Mertes to Try Out for 2 Sports at BYU

Lori Mertes, formerly of Chatsworth High and Pierce and Valley colleges, will attend Brigham Young on an athletic scholarship in the fall, but she is not sure whether the scholarship will be in volleyball or track and field.

Although Mertes, 19, accepted a track scholarship, it could be exchanged for one in volleyball if she makes the BYU team in that sport.

“She will definitely high jump for BYU,” said her father, Richard Mertes. “And if she makes the team in volleyball, she’ll compete in both sports.”

Mertes was a standout two-sport athlete during her freshman year in junior college, but she did not compete during the 1991-92 school year after she sustained a dislocated right elbow at the start of the volleyball season.

As a freshman, she earned All-Western State Conference honors on the Pierce volleyball team and finished sixth for Valley in the high jump in the 1991 state track championships. (She competed for Valley because Pierce does not field a women’s track team.)

Brandis Braverman of Encino lost in the first round of the girls’ 14-and-under junior national championships in College Park, Ga. Braverman, 12, then won a consolation match before being eliminated by Erryn Weggenman of Portland, Ore., 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.