Harvard Bids to Stay Afloat Without Corso

The Harvard-Westlake High swimming team heads into the Sunshine League championships next week without one vital member: Coach Rich Corso.

Corso is the water polo coach of the Canadian national team, which is playing in a 13-team Olympic-qualifying tournament through May 12. Five teams will advance to the Summer Games in Barcelona.

“We had a long meeting with the team before I left,” Corso said. “I said, ‘Not only am I going to try to get to the Olympics, but it’s like I’m getting a doctoral degree in water polo.”

A lot of Harvard’s swimmers also are on the school’s water polo team, so Corso’s experience in Canada could benefit them.

Corso will communicate with assistants Steve Shaw and Gary O’Brien by phone and fax machine. But the Wolverines will be only one of Corso’s priorities.

“I figured about a year ago our chances of making the Olympics were pretty slim,” he said. “Now I’d say they’re about 50-50.”

BROTHERLY BATTERY

Rick and Robert Mena--call them brothers with arms--have made this baseball season a special one for their coach at Providence.

“The combination they make is awesome,” said Richard Mena, the players’ father and Providence coach. “I enjoy watching them like crazy.”

Rick, a senior right-hander, and Robert, a sophomore right-hander, are indeed a one-two punch for Providence, a Southern Section Small Schools power that has surged to a 9-1 record and a 7-0 Liberty League mark.

Robert (6-foot-1 1/2, 180 pounds) is the team’s No. 1 starter with a 5-0 record and an 0.32 earned-run average in 44 innings and an area-high 85 strikeouts. As the team’s No. 2 starter, Rick (5-9, 165) is 4-0 with an 0.95 ERA in 22 innings.

Offensively, Robert is batting .533 (16 for 30) and Rick is batting .531 (17 for 32). The pair rank second and third among area batting leaders.

When Robert pitches, Rick catches. When Rick pitches, Robert catches.

Their father mostly just watches.

“For three years as their manager, I have never once told them to go slider or go fastball,” Richard Mena said. “They call their own game.”

The coach’s only regret is that the pair will part--at least temporarily--when Rick graduates.

“They’re my only two sons,” Mena said. “I wish I had four.”

Imagine the infield he would have.

ALPHA STATE

Montclair Prep has walloped its last three Alpha League baseball opponents--beating Western Christian, 14-3, Village Christian, 23-3, and L.A. Baptist, 16-2--and at least one player has wondered where all the pitching has gone.

Brad Fullmer, asked about Alpha League pitchers, said: “They’re terrible. I think we’re going to have to move to the Mission League or something. I think pitching is down in the Valley this year. Even in our tournaments and other games, it hasn’t seemed that overpowering.”

Easy for Fullmer to say. He has a .574 batting average--the best mark among all regional players--with nine home runs and 33 runs batted in through 19 games.

In the Mounties’ past three games, Fullmer is eight for 12 with three home runs and 11 RBIs. He hit two home runs in one inning against Village Christian and had three doubles against L.A. Baptist.

Fullmer, a junior second baseman, already has received letters from Stanford, Clemson, North Carolina and Texas.

BITTERSWEET DEBUT

Almost forgotten during Tuesday’s 13-inning, four-hour, 3-3 tie between host Santa Clara and Fillmore was the starting pitching debut of Chris Macias, the Saints’ catcher, quarterback and basketball guard.

Having pitched only two innings in relief this season, Macias approached Tuesday’s outing with confidence: Before the game, he predicted a no-hitter. And he had one until the sixth inning when Phillip Chessani led off with a single down the third base line.

Macias hunched over, hands on his knees, for 10 seconds. There was more frustration later.

“To pitch nine innings and not even get a decision, that’s frustrating,” said Macias, who gave up three runs--one earned--and three hits.

He was needed because the Saints are scheduled to play three games this week, including two against Santa Paula. The Saints (10-3-1, 6-1-1) will visit the Cardinals (10-9, 6-2) today in an attempt to protect their half-game lead in the Frontier League.

SURPRISING START

When Village Christian began its boys’ volleyball program this spring, few observers would have expected the Crusaders to compete for a Heritage League title and a Southern Section 2-A Division playoff berth. But midway through its league schedule, Village Christian is in first place.

