Hart’s Boys Ranked No. 1 in Cross-Country

The Hart High boys’ cross-country team, the defending state and Southern Section Division I champion, has been ranked No. 1 in the nation by The Harrier magazine in its preseason poll.

Four of the top six runners from the 1990 team are expected to return this fall: juniors Keith Grossman (13th in the state championships) and Paul De La Cerda (35th), senior Mike Dukes (38th) and sophomore Gavin Klinger (45th).

Seniors Veronica Barajas of Channel Islands High and Jeff Wilson of Newbury Park are also listed in the magazine’s preseason issue top 25 individuals to watch. Barajas finished fifth in the Kinney national cross-country championships last year and Wilson won the state Division III title.

John Bjerke, 25, the junior-varsity boys’ volleyball coach at Thousand Oaks High, has replaced Ron Beick as the girls’ volleyball coach at the school.

Beick, 35, who guided the Lancers to Southern Section 2-A Division titles in 1986 and ‘87, resigned last month so that he could devote more time to his family.

Three former Valley-area players were released Tuesday by NFL teams attempting to reduce their rosters to 60 or less. They are:

Keith Wright (6-foot-1, 185 pounds), a former Cal State Northridge receiver who was trying to catch on as a free agent with the Raiders. Wright, 27, who played for the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League in 1989 and ‘90, has said he would consider re-signing with the CFL team.

Darryl Ingram, a tight end from Hart and Cal, by the San Francisco 49ers; Tim Stallworth, a receiver from Montclair Prep and Washington State, by the Denver Broncos.