Oeding’s Goal Helps East Tie in Water Polo

Jeff Oeding of Newport Beach, playing for the East water polo team, tipped in a missed shot from two meters at the buzzer to tie the South, 10-10, Monday in the fourth round of competition in the U.S. Olympic Festival at Koury Natatorium.

Oeding rebounded a shot and tapped the ball past South goalkeeper Mark Maizel of Villa Park and UC Irvine.

“I was just at the right place at the right time, I guess,” said Oeding, a junior at Stanford, the 1987 NCAA champion. “I was sure someone was going to shoot at the end of the game like they always do, so I positioned myself where I thought it would bounce.”

The East had trailed, 10-7, with just more than three minutes to play but came back to prevent the South (3-1) from clinching a spot in the gold-medal game.

The favored West team has struggled, and after a 4-4 tie with the North Monday is 1-1-2 despite a roster filled with top players from Cal and UCI.

Debbie Graham of Fountain Valley, the 16-year-old La Quinta High player who is ranked second nationally in 16-and-under singles and is top seeded in the women’s tennis singles here, advanced to the final with another straight-set victory despite 100-degree temperatures. Graham has not lost a set, nor has her opponent in the final, second-seeded Stacey Martin of Largo, Md.

Nancy Nicklas of Irvine, who was involved in a three-cyclist crash Sunday, suffered two broken ribs and withdrew from competition. Nicklas and two others collided in the 12th lap of the women’s 30-kilometer criterium. She and Amy Walker of Santa Rosa were taken to Raleigh Community Hospital, where both were treated and released. Walker continued the cycling competition Monday, but Nicklas and the third cyclist, Jessica Hawkins of Wales, Mass., withdrew.

Brad Parks of Tustin, founder of the National Foundation for Wheelchair Tennis, won two gold medals, defeating Rick Slaughter of Nashville for the singles title and teaming with Slaughter to win the doubles crown. Dan Lachman of Corona del Mar and Chip Turner of Carmichael won the doubles bronze with a straight-set victory. In the women’s competition, Maureen Hannon of Laguna Niguel teamed with Terry Gray-Lewis of San Leandro to win the doubles silver, and Gray-Lewis defeated Hannon to win the singles bronze.

Festival Notes Tom Redington, formerly of Esperanza High, after the first two days led two statistical categories in the baseball competition--runs batted in (5) and doubles (2)--and was batting .444 (4-9). . . . Val Rosas of Anaheim failed to make the cut in the men’s Grand Fita quarterfinals. Rosas, the 1986 Festival champion, finished 14th. The top 12 advanced to the quarterfinals. . . . The ace leaders after two days of women’s volleyball--Amy Hayes of Anaheim (7) and Lara Asper of Newport Beach (6). Both play for the East team that has clinched a spot in the gold-medal game. . . . The West softball team, also known as the Southern California Invasion, lost its first game when Tracy Compton, the former UCLA star, pitched the first no-hitter of the Festival, leading the East (Hi-Ho Brakettes of Stratford, Conn.) . . . LeRon Ellis of Santa Ana scored 13 points in the West victory over the North; Tom Lewis of Garden Grove led with 22, Mark Georgeson of Huntington Beach had 6, and Bryant Walton of Santa Ana added 4. The West (1-2) will play in the East in the bronze-medal game. . . . Joseph Mero, a pairs ice-skater from Costa Mesa, was on the gold-medal winning North team.