PREPS / ROB FERNAS : New High School Names Barr, Fawaz Co-Athletic Directors

John Barr and Pete Fawaz, the respective athletic directors at Rolling Hills and Palos Verdes high schools, have been named co-athletic directors of the district’s new high school, it was announced this week.

In addition, Jim Kinney, the longtime activities director at Palos Verdes, was selected to the same position at the new school.

They are the latest administrative posts to be filled since the Palos Verdes Peninsula School Board voted in December to close Miraleste and Palos Verdes high schools in June and consolidate operations at a renamed Rolling Hills High next fall.

The district is now expected to begin the laborious task of interviewing and selecting coaches for the school’s athletic teams. Chris Bowles, assistant principal in charge of athletics, said he hopes to have head coaches for fall and winter sports within two or three weeks.

“We want to fly the jobs as soon as possible,” Bowles said. “Legally we have to (open applications) for five days. We may do it next week.”

Bowles said choosing athletic directors was a difficult decision for the selection panel, which consisted of Bowles, Principal Kelly Johnson and two district officials.

The odd man out was Miraleste’s Tom Graves, who, with 18 years experience as athletic director, has more experience in that position than either Fawaz or Barr. Graves also coached Miraleste’s successful baseball team for several years and was football coach.

“Obviously it was painful for me,” Graves said. “But I’ll survive like everyone else. . . . Hopefully I’m not totally out of the picture at (the new) school.”

Bowles indicated it will not be the last time an experienced, qualified individual will be passed over as the district squeezes three schools into one.

“Unfortunately, it is a prelude to a lot of other very difficult decisions that will have to be made,” he said. “We’re going to run into it soon with coaching situations. It’s not easy.

“All I can say is, we’re trying to hire the best people. When you have three people that are all qualified, and you pick two, one person is going to lose. I think the world of Tom. His record speaks for itself. But this is the type of thing that is going to happen in this type of situation.”

The new school is tentatively being called Peninsula High, but Bowles said “nothing is in cement.” He said Kinney is working with students to select a mascot and school colors. Once that is done, the district can begin ordering equipment and uniforms.

Bowles said some of the suggestions for a school name are Palos Verdes Peninsula, Peninsula and Palos Verdes. Two of the nicknames being considered, he said, are Patriots and Panthers.

Peninsula High still hasn’t found a league. The CIF releaguing committee, responding to an appeal from Redondo and Mira Costa, voted 7-0 this week to deny a proposal that would have realigned the Bay, Ocean and Pioneer leagues for the 1991-92 school year.

Mira Costa and Redondo filed the appeal after a Jan. 29 meeting at Santa Monica in which principals from the 15 Bay, Ocean and Pioneer league schools voted, 9-6, to change the configuration of the leagues. The meeting was held to place Peninsula High in a league.

Under the proposal, Mira Costa and Redondo would have left the Ocean League to join Peninsula High in the Bay League with holdovers Hawthorne, Leuzinger, Inglewood, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills. Culver City would have moved from the Bay League to the Ocean League, where it would have joined Morningside and the five Pioneer League schools--Torrance, South Torrance, North Torrance, West Torrance and Centennial.

Mira Costa and Redondo, upset with the prospect of having to compete in the Bay League against schools with larger enrollments, won their appeal because last month’s meeting of principals was not conducted in accordance with CIF guidelines.

As a result, the Coast Area Committee--composed of the Bay, Ocean, Pioneer, Moore and San Gabriel Valley leagues--will meet Feb. 28 at Santa Monica High to take another stab at realignment for the 1991-92 school year.

Torrance High’s basketball team used its height advantage, a strong start and some last-minute heroics by a sophomore to overcome a 38-point effort by Beverly Hills forward Jonah Naulls and defeat the visiting Normans, 87-81, Friday night in a CIF Division II-AA playoff opener.

The Tartars, going inside with success to 6-foot-6 forward Joe Zaletel and 6-8 center Joe Otos, opened leads of 27-18 after the first quarter and 51-41 at halftime. But they could not put away Beverly Hills until the waning moments because of the dead-eye shooting of Naulls, who hit six three-point baskets, including four in the second half.

“We were ahead, but it looked like we were playing from behind, playing catch-up,” Torrance Coach Bob Little said. “It was kind of a strange game.”

Zaletel scored a team-high 24 points and Otos added 14 off the bench, but it was sophomore guard Mike Dean (18 points) who made perhaps the two biggest plays of the night. He sank two free throws with 1:57 left to give Torrance an 83-77 lead. Then, with a minute left, Dean rebounded a missed free throw by Otos and gave the ball back to the junior for a layup, making it 85-77 with 51 seconds left.

“Isn’t it nice to have a sophomore with that kind of raw talent?” Little said. “Quickness kills. Speed kills.”

Torrance (17-7) won a coin flip Saturday to gain the home court for Tuesday night’s second-round game against Rosemead (18-4). If the Tartars can get by that one, it could set up a meeting with top-seeded J.W. North of Riverside in the quarterfinals Friday.

“If we get by two (games), who knows?” Little said. “You have confidence then. A lot of strange things can happen.”

Freshmen played big roles for two area basketball teams in Friday night’s opening round of the CIF Division III-AA playoffs.

Mira Costa point guard Shane Willis scored a team-high 20 points in a 70-63 victory over visiting Crespi of Encino, and Rolling Hills guard Brian Hogentogler came off the bench to score 14 points, including three three-point baskets, in a 65-51 victory over Dos Pueblos of Goleta.

Mira Costa and Rolling Hills lost coin flips Saturday and will play away games in Tuesday night’s second round. Fourth-seeded Mira Costa (20-7) will travel to meet Ganesha of Pomona (14-11), and Rolling Hills (15-12) heads to Anaheim to play third-seeded Western (21-3).

Tuesday’s game will mark the third time in four seasons that Rolling Hills and Western have met in the second round. Rolling Hills won at Western in 1988 and Western beat the Titans, 79-76, last season at Rolling Hills. Each team has three starters back from that game.

Bishop Montgomery also will experience deja vu Tuesday night in a Division II-A game.

The Knights (10-14) play host to second-seeded San Marcos of Santa Barbara (24-2), which eliminated them in the quarterfinals, 73-66, last season.

Once again, San Marcos is led by center Rob Ramaker, a 6-foot-9, 210-pound junior who played a major part in last year’s victory.

Bishop Montgomery automatically earned a home game after beating host La Mirada, 54-36, Friday night. Guard Marlon D’Oyen paced the Knights with 18 points, including four three-point baskets.

One of the season’s most attractive South Bay basketball match-ups will take place Wednesday night, when fourth-seeded Carson (16-9) plays host to Westchester (19-7) in the L.A. City Section 4-A Division quarterfinals.

In the final regular season South Bay poll, Westchester was ranked second and Carson third behind No. 1 Morningside.

In Friday’s openers, host Westchester beat Dorsey, 72-65, behind 25 points and nine rebounds from 6-8 center LeRoi O’Brien, and Carson overcame the slowdown tactics of visiting Kennedy of Granada Hills to win, 47-40.

In the only other City 4-A quarterfinal involving an area team, San Pedro (21-5) will travel Wednesday to meet second-seeded Manual Arts (21-3).