5, he lost out on attempts.
Ross is the state leader, having jumped 7 feet on April 20 in a dual meet.
One of the biggest surprises of the boys' 300-meter hurdles at the Southern Section-Toyota Division I preliminaries at Trabuco Hills was the failure of Fountain Valley's Kevin Jones to advance.
Jones was the winner at the Orange County Championships. Although he finished in 39.75 seconds, he was only 14th in the field on Saturday.
The winner of each of five heats, and the next four fastest times, advanced.
The top qualifier was Cameron Stepney, a senior at San Gorgonio who clocked 38.34 seconds, just a tad quicker than Walnut senior Cordell Almond's 38.44.
Stephanie Aliimatafitafi added nearly a foot to her season best in the girls' shotput with a toss of 43 feet 9 inches at the Southern Section-Toyota Division I preliminaries at Trabuco Hills.
Aliimatafitafi, a senior from Paramount, would move from sixth to third based on results coming into the day. Her previous best was 42-11, set at the Arcadia Invitational.
Her newest result would move her past Ridgecrest Burroughs' Kayla Kovar, who had a 43-0 1/4 at the Mt. SAC Invitational.
Ericka Nowell, a junior at Perris, lowered her season-best to 42.43 seconds in the girls' 300-meter hurdles and was the No. 1 qualifier in the event at the Southern Section-Toyota Division I preliminaries at Trabuco Hills. Nowell's previous best was 43.19, which was seventh in the state.
Her new total would place her third.
Junior Angelica Weaver of Rancho Cucamonga, who was fourth in the state, lowered her season best from 42.90 to 42.60.
A couple of sophomores were the top qualifiers in the girls' long jump at the Southern Section-Toyota Division I preliminaries at Trabuco Hills. Alycia Herring of Rancho Verde jumped 18 feet 10 1/2 inches to emerge No. 1, and she was followed by Olivia Hudson of Long Beach Wilson, who jumped 18-5.
On the state level, Hudson came into the day ranked No. 4 with a jump of 19-1 1/2, and Herring was No. 5 at 19-0.
A third sophomore, Monica Todd of Trabuco Hills, qualified fifth with a leap of 17-6.
At the Division III Southern Section-Toyota preliminaries, here are a few more top performers, whom I don't want to skip over...
Orange Lutheran's Sam Delgado clocked a first-place 1:55.68 in the boys' 800 meters, edging out Servite's Mike Villasin, who ran a 1:56.33.
One of the day's closest battles was between El Segundo's Allison Reaser and Santa Margarita's Kelly Collins in the 300-meter hurdles. Reaser won with a time of 44.54 seconds, beating Collins by one-tenth of a second. Can't wait to see these two standouts compete at the championship.
Corona del Mar's Shelby Buckley ran a 2:17.18 to win the girls' 800 meters, edging out a dynamic freshman, Palos Verdes' Erica Capellino, who clocked a 2:17.27.
Charles Saseun of Rancho Cucamonga, who last year ran the state's fastest time ever in the boys' 100 meters at 10.39, finished in 10.50 to emerge as the No. 1 qualifier from the Southern Section-Toyota Division I preliminaries at Trabuco Hills. Saseun came into the day with the state's third-best time, 10.59. His time Saturday was just off the 10.49 of L.A. Cathedral's Randall Carroll at the Arcadia Invitational.
Corona Santiago athletes qualified second and third. Anthony Dye clocked 10.72 and Rodney Storrs 10.74.
Saseun and Dye's times were both wind legal, but Storrs was wind-aided. Dye's time would move him into the state's top 10.
Here are some notable performances from early action at the Southern Section-Toyota Division II preliminaries:
Antelope Valley's Ryan Butts broke a 28-year-old Division II record in the long jump with a leap of 24 feet 4 3/4 inches. It actually was a little less than the 25-0 jump he recorded at last week's Golden League finals, but that jump came with no wind instrumentation. Butts is one of the favorites for the state title and I'm planning to upload a video interview with him later.
Loyola's Ryan Holmes has posted the state's second-fastest time in the 110-meter hurdles this season and he posted a top qualifying time of 14.52 this afternoon. Like a lot of top-tier athletes at today's prelims, Holmes purposely didn't try to beat his seasonal best of 14.32, but expect big things from him at next weekend's finals.
