NOTEBOOK

Raising medal counts: Both Orange County bowlers added to the medal totals with golds in the four-person team event at the South Bay Bowling Center in Redondo Beach.

In the men’s competition, Steve Smith of Anaheim was a member of the West team that pulled out a victory over the South and North in the final frame. For the women, Julie Gardner of Huntington Beach teamed with three others for a 42-pin West victory over the South.

Smith has three gold medals, failing to place in the top three only in the mixed doubles. Gardner added her first gold medal to two silvers after a disappointing 14th-place finish in singles.

Both started slowly in their bids to earn a medal in the final event--round-robin match play. Gardner was 14th after six of 15 games; Smith was 16th and last.

Familiar opponents: Toni Bevelock of Santa Ana advanced to the medal-round semifinals in women’s racquetball with a 15-7, 15-12 victory over Dot Fischl of Allentown, Pa.

Bevelock, 3-0 in the Festival, will play Malia Bailey of Norfolk, Va., this morning with a berth in tonight’s gold-medal game on the line. Michelle Gilman of Ontario, Ore., will play Jackie Paraiso Gibson of San Diego in the other semifinal.

The matchups are unusual in that they are not unusual. The national championships in May led to the same semifinal pairings, with Gilman and Bevelock advancing to the final, which Gilman won.

In men’s doubles today, Brian Hawkes of Santa Ana will team with Doug Ganim of Columbus, Ohio, in a semifinal against Tom Neill and Louis Vogel of Albuquerque, N.M., with the winner advancing to tonight’s gold-medal game. Tuesday, Hawkes and Ganim defeated Texans Mike Guidry of Arlington and Drew Kachtik of Austin, 15-6, 15-7.

Bill Sell of Fountain Valley, still trying to recover from the effects of a broken right hand (he’s left-handed), lost to Andy Roberts of Memphis, Tenn., 15-10, 15-8, to drop his men’s singles Festival record to 0-3.