NOTEBOOK / SEAN WATERS : Realignment of Leagues Rejected by City Schools

The City Section Athletic office continues to explore ways to balance football conferences throughout the 4-A Division.

The Pacific League, which has produced the past four 4-A champions, consists of perennial powers Banning, Carson, Crenshaw and Dorsey. Carson could give the league its fifth consecutive victory if it beats Sylmar in Saturday’s 4-A title game.

The City realignment committee considered a proposal to move Westchester and Venice from the 4-A Western League to the Pacific League. Westchester and Venice were to be replaced by Dorsey and Crenshaw, which won the 1991 3-A title.

The proposal was rejected Monday when school representatives from Crenshaw, Dorsey, Venice, Hamilton and University protested the move during a meeting with City Section Athletic Commissioner Hal Harkness.

“The idea was scotched (Monday night),” Harkness said. “Five schools spoke against it, including Dorsey, and it was determined the proposal wasn’t good for anyone.”

Said Venice co-coach Tony Chretin: “I don’t know why they would pick Venice to play in the same league with Banning and Carson. There is no way we can compete with schools of that caliber.”

A realignment committee is scheduled to meet every two years to discuss how to position schools in conferences to create an equal level of competition. The committee did not meet last year because of the confusion surrounding the district’s move to year-round scheduling.

Questionnaires are sent to each member school and coaches were asked if they wanted a change. San Pedro, which competes against Pacific League teams in the Southern Pacific Conference, was one of three schools requesting a change. The Pirates had an 11-1-1 record and will play Taft in the 3-A final Friday. They are expected to be promoted to the 4-A in 1992.

A recommendation was made three weeks ago to swap the two Western League schools with Pacific League schools. It was hoped the move would improve competition in the Pacific League since Westchester and Venice had two of the top three records in the Coastal Conference.

The move, however, broke up traditional rival games between Venice and other Westside schools. It also created a super basketball conference with Crenshaw, Dorsey and Westchester competing in the same league.

“The problem needs to be resolved, not passed to someone else,” Dorsey Coach Paul Knox said. “We need to look at something that is beneficial to the whole structure. This (proposal) doesn’t take care of the whole problem.”

Bad break--The Beverly Hills boys’ basketball team lost a key player when Frank Brown hurt his right leg last week.

The 6-2 sophomore suffered the injury during a layup drill five minutes before the Normans’ season-opening game in the Loyola tournament.

Brown underwent surgery for a dislocated knee Friday.

Wrestling rankings--Joe Henderson of St. Bernard was rated fifth in the 189-pound division in the Southern Section preseason wrestling rankings. Henderson was a linebacker and running back for the Viking football team.