Van Nuys Fighter Reaches Amateur Semifinals

Heavyweight John Bray of Van Nuys won a 3-2 decision over Lyle McDowell of Milwaukee on Wednesday to advance to the semifinal round of the U. S. Amateur Boxing Championships in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Bray, 18, will be back in action today against Javier Alvaraz of San Antonio.

“He was the first southpaw I ever faced,” Bray said of McDowell, “so I knew I would have to give up the first round to feel him out. He had an excellent jab. But by the second round, I felt more comfortable and, by the third round, I knew he was mine.”

In his match Tuesday, Bray recorded a first-round knockout of Richard Allen of Riverside.

Alan Fraser and Derrick Gathers were honored as co-most valuable players at the Cal State Northridge basketball awards ceremony Tuesday. Fraser, a 6-foot-6 senior center, also was honored as the most inspirational player in addition to winning the 16th Newt Myers Kiwanis Sportsmanship Award.

Other award winners were Karl Becker (coach’s award), Jemarl Baker (best defensive player) and Kendell McDaniels (most improved).

The Miller 125 at Saugus Speedway, postponed last Saturday because of rain, has been rescheduled for Saturday, June 17.

The event is the first of two NASCAR All-American Challenge Series Southwest Tour races at Saugus this season. Saugus will be the site of the Miller 100 on Sept. 9.

The Southwest Tour will begin Saturday at El Cajon Speedway.

Rich Hill, baseball coach at Cal Lutheran, has been hired as an assistant coach for the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League in Massachusetts.

Hill, who will continue to coach at Cal Lutheran, will join the Whitecaps in June. The 10-team league schedules games throughout Massachusetts from June through August.

Jenny Whelchel of UCLA will redshirt this track season.

Whelchel, a freshman from Agoura High, won the girls’ shotput in the 1987 state championships in Sacramento and placed fourth in last year’s state meet at Cerritos College in Norwalk.

Whelchel recorded high school bests of 44 feet, 5 1/2 inches in the shotput and 132-10 in the discus.