Rio Mesa's Valexsia Droughn, pictured, continues to show why she's one of the state's most dynamic sprinters despite being only a freshman. Droughn's 12.01 in the 100 meters was enough to push her among the top three qualifiers in the event and it was just a few tenths of a second off her personal best. She may be only a freshman, but Droughn is gunning for the state title in the 100.
Ne'Ausha Logan, a sophomore from Warren, dominated her heat in the girls' 800 meters at the Southern Section-Toyota Division I preliminaries at Trabuco Hills. She finished more than 25 yards ahead of Etiwanda junior Lauren Ervin and turned in the top qualifying time of 2:12.17. That time would be the eighth-best in the state coming into the day.
It was a great run -- she bolted to a big lead and never faltered. Ervin, who had the seventh overall time, came in at 2:17.35.
Serrano senior Kauren Tarver, who has the state's third-best time at 2:10.44, was second at 2:15.47.
Damien Ephrium, a senior from Fontana, qualified No. 1 at the Southern Section-Toyota Division I preliminaries at Trabuco Hills with a long jump of 22 feet 10 3/4 inches. There was no wind indicated to verify the effort as not wind-aided, otherwise Ephrium would have moved into the state's top 10.
He beat second qualifier Nick Ross, the talented junior from Vista Murrieta who jumped 22-3 1/2. Ross came into the day with the state's fifth-best non-wind aided leap at 23-2.
As if Long Beach Poly doesn't have enough in its arsenal in the running events, sophomore Tara Richmond qualified No. 1 in the high jump at the Southern Section-Toyota Division I preliminaries with a modest leap of 5 feet 4 inches. It was matched by five others, but Richmond did it in fewer attempts. Among those at 5-4 was freshman Shanice Stewart of Carter, who also qualified in the 100 hurdles with the top time.
Some of the biggest news from the girls' 100-meter hurdles were the disqualifications on the Trabuco Hills track at the Southern Section-Toyota Division I preliminaries. Senior Kiersten Kirkland of Long Beach Poly fouled out of her heat with a false start, and so did Angelica Weaver, a junior from Rancho Cucamonga. Kirkland was seeded second in her heat, and Weaver was seeded first.
The top qualifier was Shanice Stewart, a freshman from Carter, who clocked a wind-aided 14.29, which would be the state's seventh-best wind-aided time coming into the day. Stewart was in the same heat as Kirkland.
On the boys' side, Marcus Williams of San Gorgonio, top-seeded in his 110 heat, fell midway and did not advance. The No. 1 qualifier was Devron Walker of Dominguez, who clocked a wind-aided 14.14, followed by sophomore Devalle Pedrogo of Mission Viejo at 14.43.
James Cameron, the state leader in the boys' 1,600 meters, was the only runner to break 4:14.5 at the Southern Section-Toyota Division I preliminaries at Trabuco Hills. Cameron, a junior from Mission Viejo, clocked 4:14.79, which was off his state-leading time of 4:12.37.
Riley Sullivan, second in the state, finished second in his heat on his home track with a 4:17.11 and qualified seventh overall. He was beaten by Raul Arcos of Corona, who turned it on the last 200 to pass several runners and finish in 4:16.13 to qualify third. Arcos had been seeded seventh in his heat.
Toby Villalva of El Toro qualified second at 4:15.54.
Behind the scenes at Southern Section-Toyota Division III preliminaries...
All over the Warren High track and field complex, runners hunch over and gasp after a race. That's obvious, of course. Here's something you may not know... I heard several coaches and assistants cast warnings to their gasping, hunched over runners: "Keep your head above your waist so don't pass out."
Another warning I keep hearing: "If you don't want to faint, keep moving."
Rancho Verde, ranked fifth in the state, turned in the fastest time, 46.57 seconds, in the girls' 400-meter relay at the Southern Section-Toyota Division I preliminaries at Trabuco Hills. RV has an incredibly young group -- freshman Ashley Marshall, junior Brittany Bozeman, sophomore Alycia Herring and sophomore Asiah Gooden.
RV has a season-best of 46.66, and was the only team to go below 47 seconds Saturday. Fourth-ranked Long Beach Poly, which has run 46.27 this season, clocked the second-fastest time, 47.17.
The best race in the heats was Rancho Cucamonga coming from behind in the last leg to nip San Gorgonio, 47.70 to 47.71. They qualified fourth and fifth, respectively, for next Saturday's division finals.
