Swinton’s Plea Bargain Brings Reduced Charge

Rich Swinton, a former running back at Montclair Prep, was sentenced to two years of probation and a one-year suspended jail sentence Thursday after he pleaded guilty to improperly touching a woman in a Pullman, Wash., tavern in May.

Under a plea bargain accepted in Whitman County Superior Court, the charge against Swinton was reduced from felony third-degree rape to the gross misdemeanor charge.

Swinton, 21, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards last season at Washington State, was ordered to undergo evaluation and counseling for alcohol abuse and to stay out of taverns for at least a year. Judge Wallis Friel noted that several of the recent criminal cases involving Washington State football players were linked to alcohol.

Tish Johnson of Panorama City placed third and Robin Romeo of Van Nuys finished fifth Thursday in the finals of the Ladies Pro Bowlers Tour Michigan Classic in Dearborn Heights, Mich.

Romeo started the stepladder finals with a 234-163 victory over Jeanne Maiden but was eliminated by Dede Davidson, 244-238. Davidson defeated Lorrie Nichols, 258-225, and advanced to the title match with a 279-268 victory over Johnson, closing with a string of 10 strikes in a row.

Top-seeded Aleta Sill won her 14th LPBT title, but first since 1987, with a 257-234 victory over Davidson.

Sill, 26, won the $5,000 first prize when Davidson left a 7-10 split on her first ball in the 10th frame.

Marion Jones of the West Valley Eagles track club will attend Rio Mesa High in the fall, according to Spartan co-Coach Rick Torres.

Jones, 13, set a national age-group record in the 200 meters (24.30 seconds) earlier this summer and also has run 12.01 in the 100 and 56.3 in the 400.

A recent graduate of Pinecrest Preparatory Junior High in Sherman Oaks, Jones moved with her mother Marion into the Rio Mesa attendance boundary recently.

Jones should continue a fine sprinting tradition at the Oxnard school, following in the footsteps of Angela Burnham, who will attend UCLA in the fall.

Burnham won a record five state sprint titles during her high school career, including consecutive 100 and 200 titles in 1988 and ’89.

Ted Lehmann of Thousand Oaks shot six-under-par 66 Thursday to settle into a tie for third place after three rounds of the California State Open golf tournament at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.

Lehmann, with a 54-hole total of 206, is tied with Bob May of La Habra. Brad Bell of Sacramento leads at 202.

Jason Stelle, representing CLASS Aquatics of Calabasas, placed ninth in the 200-meter backstroke Thursday at the U. S. Junior Nationals West swim championships at the University of Texas in Austin. Stelle, an All-American swimmer at Agoura High, timed 2:09.45.