Coach Steve Levoe, assisted by his wife and girls’ Coach Lisa Levoe, said he did not know what to expect at the beginning of the season. “We certainly didn’t think we would be playing as well as we are,” Steve said.

The only player with any organized volleyball experience is junior Greg Walgenbach, a 6-2 outside hitter and setter, and his background was limited to playing in a church league. David Fennell, a standout basketball player, tried out for the team just before the start of the season. Fennell, a 6-3 junior middle blocker, leads the Crusaders in kills and blocks.

“We just sort of twisted his arm and got him to come out at the last minute,” Steve Levoe said.

The Crusaders also have been helped by the development of several youngsters, 6-0 sophomore Brody McClain, 5-8 freshman David Ludwig and freshman Chad Hansen. “Chad is only 6-1, but his dad is 6-9, so we expect him to grow,” Steve Levoe said.

LONG-TERM PLAN

Without a league to compete in, the Nordhoff boys’ volleyball team is trying to stay motivated with long-range goals.

“We’re plugging along and waiting for (the playoffs),” Coach Tim Grinwis said. “We seem to rise to the level we need to.”

The Rangers, who compete in the 2-A Division, are 12-1, including wins over 2-A powers Bishop Diego, St. Joseph-Santa Maria and Cate. Nordhoff also defeated Buena and lost to Ventura in five games. Ventura and Buena compete in the 4-A Division.

“Maybe we’re not ready for Dos Pueblos or Royal, but we’re prepared for just about everyone else we’ll face,” Grinwis said.

GREAT LEAP FORWARD

Antelope Valley track Coach Wayne Dawson is hopeful that long jumper Eugene Dreher’s victory in the Kern Valley Relays at Bakersfield College on Saturday is a sign of things to come.

Dreher, a senior, had leaped a personal best of 23 feet 1 1/4 inches to win the high school portion of the Sunkist Invitational indoor meet in February, but he had struggled outdoors until Saturday, when he leaped 23-1.

“He had some personal problems that he needed to get straightened out and that took something away from his performances,” Dawson said. “But I think you’re going to see some big things out of him in the weeks ahead.”

Dreher will defend his Golden League title in the long jump in the league finals at College of the Canyons on May 8.

WINNING TRADITION

The Kennedy track and field teams have not been among the region’s elite since the mid-’80s, but the Golden Cougars continue to win their share of league titles.

Last week, the Kennedy boys’ and girls’ teams wrapped up their second consecutive season with 7-0 records in the Northwest Valley Conference.

The Kennedy girls have compiled a 127-7 dual-meet record and won 16 of 17 league titles since the team was begun in 1976. The boys’ team is 128-38 in dual meets during that span with 10 league titles and seven runner-up finishes.

“We don’t get a lot of publicity, but we just keep winning,” Kennedy co-Coach Pete Nelson said. “I think consistency in our coaching staff has been part of our success.”

Nelson, the boys’ and girls’ cross-country coach, and co-Coach Warren Farlow have been guiding the track programs at Kennedy since the school opened in 1971.

FAMILIAR SIGHT

Rio Mesa appears to have another superb freshman athlete on its girls’ track and field team.

Andrea Wasden is not apt to win a state title as a freshman, as did Angela Burnham in 1986 and Marion Jones in 1990, but she might be one of the state’s best in a couple of years.

Although Wasden is competing in track for the first time, she has run 12.4 seconds in the 100 meters, 26.4 in the 200 and 15.0 in the 100-meter low hurdles. “She was just out there on the track one day,” Rio Mesa co-Coach Brian FitzGerald said. “But the first time I saw her run, I thought, ‘Oh, oh. We’ve got a good one here.’ ”

FitzGerald said that Wasden’s greatest improvement should come in the hurdles.

“She doesn’t really know what she’s doing right now technically,” FitzGerald said. “But she’s still running some good times. . . . She’s going to be a force to be reckoned with.”

David Coulson, Vince Kowalick and staff writers John Ortega and T.C. Porter contributed to this notebook.