Wood Wins Junior Olympic Diving Title

Ricky Wood, 18, of Simi Valley won the boys’ 16-18 platform diving title Saturday at the National Junior Olympic diving championships in Clayton, Mo.

In the boys’ 13-and-under one-meter springboard, Troy Dumais, 11, of Ventura was fourth and his 12-year-old brother, Justin, was fifth.

Birmingham High pole-vaulter Howard Schrier, a two-time City Section 4-A champion, has made an oral commitment to attend Cal State Northridge. Schrier, whose best mark is 14 feet 8 inches, also considered USC.

Alicia Portnoy, a former Granada Hills High standout and now a junior at North Carolina, lost to Dorey Brandt, a recent San Diego State graduate, 6-1, 6-3, in a semifinal match Saturday at the 54th Santa Barbara Open.

Mission Hills defeated Culver City, 15-1, Saturday in a first-round game of the Senior League (15-year-olds) Division 3 state baseball tournament at Cal Lutheran. The tournament comprises eight teams from throughout Southern California.

Mission Hills will play El Monte National today at noon at Thousand Oaks High. The tournament concludes Thursday, with games also being played at Thousand Oaks High.

The Valley Rangers dropped a National Baseball Congress Collegiate League doubleheader to the Long Beach Seals Saturday at Cal State Long Beach, wasting another fine pitching performance by Steve Dempsey.

Dempsey, who entered the game ranked second nationally in the NBC with a 1.42 earned run average, pitched a six-hitter, allowing two earned runs, but was betrayed by a defense that made eight errors in a 7-2 first-game loss. Long Beach scored four ninth-inning runs in a 5-0 second-game win.