Prep Notes : Classic to Challenge Mira Costa Spikers

How good is Mira Costa’s volleyball team?

Coach Mike Cook doesn’t know at this point in the season, but he’ll have a better idea after his powerful Mustangs face a competitive field in the 25-team Redondo/Mira Costa Varsity Classic on Saturday.

“We’ll find out a little bit more about ourselves,” he said. “From that respect, it will be a very good yardstick.”

Mira Costa, ranked No. 1 in the CIF-Southern Section 4-A Division, has yet to be challenged. The Mustangs improved to 15-0 overall and 10-0 in the Ocean League with a 15-3, 15-5, 15-4 sweep over Culver City on Tuesday. They have not lost a game within a match.

However, Cook points out that the Mustangs have not played a team ranked in the upper half of the 4-A top 10 and that two of the teams they beat early in the year, Loyola and Palisades, are vastly improved. Loyola won the 55-team Tournament of Champions last weekend at Pauley Pavilion.

Saturday’s tournament at Redondo will provide Mira Costa with its toughest competition to date. The field includes three teams that trail the Mustangs in the 4-A Top 10: No. 4 Corona del Mar, No. 6 University of Irvine and No. 7 Loyola; six teams ranked in the 3-A Top 10: No. 1 Harvard, No. 2 Brentwood, No. 3 Arcadia, No. 4 Glendale, No. 6 Long Beach Wilson and No. 8 Los Altos; and the L.A. City Section’s top team, Palisades.

“We’ll be fired up for the tournament,” Cook said. “It represents the best practice for us going into the CIF playoffs.”

Cook said he increased the intensity of Mira Costa’s practices this week in hope of getting his players ready for the start of the playoffs May 12, after a relatively easy league schedule.

“I have not pushed them too hard up to this point,” he said. “I didn’t want them to peak too soon, and we certainly haven’t done that.”

Mira Costa has received stellar play recently from middle blocker Pat Ivie, a 6-5 junior and the brother of USC standout Bryan Ivie. The balanced Mustangs also have gotten steady efforts from setters Craig Adamoli, Jason Stimpfig and Canyon Ceman, outside hitters Scott Stoops, David Swatik and Kevin Burd and middle blockers Zach Small and Greg Shankle, a 6-7 senior who has signed with Pepperdine.

Terrence Stevens, a 6-4 outside hitter who was out for three weeks with an injured back, has returned.

Cook says his team’s ability to compete against tougher competition depends on how hard the Mustangs work at it.

“We have to keep improving in practice to have the ability to beat these teams,” he said. “We must have intense practices. This is a serious time.”

Five five-team pools will begin play at 9 a.m. in the boys and girls gyms at Redondo. The top two finishers in each pool and the top two third-place teams advance to the single-game playoffs in the afternoon, leading to the championship match at 7:30 p.m.

With 10 players batting over .300, El Segundo’s baseball team entered the week boasting the most balanced lineup in the South Bay. There’s not an easy out in the bunch.

Several younger players--junior catcher Garret Quiantance and sophomore first baseman Dan Manjarrez--have emerged as stars. But it has been the surprising play of several seniors that has helped El Segundo climb to the No. 2 ranking in the CIF-Southern Section 2-A Division.

“We have a group every year that we call the Hungry Seniors,” said assistant coach Craig Cousins. “Coming into the season, we didn’t know if they would play or not. But they’ve pulled us together.”

The group consists of left fielder Jeremy Carr, third baseman Chris Lane, second baseman Pat Llamas and pitcher Rick Clark. All were considered question marks because they lacked varsity experience. Carr, Lane and Llamas played on the junior varsity last season, and Clark sat out with an arm injury.

Now they are among El Segundo’s steadiest performers. Clark brought a 6-0 record into Wednesday night’s game with Bosco Tech, Carr hit a three-run homer Saturday in a 5-3 win over Gahr, Lane drove in the go-ahead run in last week’s 8-4 triumph over Serra and Llamas, along with Lane, has been a defensive mainstay in the infield.

The other senior in the starting lineup, center fielder Erik Evans, wasn’t a surprise. The only returning starter from last year, Evans has played with the same consistency he displayed as a star running back on the football team and a dependable guard in basketball.

“They five are the key,” Cousins said. “They provide leadership for the juniors and sophomores.”

Quiantance has performed admirably in his first season as El Segundo’s catcher. He leads the team with a .493 batting average (34 for 69) and has played well defensively.

As good as Quiantance is, however, the Eagles might have a different man behind the plate next season.

Cousins said Jeff Poor, a 6-1, 190-pound freshman, is practicing with the varsity and could force the Eagles to move Quiantance to another position.

“He looks like a prospect,” Cousins said of Poor. “He has a very good arm. He doesn’t know how to hit yet, but with his power he gets the ball way out there.”

Another star on El Segundo’s freshman team, which carried a 15-0 record into this week, is left-handed pitcher Tracy McAndrews.

Six members of the Hawthorne boys track team will run in the prestigious Penn Relays in Philadelphia on Saturday.

The Cougar contingent of Curtis Conway, Anthony Smith, Chris Alexander, Kevin Gatlin, Ismael Delpino and Erik Allen will face some of the nation’s finest prep athletes in the 400- and 1,600-meter relays. The meet features athletes from 600 high schools, including 40 schools from abroad.

Last Saturday, Hawthorne’s relay teams swept their races at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays. The 400 team of Alexander, Smith, Allen and Conway won in 41.12 seconds and the 1,600 team of Smith, Gatlin, Delpino and Conway won in 3:15.81.

The Cougars return to practice Monday in preparation for next week’s Bay League prelims, the first of six meets leading to the state championships June 3. Hawthorne has won two straight state titles and five of the last six.

Mary Star baseball Coach Frank Ponce De Leon complained last week that his team, which leads the Santa Fe League, was not ranked in the Southern Section 2-A Division Top 10.

“It’s disappointing to pick up the paper and have the kids ask why we are not ranked,” he said after Mary Star defeated 10th-ranked Miraleste, 6-3, on Friday.

The Stars can stop asking. They cracked the Top 10 this week, moving into the No. 8 spot.

PREP NOTES--Palos Verdes distance runner Ashley Black and Miraleste tennis player Kimberly Po are among 10 finalists for the state high school Scholar-Athlete of the Year award. They were chosen from 450 candidates throughout California who were nominated by their school principals. Winners will be announced May 8. . . . Rolling Hills swingman John Hardy has been offered a basketball scholarship by the University of Pacific, which he visited two weeks ago, but is weighing his options. . . . The South Bay unit of the California Basketball Officials Assn. was well represented at the CIF Southern Section finals and state tournament. Officials recognized for excellence were Bill Agopian and Sylvester White, who worked the Southern Section boys finals; Ken Wilson and Chad Brown, who worked the girls finals; and Michael Barnes, Ken Greenleaf and Gary Bonneville, who worked the state finals.