Festival’s Brightest Stars Shoot for International Spotlight

Oklahoma City, gateway to the world?

Not quite.

But for 15 athletes from the Valley area, the U. S. Olympic Festival in the Oklahoma capital last week was a springboard to competition on an international level.

Field hockey standouts Larry Amar, Taylor Trickle and Matt Robbins of Camarillo; Eric Von Holtz and Tom Vano of Simi Valley; and Jeff Horrocks and John O’Neill of Newbury Park are already en route to Ipoh, Malaysia, for the Junior World Cup, Aug. 8-19.

In baseball, Chatsworth High teammates Derek Wallace and Jason Evans, along with Gregg Zaun of St. Francis High, are headed to Des Moines, Iowa, as members of the U. S. junior national team.

After a week of workouts and practice games in Des Moines, the squad will head for Three Rivers, Quebec, Canada, site of the World Junior Baseball Championships, Aug. 9-22.

Chris O’Loughlin, gold medal winner in fencing, will travel to Duisberg, West Germany, to compete in the World University Games later this month. O’Loughlin, from Van Nuys, won the men’s epee event in the Olympic Festival.

Also scheduling a trans-Atlantic trip will be Donna Mayhew of La Crescenta, the top U. S. women’s javelin thrower.

Mayhew, another Festival gold medalist, was seventh in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

In rhythmic gymnastics, Jennifer Haase and Alexandra Feldman will represent the U. S. in the world championships in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, Sept. 27-Oct. 1.

Haase, 14, of Valencia, is the youngest member of the U. S. team. She qualified for the trip to Sarajevo as an alternate with a fourth-place finish in the Festival after placing fifth in the U. S. senior nationals.

Feldman, 18, of Encino, won a silver medal at the Festival after winning the all-around title in the senior nationals.

In weightlifting, Diana Fuhrman of Simi Valley, Festival gold medalist in the 67.5 kilogram classification, will compete in the women’s world championships Nov. 24-26 in Manchester, England.

Fuhrman, the American record-holder in the clean-and-jerk, is national champion in her weight category.

Another Valley-area athlete, boxer John Bray of Van Nuys, is but one step away from the prestige of international competition.

Bray, Olympic Festival gold medal winner in the 201-pound division, will participate in a box-off in Concord, Calif., beginning Thursday. The winner of the box-off will represent the United States in the world championships in Moscow, Sept. 17-30.

As Festival champion, Bray received the only automatic bid to the box-off. His opponent, Javier Alvarez of Austin, Tex., is a familiar one.

Bray decisioned Alvarez, 3-2, in the Festival’s gold medal match last Tuesday to avenge a loss (5-0 decision) to Alvarez in the semifinals of the U. S. Amateur championships in May.

As the top-seeded fighter in his division, Bray needs only one victory to earn a trip to Moscow. Alvarez must win on Thursday and then again on Friday to gain a berth on the U. S. team.

Several other local athletes will compete for national championships this month.

The Southern California Invasion, with four Valley-area players on its roster, will play in the American Softball Assn. nationals, Aug. 10-19, in Decatur, Ill.

The Invasion participated in the Olympic Festival as the West squad, winning a bronze medal. Among the team’s players are former Cal State Northridge All-American Priscilla Rouse, current CSUN shortstop Anna Getherall, former Burbank High standout Debby Day, and former Granada Hills High and UCLA starter Janet Sherman.

In table tennis, North Hollywood’s Carol Davidson, a winner of nine Olympic Festival medals in five years, will compete in the national championships Aug. 17 in Las Vegas.