There's good and bad news from the guys down on the field at the Southern Section-Toyota Division II preliminaries:
First, we're more than 30 minutes behind schedule thanks to problems with the timing computer. The girls participating in the 400-meter relay were called away from the starting blocks after waiting in place for about 10 minutes and are sitting in the infield (see photo). There's murmurs the redcoats might resort to stopwatches!
Fortunately, the same radio communication from the field informed the press box that complimentary sandwiches were on the way up. At least the event organizers are doing everything they can to make the media happy. And they should since it looks as if we're going to be here for a while.
I just arrived in Moorpark for the Southern Section Division II preliminaries and I'm pretty stoked I found a parking lot with relative ease. Of course, I arrived more than an hour ahead of the scheduled start of the running events, so maybe that had something to do with it.
Anyway, once the results start pouring in, I'll be sure to let you know who's advancing to next week's divisional championship meet. The top nine performers/teams in each event move on.
The field events have already started, and I managed to snap a shot of Torrance discus thrower Esther Uini.
SOUTHERN SECTION BOYS VOLLEYBALL
DIVISION I
First round, Saturday, 7 p.m.
Crespi at Lakewood
Second round, Tuesday, 7 p.m.
#1 Newport Harbor at Tesoro
San Clemente at Long Beach Wilson
Woodbridge at Peninsula
Thousand Oaks at #4 Santa Margarita
Mission Viejo at #3 Loyola
Los Alamitos at Huntington Beach
Orange Lutheran at Fountain Valley
#2 Mira Costa at Crespi/Lakewood winner
Remember, about a week and a half ago, there was a blog about Richard Brehaut and how he was emerging as a legitimate prospect? If not, it's OK. Don't worry about it because it appears as if there will be plenty more opportunities to familiarize yourself with the standout quarterback from Los Osos.
Brehaut picked up two scholarship offers recently, from Oregon State and Utah, making that six NCAA Division I programs currently waiting for a commitment from the 6-foot-3 junior. Moreover, scouts from Notre Dame and Ohio State were on the Los Osos campus earlier this week to watch him work out.
Plans are in the works for visits to Boise State, Colorado, Washington State and UCLA in June. And trips to Louisville and Nebraska loom as possibilities thereafter for Brehaut, who appears determined to make a decision at some point in July, according to these quotes. Stay tuned for more updates.
DIVISION I Second round, Saturday, 3 p.m. unless noted #1 Irvine University at Dos Pueblos Troy at Palos Verdes Harvard-Westlake at Santa Margarita, 1 p.m. #4 Peninsula at Woodbridge #3 Mater Dei at Mira Costa Dana Hills at Northwood Thousand Oaks at Corona del Mar #2 Santa Barbara at Marina
Here's the schedule for baseball games in the Southland today and tonight. Start times are usually around 3 p.m. (unless noted), but if you need specifics, contact the schools.
CITY
SOUTHERN
Contreras at Maywood
SUNSET SIX
Grant at Canoga Park
Van Nuys at Sun Valley Poly
Verdugo Hills at North Hollywood
VALLEY
Arleta at Discovery Prep
Northridge at Vaughn
Sherman Oaks CES at Fulton Prep
The Southern Section-Toyota track and field championship division preliminaries will take place on Saturday and I thought I'd pass along the entry lists for each of the respective divisions:
With the way basketball recruiting is nowdays, it's never too early to start keeping tabs on kids from the Southland. Everyone else is, namely NCAA Division I scouts. And Tyler Lamb is a great example, considering the sophomore from Colony is one of the nation's hottest prospects among the 2010 class.
USC has offered a scholarship, according to this report. Another major player is UCLA. Seemingly every other PAC-10 school has expressed some level of interest. Can't forget to mention that Georgetown, Louisville, Memphis and Tennessee are keeping a watchful eye on Lamb too.
With all the attention from schools across the country, it's hard to believe he's only a 10th-grader. We're talking about a youngster who has two more years of high school ball. If the gifted underclassman continues to improve, Lamb could end up at the college of his choosing by the time he's a senior.
Sunny Hills ran away with the Southern Section-Toyota boys' golf teams finals on Thursday at Candlewood Country Club in Whitier. Its the Lancers third section team title in the last four years.
Led by senior-transfer Kevin Lim's unbelievable six-under 64, the Lancers shot 359, seven stroke better than runner-up Santa Barbara. Brea Olinda (368) finished third and Harvard-Westlake (372) was fourth.
Kim, pictured second right to left, was one of only two players to shoot under par -- Harvard-Westlake's Jeff Wibawa (68) was the other.
