Watts a Finalist for Arcadia Invitational’s Hall of Fame

Quincy Watts, the 1992 Olympic champion in the men’s 400-meter dash, is a finalist for the newly created Hall of Fame for the Arcadia Invitational track and field meet.

Watts, a three-time state sprint champion for Taft High, did not run in the Arcadia meet as a senior in 1988 because of an injury, but he won the 100 and 200 meters as a junior and finished second in those races as a sophomore.

The Arcadia Invitational, scheduled for April 10, has been one of the nation’s most prestigious high school meets over the past two decades, but this year will mark the first time that it will be supported by corporate sponsorship.

The Hall of Fame is part of Foot Locker’s plan to create more interest in the meet.

Mike Powell, Maurice Crumby and Billy Mullins are some of the other finalists.

Powell, the world record-holder in the long jump and a two-time Olympic silver medalist, graduated from West Covina Edgewood High--which no longer exists--in 1981.

Crumby won the high jump in the 1983 Arcadia invitational as a San Francisco Balboa High senior. Later that year, Crumby cleared 7 feet 4 1/2 inches, which ranks him fourth on the all-time U.S. high school performer list.

Mullins, a former standout for USC and Hamilton High, won the 220-yard dash in the 1975 Arcadia meet and the 440 in the 1976 meet.

Ventura is one of 12 cities still in the running for the planned site of the U.S. Volleyball Assn.’s national training center.

The USVBA eliminated eight cities as potential sites and is expected to make its final selection later this year.

Others in the running are three other California sites, Carlsbad, Stockton and San Diego; plus Charlotte, N.C., Colorado Springs, Colo., Houston, Jacksonville, Fla., Mobile, Ala., New Orleans, Orlando, Fla., and San Antonio, Tex.

The USVBA has administrative and marketing offices in Colorado Springs but trains its national teams in San Diego. The national center will consolidate all three into one site.

Buena High will play host to a grass doubles volleyball tournament Saturday and Sunday, with proceeds benefiting the Buena boys’ volleyball program.

Play on Saturday will feature men’s open, men’s novice and women’s divisions and is limited to the first 40 teams entered. A co-ed division will highlight play Sunday and is limited to 30 teams.

Information: 805-647-4840.

Valley College cornerback Eric Moss, a first-team All-Western State Conference Southern Division football player, has accepted a scholarship to Northern Illinois.

Moss, a 6-foot, 185-pound sophomore from Granada Hills High, had four interceptions, 62 tackles and 10 deflections last season for Valley (5-4-1).

Valley Coach Jim Fenwick said Moss, who considered offers from Mississippi State, Texas Tech, Montana, Montana State and Idaho, made his decision last Thursday night and enrolled Friday at the DeKalb, Ill., school.