Trio Continues Running Feud

If there is a common complaint about rivalries in track and field, it is that the best runners don’t compete against each other often enough.

At the collegiate and the world-class level, especially, that is too often true. Thankfully, it has yet to become the norm at the high school level.

Take Marmonte League rivals Deena Drossin of Agoura, Jeannie Rothman of Westlake and Veronica Barajas of Channel Islands, for instance.

The trio squared off in four invitational or championship cross-country races this year. Drossin and Barajas raced against each other eight times, Drossin and Rothman met six times, and Rothman and Barajas met six times.

They were the top three runners from the West region in the Kinney national championships Dec. 8, and they will resume their rivalry in the mile in the Sunkist Invitational indoor track and field meet at the Sports Arena on Jan. 18.

Although each is better suited to the two-mile distance, the mile will be the longest girls’ race contested at this year’s Sunkist meet.

“We’ve had the girls’ two mile in the past and it just drags on too long,” Sunkist Promoter Al Franken said. “The fans tend to get bored with it. With (11 laps) to the mile indoors, it’s better to have the kids run the shorter races.”

Save the quarter: Canyon basketball Coach Greg Hayes has decided that he has read enough about other Golden League teams that have played well during the preleague season. In fact, coaches claim that the league is stronger top to bottom than at any time in recent memory.

Canyon has won six of its first nine games, matching Palmdale’s start. Saugus has lost only three times in 10 games and Quartz Hill has an 8-2 record. Even Antelope Valley (4-7) has shown flashes of quality despite a slow start.

Hayes has resigned himself to the fact that no matter how many times he looks at box scores, league rivals will be matching the Cowboys win for win.

“I’ve just accepted the fact that every game is going to be tough,” he said. “So I’ve stopped reading the papers. I have enough trouble worrying about my own team.

“I sleep better at night now.”

Putting the past in the future: The Hoover basketball team has dedicated the season to the memory of a player and an assistant coach who passed away within a two-month span last summer.

Rudy Gonzalez, who would have been a senior this season, drowned in July. Kevin Ayers, who joined the Hoover staff as a varsity assistant and freshman coach last season, suffered a fatal heart attack in September.

The team has been wearing black armbands as a tribute to Gonzalez and Ayers.

“They’re the reason we’re playing,” Coach Kirt Kohlmeier said. “It has definitely brought the team together. They were a part of the team and still are. I feel the kids have something to prove above and beyond themselves.”

Kohlmeier has noticed a change in players’ attitudes since the loss of Gonzales and Ayers.

“Coaching this team has been a blast,” said Kohlmeier, who is in his 11th season. “They don’t care who plays as long as we win. Practice has been more than going through the basics. I never had more fun in two hours in my life.”

Useless information: No programs or rosters of competing teams were available at the North Hollywood boys’ basketball tournament last week.

However, press guides for the North Hollywood girls’ team were available. The 14-page booklet includes player profiles, prospectus, school records and game-by-game summaries dating to 1983.

Marquee conference: Reseda’s Marquis (pronounced Mar-KEE) Wilborn graduated last summer, seemingly leaving teammate Marquis Burns, then a sophomore, as the area’s first-name headliner.

Yet Burns isn’t the only player whose name begs to be burned in lights.

El Camino Real’s Markee Brown, who joined the basketball team after football season was completed, grabbed 15 rebounds in his first extended action in last week’s 47-43 victory over Palisades.

Add name game: Notre Dame senior forward Giancarlo Marcaccini abbreviated his first name to G. C. at the beginning of the season to cut down on misspellings.

“Everybody was spelling my name wrong last season so I just decided to change it to G. C.,” he said. “It’s a lot easier to spell.”

Marcaccini might consider changing his last name as well. It was spelled Marchachinni in the Beverly Hills tournament program last week.

Emerging from the shadows: Had Tiffany York attended any school in the Valley area besides Agoura, her name would be much more recognizable in sporting circles. However, when you are a teammate of Deena Drossin, the three-time state Division I cross-country and 1990 state track champion in the 3,200 meters, it is easy to be overlooked.

Nevertheless, York has drawn interest from NCAA Division I schools UC Irvine and Colorado, and from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which has won nine Division II titles in a row.

York placed fourth in the state Division I cross-country championships last month and has run 4 minutes 53.2 seconds in the 1,500 meters and 11:02.69 in the 3,200.

Staff writers Brian Murphy, Steve Elling, Kirby Lee and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.

AREA BASKETBALL TOP 10 Selected by sportswriters of The Times

Last Rk Wk Team League Record 1 1 Granada Hills North Valley 10-1 2 2 Cleveland North Valley 7-2 3 3 Santa Clara Frontier 10-2 4 4 Royal Marmonte 9-3 5 5 Notre Dame Mission 8-3 6 6 Thousand Oaks Marmonte 6-1 7 7 Channel Islands Marmonte 6-1 8 8 Taft North Valley 6-3 9 9 Quartz Hill Golden 7-2 10 10 Camarillo Marmonte 4-1

NR--Not ranked.