Braced for a Fall, San Fernando’s Brown Rises to the Occasion

Leonice Brown was a bit heavier than normal during the 400-meter relay in the City Section track and field semifinals last Thursday, but the San Fernando High senior more than carried his weight.

Brown had sustained an injury to his right wrist while playing a pickup football game a week before the meet. He sported a brace during the Tigers’ 400 relay heat but removed it before his 100 and 200 heats. Had he gone to the hospital for X-rays, Brown’s wrist might have been placed in a cast, a thought that did not sit well with Brown.

“I was afraid they’d find something wrong and they would put a cast on it,” said Brown, who has scrape marks on his right shoulder after diving for a pass.

Brown might have run slightly lopsided during the 400 relay, but the Colorado State-bound tailback brought the Tigers back from sixth to fourth (42.80 seconds) on the anchor leg to help boost San Fernando into the finals today at Birmingham High.

“It bothered me during the relay so I took it off,” Brown said of the brace.

Brace or no, the injury put Brown at a slight disadvantage. And in a race as short as the 100, there is little room for error.

Brown was the last runner out of the blocks in his 100 heat but recovered in time to finish second in a personal-best 10.70 seconds. Crenshaw’s Donnell Moore won in 10.69.

“My hand was shaking. It hurt when I put pressure on it,” Brown said, referring to his four-point stance for the start of the 100.

Brown, who posted the No. 2 200-meter time in the state at 21.32 in the City quarterfinals, looked like his old self in the 200 last Thursday, getting out to a fast start and clocking a wind-hindered 21.56 win.

Freshman feats: El Camino Real Coach Mike Maio took a chance when he gave diminutive freshman Randy Wolf a starting berth in the outfield.

Wolf did not let him down.

Wolf (5-foot-8, 140 pounds) was 19 for 47 (.404) and scored 14 runs. The only other freshman to start in Maio’s nine-year tenure was 1990 graduate Ryan McGuire (now at UCLA), a first baseman and designated-hitter who batted just .227 (15 for 66) in his first season.

Both bat from the left side.

Royal rules: Royal outdueled Simi Valley for the City Trophy, which is awarded annually to the school in the Simi Valley Unified School District that performs best in head-to-head competition.

A school receives 10 points for a varsity win, five points for a junior-varsity win and three points for winning a sophomore event. Royal, which won the award for the second time in three years, finished with 270 points to 233 for Simi Valley.

Learning the A, B, Cs and Ks: Six players on the Moorpark softball team have names that begin either with the letter C or K, causing headaches for Coach Floyd Berger.

The lineup card includes Cara Shea, Cheryl Lannom, Corri Martin, Colleen Tucker, Cher Ginerello, Kelly Steel and Cristy Main.

“I have caught myself looking at them, trying to choose their name,” he said. “They get mad when they can’t understand which one I am shouting to.”

Berger has found a way to avoid confusion.

“We have little nicknames for each player,” Berger said. “We call one of them Ethel because she reminds me of Ethel Merman.”

Name change: Along with the merger of Los Angeles Westlake, an all-girls’ school, and Harvard, an all-boys’ school, was the creation of a new team nickname.

“Wolverines” was selected by a vote of students from both campuses, replacing “Wildcats” at Westlake and “Saracens” at Harvard.

The school will be known as Harvard-Westlake and the school colors will be red and black, Harvard’s current colors.

Westlake, whose colors are blue, gold and white, must replace all of its uniforms. However, it might be a while before the Harvard uniforms reflect the change.

“Some of the uniforms have Harvard on them and others say Saracens,” Harvard Athletic Director Gary Thran said. “It will be a gradual change. It’s a big chunk of money to buy all new uniforms at once.”

Add Harvard-Westlake: Among the other finalists for the nickname were Mavericks and Lions.

Thran has a slight preference for Lions.

“If we didn’t stay with the Saracens, I thought it would have been pretty neat,” he said. “We have a crest at the school with a griffin on it and I thought it would have been appropriate. The seventh- and eighth-grade kids come from a different culture. They had the most influence and they apparently didn’t think so.”

Open for business: Kennedy’s football team has an open date in its schedule--Friday, Sept. 20.

“We’ll play anyplace, anywhere,” Coach Bob Francola said.

The date is the second week of play for City Section schools.

Staff writers Steve Elling, Kirby Lee, Paige A. Leech contributed to this notebook.