Cross-Country Shuffle Considered

A plan that would expand the number of divisions and group the state’s high schools equally among four categories at the state cross-country championships will be considered at the California Interscholastic Federation’s Federated Council meeting Feb. 2 in Sacramento.

If approved, the new plan would divide the state’s high schools into four divisions of equal size based on enrollment numbers. The realignment would take effect in the 1990 season.

Under the present format, the state is divided into three divisions (I, II and III) for cross-country based on school enrollment with an unbalanced number of eligible schools in each division.

For this year’s state championships, Division I, in which there are 352 schools, included schools with a student body of 1,600 or more students. Division II (700-1,599) had 315 schools and Division III (1-699) had 129.

Under the new alignment, Division 1 (2,021 plus students) and Division 2 (1,519-2,020) will each have 199 schools. Division 3 (939-1,518) and Division 4 (0-938) would include 196 and 203 schools, respectively.

The current setup grants 63 schools (21 in each division) from 10 CIF sections a berth in the state championships. The four-division plan would allow 64 schools participation in the state meet with 17 qualifying teams in Divisions 1 and 2 and 15 teams in Divisions 3 and 4.

Former Valley College Coach Dave Snow, now at Cal State Long Beach, leads a group of Southern California baseball coaches who are scheduled to appear at a coaching clinic Dec. 16-17 at Loyola Marymount.

The clinic is open to all baseball coaches.

Scheduled speakers include former College of the Canyons Coach Mike Gillespie, now of USC, Chris Smith and Bill Gevitt of Loyola Marymount and Al Ferrer of UC Santa Barbara. Information: 213-642-3328.

The Junior Elite Training Center gymnastics club of Canoga Park placed two teams in the California State Team Championship last weekend in San Diego. The JETC Level 7 junior (ages 12-14) squad placed first in the all-around competition with a team score of 107.40, and Emily Moyer, 15, of Chatsworth recorded the highest all-around score of 36.00. Heather Mitchell, 14, of Northridge placed second with a 35.65.

The JETC Level 6 children (ages 9-11) all-around team finished third with a 173.65, and fourth in the Level 7 senior (ages 15-18) division.

Two weekends ago, JETC had three all-around champions at the California State Individual Meet at Eagle Rock High.

Kristina Kasper, 10, of Hidden Hills won the Level 6 children all around with a score of 35.95. Mitchell, 14, scored a 35.60 to win the Level 7 junior all-around, and Krissy Zgrabik, 16, of Van Nuys won the Level 7 senior (ages 15-18) all-around with a 35.10.