Prep Notebook : It’s Goal to Go for Birmingham Swimming Team

The Birmingham High swim team went into the season with two goals.

“Our realistic goal was to win the league,” Braves Coach Nick Rodionoff said. “Our fantasy goal is to be first or second in the City.”

Fantasy may quickly turn into reality for Birmingham.

The Braves won the West Valley League by upsetting El Camino Real, the seven-time defending City champion. It was the Conquistadores’ first loss in a league dual meet in eight years.

And based on their performance in the league finals last week, the Braves may be just the team to stop El Camino’s reign at the City finals May 14.

“We didn’t think we’d win league, so it was a great achievement for us,” Rodionoff said.

The league championship, however, does not make Birmingham the City favorite, the coach figured.

Since only the top performers make it to the City finals, the Braves’ excellent depth--which helped them take the league crown--would not be an important factor.

But Birmingham performed extremely well in the league finals, giving Rodionoff some hope.

“We’ve got a shot now,” he said at the meet’s conclusion.

Matthew Ballard, as expected, led the way, capturing first place in the 200-yard individual medley and the 500-yard freestyle. He also anchored the winning 400-yard freestyle relay team.

Rodionoff also received unexpected performances from Marc Grossman, who was academically ineligible last year and, in the words of the coach, “had never gotten it together.”

Until last Wednesday. Grossman was an upset winner in the 100-yard backstroke race.

Fringe swimmers like Grossman could carry the Braves to the title. Rodionoff doesn’t expect many first-place finishes, just a lot of second- and third-place performers to accumulate points.

But Ballard is the key.

“He has to win his two events for us to get the City,” Rodionoff said.

Ballard and Pat Wilson, another sophomore, are the top swimmers for Birmingham. They almost didn’t swim for the varsity this year.

“There was a real temptation to put them on the frosh/soph team,” Rodionoff said. “They could have broken some records and won the (freshman/sophomore) City title.”

Now, the two 10th-grade stars may lead Birmingham’s varsity to another City title. Rodionoff, the coach since 1962, guided the Braves to 13 straight City championships from 1957 to 1970.

In the last 20 years, the Braves have won 200 of 203 dual meets. Birmingham and El Camino were in different leagues until this year.

Valley schools have won 27 straight City championships. That streak may end this year, however, as both Venice and Palisades field strong teams.

“I think the Valley is on borrowed time,” Rodionoff said.

He’s hoping Birmingham can take out just one more loan.

It was hard to tell what has made Canoga Park baseball Coach Doug MacKenzie more pleased these days--his team’s hitting or Jim McDonald’s pitching.

In their last two games, the Hunters have scored 38 runs and collected 37 hits.

And McDonald was the winning pitcher in both a 19-2 win over Taft last Thursday and a 19-14 victory over Cleveland on Tuesday.

McDonald, a 6-5, 235-pound senior who also plays first base, has been bothered all year by a sore arm.

“When he pitched against Cleveland (on April 11) he still had a sore arm after the game,” MacKenzie said. So McDonald didn’t pitch again until the Taft game.

“The way he looked against Taft was the way he looked in the last game of last season.”

That was in the first round of the City 4-A playoffs, when McDonald battled Granada Hills before losing, 3-0. Granada Hills went on to win the City championship.

“We’ve really missed him,” MacKenzie said. “It’s one of the reasons we were 2-5 before Taft. His return will really help us. It will give (Keith) Barton a rest. He’s had to pitch a couple times a week.”

McDonald earned the victory Tuesday by throwing 1 innings of scoreless relief.

“If we’re gonna make any kind of move in the league,” MacKenzie said, “it’ll be with him.”

Add Canoga Park: The Hunters have 95 hits in nine games, 78 of which have been singles.

“It’s really not a problem not getting extra base hits,” MacKenzie said, “when you’re hitting .325 as a team. I like our teams to average at least a hit an inning and we’re doing well over that.”

Add pitchers: Van Nuys, struggling at 1-8 in the Mid-Valley League, is hoping pitcher Phil Coop will be able to play next week. Coop, a right-hander, has been out for two and a half weeks since suffering a dislocated finger in his pitching hand.

The injury occured when he jammed his finger sliding back into third base in a game against San Fernando. Coop, the ace of the Wolves’ staff, was also hitting a team-high .416 at the time of the injury.

Last add pitchers: Eric Kerner, Taft’s top hurler, had the cast removed from his right ankle last Friday. Kerner fractured his ankle running out a grounder in a game against Chatsworth two weeks ago.

Taft Coach Art Martinez said Kerner “told me he’s ready to play,” but probably will not be used as a pitcher this week.

Kerner is 2-2 overall, 1-2 in league. His ERA when he got hurt was slightly more than 3.00. “He started out like a ball of fire,” Martinez said. “So needless to say, it was a big blow to lose him.”

Taft has had its difficulties in the West Valley League, losing seven of nine games--including a 5-4 loss to Reseda Tuesday.

With Kerner out, Martinez does not have one pitcher with an ERA below eight.

Notes

Crespi basketball player Joe Campanella and Chaminade tennis player Curtis Dunn are among the 10 finalists for the CIF’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year award. The winner, along with the girls award winner, will be announced next Monday. . . .

Agoura’s Brad Kay became the first golfer in Frontier League history to win the individual league championship three straight years last Thursday at the league tournament in Ojai. Kay had a four-day total of 291 at Soule Park to help the Chargers easily win the team competition by 71 strokes over Calabasas. . . .