FALL SPORTS NOTEBOOK : Mostly, the Best Were the Fastest

The final notebook for this year takes note of Valley area athletes in boys and girls cross-country, girls volleyball and girls tennis.

The following athletes made significant strides in their sports this season.

Daren Stonerock--The Saugus High cross-country runner spent the break between cross-country and track last year leading teammates on a cliff-diving expedition near Lake Castaic.

“Our coach didn’t approve of it and I guess most coaches wouldn’t,” Stonerock said. “But it’s just something you have to do before you get out of high school.”

There was something else Stonerock wanted to do before he left Saugus--win the Southern Section 3-A individual championship.

Stonerock, who finished second last year, captured the 1985 title in an impressive performance in November at the Southern Section finals at Mt. San Antonio College.

He ran the course in 14:54 to win the individual championship and helped Saugus to its second straight boys team title. Stonerock’s time was the sixth fastest ever at Mt. SAC.

Stonerock will lead a contingent of athletes from the Valley area who will travel Saturday to Fresno for the western qualifying meet of the Kinney National Championships. Competitors must finish in the top seven to qualify for the finals, which will be held Dec. 14. in San Diego.

“Last year, I fell behind at the start because I was talking with a teammate when the official fired the gun,” Stonerock said. “That won’t happen this year.”

Neither will the cliff-diving trip.

“This year, we’re going backpacking,” Stonerock said.

Melissa Sutton--Heather Scobie of Saugus, Christy Farrell of Thousand Oaks and Kim Crongeyer of Kennedy all had outstanding cross-country seasons. But Sutton of Newbury Park dominated the Southern Section by coming back from an early-season illness to win the 4-A championship for the second year in a row.

Sutton, who is a junior, ran the three-mile course at Mt. SAC in 17:32--the fifth fastest ever for a girl. Sutton’s winning time was 51 seconds faster than her time in the preliminaries.

Sutton, who is also the two-mile champion in track, began the season slowly while trying to regain the strength she lost during a viral infection.

“Melissa is a competitor who battled back,” said Newbury Park co-Coach Mike Stewart. “It’s great to have someone who’s a 4.0 student and a two-time defending champion on your team.”

Daiva Tomkus--The quality of competition in girls volleyball in the Valley area has risen every year. The talent this season was exceptional, but Tomkus, at 6-1, stood above the crowd at Chaminade.

“She’s tall, but the reason she dominates is because she’s aggressive,” Chaminade Coach Mike Lynn said. “She believes she owns the net. She plays with more desire than anyone I’ve seen. She inspired our other players to do some incredible things.”

Tomkus, a two-time San Fernando Valley League MVP, is being recruited by a number of major colleges, and has narrowed her choices to UCLA, USC, Pacific, Hawaii and Oregon.

Tomkus will not play basketball this season in order to concentrate on club volleyball.

“I played basketball last year for fun,” Tomkus said. “This year, my parents and I decided that it wouldn’t be a good idea to juggle the two sports. I needed a break.”

That’s just what opponents will get next year when Tomkus is gone.

Kelly Stuart--Over the past four years, few tennis players were as consistent as Stuart at Westlake.

A senior, Stuard has been a member of doubles teams that have won four Marmonte League championships. A talented singles player, she is ranked nationally in the 18-under division by the United States Tennis Assn.

Briefly

The City Section individual singles and doubles competition begins today at 1:30 p.m. at the Universal Racquet Centre in North Hollywood. Karen Trapenberg of North Hollywood is seeded fourth in singles. Grant has two teams seeded in the doubles competition. Rowena Montenegro and Stacy Kolker are seeded third, and Debbie Neiter and Christal Polee are seeded fourth.