Prep Review : At Century High, These Diamonds Are Not a School’s Best Friend

At Century High School, which opened this fall on 25 acres in Santa Ana, space already is at a premium.

Consider its athletic fields, where things might get a little crowded come spring because the baseball and softball fields are crammed into one corner of the campus.

The third-base line of the baseball field is adjacent to a seven-foot wall separating the campus from an industrial park. And the softball field extends into the baseball field’s outfield, making simultaneous play a bit tricky.

“I think the contractor wanted to get in and out of here quickly,” Athletic Director Jeff Watts said.

There also is little room for bleachers along the third-base side of the baseball field, which is next to the industrial park. Athletic department officials wanted to move the fields, but were told by district officials that they couldn’t, according to Watts.

It seems that money already had been spent on sprinklers and a drainage system.

“We were all set to move, but we were told the backstops had to remain where they were,” Watts said.

The alternate plan, Watts said, was to make the junior varsity baseball field the varsity field. With the junior varsity field, nestled between the tennis and racquetball courts, again they ran into a wall--the racquetball court wall--which would make a 280-foot popup a home run over the right-field fence.

“There was also no room for bleachers,” Watts said.

And there are no dugouts at any of the fields.

It could get rather expensive, having to replace baseballs as the seven-foot cement fence along the third-base side won’t contain many foul balls.

“We had a fence company come in here to estimate what it would cost to put up a 20-foot chain-link fence down the left-field line,” Watts said. “It came to $21,000. I guess we’ll be having a lot of foul balls.”

Not a word: Orange County water polo coaches are a bit upset, not to mention confused, about the “no-talking” rule adopted this year by the National Federation of State High School Athletic Assn.

The rule states that a coach cannot talk to an official while a match is in progress. All questions must be relayed through the team captain.

The penalties can be harsh: First offense, a warning. Second offense, the player closest to the official is given a 35-second penalty. Third offense, the coach is ejected.

“Basically, it’s stupid and it’s difficult,” Tustin Coach Tony Choquehuanca said. “You end up yelling at your captain, ‘Ask him why he called that.’ But you do it loud enough for the official to hear. It’s the only way around it, but you end up looking like (a jerk).”

The rule has been in effect on the international and collegiate level for the past few years and finally has trickled down to the high school level, said Susan True, an assistant director for the National Federation.

Villa Park Coach Jeff Erhlich said he has yet to find a coach who likes the rule. In fact, he hasn’t found too many who know that it has been adopted.

“(Newport Harbor Coach) Bill Barnett was chasing an official around the pool just last week,” Erhlich said. “He certainly wasn’t abiding by it and he’s the national team’s coach.

“I don’t see the rationale behind the rule, unless officials are intimidated by the coaches. And the good ones are never intimidated.”

Get your program: In the Sunny Hills’ program, players are asked about their plans.

High marks for creativity go to:

--Johnny Tu: “Win CIF; develop new strain of rice.”

--Jeff Edwards: “Marry Donald Trump’s daughter and inherit millions.”

--Mike Marshall: “Appear on ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.’ ”

--Matt Hopkins: “Be more rich and famous than Morton Downey Jr.”

--Dan Wackerman: “Win CIF; win the Lotto; marry Kim Basinger.”

--Rio Ahn: “Rule Playboy mansion.”

--David Wilde: “Do this, that, and the other.”

--Kirk Wudske: “Become supreme ruler of the world.”

Tough openers: League play begins this week for most football teams and the schedule-makers didn’t waste much time matching up contenders.

Matched in league openers are:

Century League--Santa Ana (4-1) vs. El Modena (1-3-1).

Sunset League--Huntington Beach (4-1) vs. Edison (3-2).

Sea View League--Estancia (5-0) vs. Corona del Mar (4-1).

Orange League--Brea-Olinda (5-0) vs. Western (4-1).

The Garden Grove League schedule-makers, however, got the jump on everyone when they pitted front-runners Pacifica against La Quinta two weeks ago. Pacifica won, 35-28.

Cross-country update: At the Stanford Invitational Saturday, Corona del Mar won the boys’ Division II championship for schools with enrollments between 800 and 1,600.

The Sea Kings finished with 54 points, well ahead of second-place Palos Verdes (112).

Corona del Mar’s Chris Cannon finished third overall with a time of 16 minutes 29 seconds. Teammate Mike Marumoto was sixth (16:45).

In the girls’ competition, Corona del Mar finished second behind Palos Verdes.

A passing grade: When Dan Niednagel learned of his time at the Sept. 30 Dana Hills Invitational, a 14-minute 45-second clocking over the three-mile course for the fastest time of the day, he was thrilled.

Not only had he come within a second of tying the school record, but he had earned 50 extra-credit points in his Advanced Placement U.S. History class.

His history teacher, Ron Buchheim, had told Niednagel that for every second he ran under 14:50, Niednagel would earn 10 extra points in the class. Buchheim said a student needs to accumulate about 1,400 points through the semester for an A.

“He’s already got an A in the class, so it wasn’t going to make any difference,” said Buchheim, who until this year was coach of the girls’ team at Dana Hills.

Late starters: To avoid traffic congestion, Orange Coast College officials require all high school football games played at the college on Thursdays to begin at 8 p.m. Classes begin at 7 and 7:30 p.m.

Prep Notes

Pacifica is accepting applications for a varsity baseball coach with the possibility of a teaching position. Interested candidates can call principal Don Wise at 663-6571. . . . Pacifica running back Chris Shockley set a school single-game rushing record with 229 yards in a 43-19 victory over Santiago Thursday. Ed Odin gained 213 yards in 1978 against Rancho Alamitos. . . . Marina’s 6-0 victory over Long Beach Millikan Thursday night was the first time the Vikings have won consecutive games since 1987, when they won five in a row to win the Sunset League title. . . . At Saturday’s Costa Mesa cross-country meet, Santa Ana won the boys’ Division I championship and Paramount won the girls’ Division I title. El Modena won the boys’ and girls’ division II championships.