LJCD’s Salaam Gets Approval for 1 More Year

Rashaan Salaam and his football coach at La Jolla Country Day, Rick Woods, breathed a sigh of relief when the San Diego Section Board of Managers approved an amendment to CIF Rule 202.

Salaam, a junior who won’t be 17 until October, received another year of eligibility after the Board of Managers approved the amendment to the rule, which limits athletic eligibility to the first eight consecutive semesters after a student enters the ninth grade.

The intention was to prevent a fifth year of eligibility for players 18 and older. But Salaam began school when he was 3, completed the ninth grade at Bell Junior High when he was 12 and repeated the ninth grade when he went to La Jolla Country Day the following year. He did not participate in sports either year but had used up half of his high school eligibility under Rule 202.

He also couldn’t participate on the varsity level until midway through his sophomore season--until his birthday in October--because he had not yet turned 15, another section rule.

“I’m just glad it’s all over and I can play next year and have a senior year,” Salaam said. “During the whole process, I felt I would have a senior year because I had a lot of people in my corner.”

Salaam gained 2,162 yards and scored 51 touchdowns--45 rushing--and led LJCD to a 11-0 record. He was also on The Times’ All-County team.

“He had such a great season and I really haven’t been able to enjoy the success we’ve had,” Woods said. “This has been kind of a dark cloud hanging over us. It’s like the season’s finally over and I can enjoy it.

“It really was a case of him needing to be granted an exemption. There was no intent there to circumvent the rules.”

Trivia time: Christian’s Tony Clark scored 64 points to hold the boys’ basketball single-game section scoring record. Who holds the record--and what is it--for the girls?

Overtime trials: Mt. Miguel was shut out in the overtime periods of two consecutive boys’ basketball games. The Matadors lost to Helix, 54-51, being outscored 3-0; and to Monte Vista, 46-40, being outscored 6-0.

A new wardrobe: If scoring three goals is a hat trick, is four goals worth a pair of pants? Three different girls scored four goals Friday in county soccer play. Juniors Erica Bornhorst and Kim Craig, both from 10th-ranked Chula Vista, scored four goals each in a 14-0 victory over Montgomery. Torrey Pines’ Tianne Baity, a sophomore who got a rare start, scored four in the Falcons’ 8-0 victory over Fallbrook.

Will Baity continue to start?

“I would think so,” Coach Dennis Costello said. “What’s the incentive of scoring goals if you can’t start?”

Here’s the fax: One high school athlete is already media conscious, and it should come as no surprise that he’s going to attend Brigham Young. Rancho Buena Vista’s Matt Sailors, who had 27 sacks this year, was the subject of a fax transmitted by his parents to inform newspapers that the senior linebacker had committed orally to the Cougars.

“Better that than having reporters call at all hours,” said Steve Annibali, Sailors’ father.

Honoring the holiday: Not having to practice on Martin Luther King Day was the incentive for Mission Bay’s 3-1 upset of La Jolla in a City Western League boys’ soccer match. Coach Dave Cochrane said the Buccaneers (5-2-4, 1-0-1) would have had to practice on Monday--though school was out--had they not surprised La Jolla (6-2-1, 1-1), the county’s sixth-ranked team.

A little short: The 13 three-point field goals by Valhalla in a 104-50 victory Wednesday against West Hills was two shy of the section record. When Vista set the record last year against Orange Glen, the Panthers made 15 of 41 attempts (37%). Valhalla made 13 of 31 attempts (42%).

Doing her share: Junior Kris Skaalen of Coronado High School scored 20 of her team’s points in a 30-28 loss to Misson Bay on Friday.

A few dollars short: Fallbrook’s girls’ basketball team couldn’t buy a basket in a 44-40 loss to Torrey Pines on Friday. Ranked sixth at the time, the Warriors made only 14 of 74 shots from the field (19%) and seven of 19 from the free-throw line (37%).

Long, hard fall: The Mt. Carmel boys’ basketball team (14-5) opened last week ranked second in the county but lost two in a row. They have lost three of their past four and are now fifth in the Palomar League.

Trivia answer: Point Loma’s Terri Mann, the girls’ career scoring leader, had 65 points against Chula Vista on Dec. 31, 1986.

Tough week: Rancho Buena Vista’s girls’ basketball team had it rough last week. The Longhorns faced second-ranked Poway (losing, 65-49) and third-ranked Mt. Carmel (losing, 69-39). On top of that, RBV players had semester finals.

Don Patterson, Jim Lindgren and Laura Palmer contributed to the notebook.