Canyons, Ventura Sweep WSC Awards for Top Coach and Player in Division

Ventura and Canyons colleges, the Western State Conference Northern and Southern Division men’s basketball champions, swept coach of the year and most valuable player awards.

Ventura’s Phil Mathews was Northern Division coach of the year, and Lester Neal, Ventura’s 6-foot-6 sophomore center, was player of the year.

Canyons’ Lee Smelser was coach of the year in the South, and Nick Sanderson, a 6-2 sophomore guard for Canyons, was player of the year.

Northern first-team selections included: Sam Crawford and Damian Wilson of Moorpark; Shawn Talley and Don Mitchell of Oxnard; and Calvin Curry, DiJon Barnard and Uba Satterfield of Ventura.

Southern first-team selections included: Reggie Bell of Canyons; Kelly Crosby of Glendale; and Tory Stephens, Rick Garrick and Russell Baldwin of Valley.

Kent Sullivan, a Cal Lutheran punter from 1985-1988, was selected Saturday by the San Antonio Riders as the third choice in the World League of American Football’s draft of punters in Orlando, Fla.

Sullivan, 26, averaged 38.8 yards a punt with the Kingsmen. Sullivan attended the Chicago Bears training camp in 1989 and 1990, but was released before the start of the regular season both years. The WLAF is conducting its draft of the 710 players who have signed contracts with the league on a position-by-position basis.

In Thursday’s draft of offensive linemen, John Guerrero, an offensive tackle from Oxnard High and USC, was Orlando’s second-round selection. Former Cal State Northridge guard Barry Vorhees was a sixth-round pick by Barcelona.