SCOREBOARD : FACTS, FIGURES AND COMMENTS FROM AREA EVENTS

PREPS

Richard Mandeville, a 6-foot-11 junior center who helped La Canada win the Southern Section 3-A Division basketball championship, has made an unwritten commitment to attend Indiana.

Mandeville, who averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds a game for the Spartans, chose Indiana over Arizona. He made unofficial visits to Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Notre Dame, Kansas, Arizona State, Arizona and UCLA.

“There’s just something really special about Indiana,” Mandeville said. “When you think of Indiana, you think of basketball. The whole state is behind you.”

Mandeville will sign an official letter of intent in November.

The Glendale High boys’ volleyball team tied Arcadia for the Pacific League championship by defeating Hoover in four games Friday.

Glendale finished the regular season 11-5 and 7-1 in league. The Dynamiters open play in the Southern Section 4-A playoffs Friday night against Buena.

Crescenta Valley plays at Irvine in a 4-A match and St. Francis is at Cal High in Whittier in a 2-A match.

La Canada played a 3-A wild-card game Wednesday against Lynwood. Flintridge Prep played a 2-A match at Glendale Adventist.

COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Glendale tennis player Ashot Smbatyan is competing this week in the California state championship tournament at Rancho Bernardo.

Smbatyan qualified for the state finals by reaching the quarterfinals of the Southern California Regional last weekend at Santa Barbara.

Oved Aguirre will compete in the 5,000 and 10,000 kilometer events at the state track-and-field championships this weekend in Long Beach.

Aguirre is one of five Glendale men’s athletes who will participate, including Carlos Guerra and Mike Torres (javelin), Robert Nelson and Oscar Perez (steeplechase).

America Rivas will compete in the women’s 5-K.

COLLEGES

Several Occidental track athletes, preparing for the NCAA Division III track championships later this month at Colby College in Maine, produced lifetime-best performances at the Occidental Invitational last weekend.

Konstantine Kindreich finished eighth in the men’s 1,500 meters in 3 minutes 48.26 seconds, which ranks among the fastest times in Division III this year. Jose Garcia finished fifth in the 5,000 in a personal-best 14.37.25.

Becky Kopchick finished sixth in the women’s 3,000 in 9:53.94, the second-best time in school history.

Mashairi Dunn ran a personal-best 56.59 in the women’s 400, and Jacqui Dent finished the 800 in 2:08.62, her fastest time of the year.

Maro Najarian of Occidental is competing this week in the NCAA Division III women’s tennis championships at Kalamazoo, Mich.

The Occidental baseball team finished its season 13-23 and 5-16 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

The Occidental softball team picked up two forfeit victories when Claremont was unable to field a team because of final exams. The Tigers, therefore, avoided a winless season and finished 2-28.

Senior linebacker Robert Lewis and senior defensive back Mike Bonetto were presented awards as co-most valuable players of the Occidental football team at a team banquet Saturday.

Occidental was 5-4 and finished third in the SCIAC with a 3-2 record.

PREP ATHLETE OF WEEK

Julie Nelson, La Canada--Nelson, a senior shortstop, singled in the ninth inning to give the Spartans a 1-0 Rio Hondo League victory over first-place Temple City Thursday.

Nelson’s single helped La Canada improve to 9-6-1 and 6-3 in league.

COLLEGE ATHLETE OF WEEK

Robert Nelson, Glendale--Nelson finished fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Southern California track-and-field championships, which qualified him for the state meet at Long Beach.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW

Matt Whisenant--Whisenant, a left-handed pitcher who played at La Canada High and Glendale College, is playing for Spartanburg (S.C.), the Philadelphia Phillies’ affiliate in the Class A South Atlantic League.

Whisenant is 2-1 with a 1.82 earned-run average.

MISCELLANY

The baseball field in the Crystal Springs area of Griffith Park will officially be named Phil Pote Field at ceremonies Sunday at 4 p.m. Pote, a professional baseball scout and former coach at Los Angeles City College, has helped hundreds of inner-city athletes on and off the field during the past 30 years.