Surgery Performed on Finger of Top Rio Mesa Shotputter

Patrick Van Scoy, a shotputter and discus thrower on the Rio Mesa High track and field team, underwent surgery earlier this week to repair a severely cut finger and will be sidelined indefinitely, Coach Brian FitzGerald said.

Several ligaments in the index finger of Van Scoy’s left (throwing) hand were damaged when the finger was cut in an accident last weekend.

Van Scoy, a senior, threw 59 feet 3 3/4 inches in the shotput and 168-2 3/4 in the discus as a junior. He placed fourth and sixth, respectively, in those events in the Southern Section 3-A Division championships last May.

Tory Stephens of Valley College will play in a North-South junior college basketball game today.

Stephens, a 6-foot-2 sophomore guard from San Fernando High, is one of five Valley-area players selected for the game, which will be held at 5 p.m. at UC Irvine’s Bren Center, before the state championship game.

Ryan Kieling of Crespi High and Dave Hartman of Canyon, both seniors, will compete in the National Scholastic Indoor Championships track and field meet today at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N. Y.

Kieling won the 50-meter high hurdles (6.98 seconds) in the Sunkist meet in January. Hartman will compete in the boys’ two-mile run.