To see all scores of the four qualifying teams, keep reading (only the marks of the top five players count toward a team's final tally).
Scores are starting to file in and soon we'll know who the winner is of the Southern Section-Toyota boys' golf team finals today/Thursday at Candlewood Country Club in Whittier. The top four teams advance to the CIF SoCal Regionals later this month. You can see in my photograph that folks are starting to huddle around the scorer's table.
Santa Barbara looked good, especially Andrew Perez, even though I saw him bogey holes 15 and 16. He's coming up to the scorers table now so we'll soon know what he shot.
Par for the course is 70 and most of the people I talked with weren't expecting many players to shot par or better, but one of the first scores turned in was a 70 by Kevin Techakanokboon of Cerritos. Maybe that's a sign that we'll see more low scores than expected.
Check back soon and I'll have more results and a video interview with the winners.
OK, I gotta say this. When the Southern Section-Toyota Division I swimming preliminaries can't start on time because not enough people have "volunteered" as timers, something's wrong.
Granted, more "official" people are probably needed at a big swimming event like this (three timers for each of eight lanes plus the officials) than for most other sports, but not to have these folks already in place and ready to go days before the start of Wednesday's meet seems irresponsible on somebody's part.
How classy is it when the PA announcer has to tell the audience, repeatedly, that "if you don't want to stare at the empty pool, then we need volunteers"?
Perhaps each of the participating schools could be asked to supply one designated timer well ahead of time, rather than forcing a "championship" event to go begging.
Karl Krug, a senior at Yucaipa, won his 50-yard freestyle heat in a division-record time of 20.05 seconds Wednesday afternoon during the Southern Section-Toyota Division I preliminaries at Belmont Pool in Long Beach. However, less than a minute later, he was only the co-record holder after Joey Hale of Redlands won his heat in 20.05. The two will square off in the division finals, beginning at 6 p.m. Friday at Belmont.
The previous record of 20.27 had been set in 1994 by Woodbridge's Derya Buyukuncu.
Another Division I record was set in the boys' 200 freestyle relay, which Yucaipa swam in 1:23.58 to surpass the 1:24.12 of San Marino in 1991.
But the best news of all (well, for our family anyway), is that my daughter's relay team managed to qualify for the 400 freestyle finals -- the last event of the competition -- so it's back to Long Beach tomorrow night!
During the regular season, Long Beach Wilson, Cypress and Saugus failed to live up to expectations (mine, of course), but no team fell further off the charts than Los Osos.
The Grizzlies came into the season with one of the top prospects in the nation in center fielder Isaac Galloway, a hot-hitting catcher in Richard Brehaut (OK, he's an even hotter quarterback) and a Notre-Dame-bound left-hander in Dustin Ispas.
But the team was about as hot-'n-cold as a soup-'n-salad combination, and never seemed to get its head above water. Despite their struggles, the Grizzlies still had a chance to sneak into the final playoff spot in the Baseline League, but Ispas lost his fourth straight game Wednesday, this time 3-2 to Claremont, dropping Los Osos into fifth place.
I'm here at Candlewood Country Club in Whittier for the Southern Section-Toyota boys 'golf team finals. Chatter around the clubhouse is the competition is wide open with no clear-cut favorite.
It seems to me, however, that Servite has a bit of a home-course advantage. Just call it a hunch.
So far, the hole that has been giving the field the most problems is No. 11. I'm not a golfer, but if those that golf say Hole 11 is tough, than, hombre, I have to assume No. 11 is not easy. The fairways appear to be fast, 'lighting,' as one course official said, so it should be a quick day here. CIF officials are expecting the champions to be crowned around 1:30 p.m.
Riverside King officially clinched the outright Ivy League title Wednesday afternoon with a 5-2 victory over Riverside Poly. It was fitting that the Wolves accomplished the feat against Poly, which has not only dominated the league in recent years, but was the top dog in the Inland Empire as well.
(Go ahead and file your protests Canyon Springs' faithful, that's what we're here for.)
Danny Haiker (7-1) allowed five hits and two earned runs in 5 1/3 innings for King, then handed the ball to Jared Snow, who retired five of the last seven hitters to earn his second save. Snow was also one of three Wolves to collect two base hits.
Vista Murrieta won by a shutout Wednesday afternoon against visiting Great Oak. So what else in new?
The Broncos have posted six shutouts this season, and have allowed two runs or less in eight other victories. Leading the way is left-hander Brian Valenzuela, whose 4-0 shutout Wednesday against Great Oak was his second in his last three starts. He improved to 9-0, as well as 19-1 over the last two seasons, and dipped his earned-run average to 0.99.
The victory also clinched the outright Southwestern League title for the Broncos.
Keeping opponents off the base paths is key for Vista Murrieta, as its offense averages just over five runs a game. However, pitcher's duels aren't unique to Vista Murrieta this season. If you remember, the Broncos won the Southern Section-Toyota Division II championships last season, 1-0, in 11 innings against Camarillo.
Here's the schedule for baseball games in the Southland today and tonight. Start times for non-tournament games are usually around 3 p.m. (unless noted), but if you need specifics, contact the schools.
CITY
COLISEUM
Crenshaw at Dorsey
Jefferson at Fremont
Locke at Manual Arts
EASTERN
Huntington Park at Los Angeles Jordan
FREEWAY
Orthopaedic at Elizabeth
MARINE
Narbonne at Carson
San Pedro at Gardena
Wilmington Banning at Washington
Last time Joe Burton found his name in the news, the junior from Hemet West Valley was putting on a pretty good show during the Southern Section basketball playoffs, back in early March. Interestingly enough, there haven't been too many updates on him since, so I figured it was about time to check in and see how things were going.
Burton is still impressing, and doing so without much attention from the media. He's been playing well throughout the spring on the travel ball circuit. So well, in fact, San Diego St. and Central Florida have offered scholarships. UConn and Florida have expressed interest and Texas and UCLA are among the other programs in constant contact.
I found not one but two reports confirming that several players from the Southland have been invited to attend tryouts for the USA under-18 national team, a group scheduled to compete in the 2008 FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Argentina on July 14-18.
Malcolm Lee of Riverside North, Campbell Hall's Jrue Holiday, Compton Dominguez's Jordan Hamilton and Loyola's Hollis Thompson are four of the 20 athletes competing for a dozen roster spots at the tryouts, taking place July 1-4 at Georgetown. Training camp is set for July 4-10.
UCLA-commits Drew Gordon of Archbishop Mitty and Reeves Nelson of Modesto Christian were also invited. Highly touted underclassmen such Lance Stephenson of Brooklyn (N.Y.) Lincoln and Derrick Favors of South Atlanta (Ga.) are expected to try out, as well.
Don't look now, but Josh Nunes isn't the only highly-touted football prospect from Upland. Teammate Osahon Irabor has emerged as legitimate West Coast recruit, too. In fact, the 5-foot-11 junior wideout/defensive back picked up a pair of scholarship offers over the past couple of days.
Northwestern extended an invitation Tuesday and Wyoming stepped up to the plate over the weekend, making that six offers from Division I programs since Irabor's first, from Arizona toward the end of March. Arizona St., Cal and Oregon are among the others waiting for a commitment.
"It's great to see that colleges across the country are taking notice of my talents," Irabor said. "It's been a goal of mine to work hard in everything I do... It's great to see my hard work paying off. I want to make it clear to the colleges who are interested in me that I'm wide open."
The Southern California CIF All-Star Series baseball game will take place June 6 to 8 at USC's Dedeaux Field. Some of the best senior ballplayers from the Southland will take part in the tournament, which will feature four regional teams made up of 30 players each.
Click here for more information and to find out how players can be nominated.
Here's the schedule for baseball games in the Southland today and tonight. Start times for non-tournament games are usually around 3 p.m. (unless noted), but if you need specifics, contact the schools.
CITY EASTERN Bell at South East (6 p.m.) Los Angeles Jordan at Garfield South Gate at Los Angeles Roosevelt
There were some big games Tuesday, but what turned out to be one of the biggest wasn't expected to cause as much as a blip on the radar in the Inland Empire.
Instead, Corona defeated Corona Santiago, 8-2, in a Mountain View League game as Christine Montez hit a three-run homer and Katrina Pinkowksi limited the Sharks to five hits. Santiago is the No. 1 team in the The Times' ranking and No. 2 in the Southern Section Division I coaches poll. It is No. 4 in the state.
Playoff ramifications? It would seem likely, but to what extent is a huge question because the section rankings are so messed up -- but that's another blog. Mountain View League rivals Santiago and Norco are ranked second and fourth in the division, and first-place Santiago must be seeded ahead of Norco for playoff purposes.
Barring other surprises, my guess is that Santiago will flip-flop with Hart and drop to No. 3, with virtually no penalty for the loss to Corona.
