NOTEBOOK : Watts Games Will Begin on Saturday

Several teams from the Central Los Angeles area will compete in the 26th annual L.A. Watts Summer Games, which begin Saturday. The games, organized and managed by the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce, are expected to attract more than 12,000 participants at 27 sites.

Preliminary competition in 12 events is set for Saturday, and June 13, and final competition is scheduled for June 19 and 20. Admission to all events is free.

In football, area teams competing are Bell, Belmont, Cathedral, Crenshaw, Dorsey, Fremont, Jefferson, Jordan, Lincoln, Locke, Los Angeles, Loyola, Roosevelt, South Gate and Verbum Dei.

Soccer teams include Bell, Bell Gardens, Fremont, Garfield, Manual Arts, Roosevelt, South Gate and Wilson.

The local basketball teams are Bell, Belmont, Dorsey, Fremont, Garfield, Huntington Park, Jordan, Locke, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Center For Enriched Studies, Loyola, Manual Arts, Mid-City Alternative, Roosevelt, South Gate, Verbum Dei, Washington and Wilson.

Local baseball teams include Bell, Bell Gardens, Fremont, Locke and South Gate.

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On top of the world--Bryan Bridgewater of Cal State Los Angeles recorded the fastest time in the world this year in the 200 meters--20.11 seconds--at the NCAA Division II National Track and Field Championships at Abilene Christian University, May 27-29.

Bridgewater held a Division II record of 20.15, set at last year’s national championship. He also broke his meet record in the 100 by .07 seconds to win in 10.08--a time which ties for the second-fastest time in the nation this season.

Dale Johnson finished third in the triple jump, bounding 51 feet 3 3/4 inches as Cal State L.A. finished ninth in the team standings with 26 points.

Cal State L.A. was third in the women’s competition with 56 points.

Janet Hill of Cal State L.A. set meet records of 52-10 and 172-10 to win the the shotput and discus.

Marsha Guialdo ran 57.43 in a semifinal heat of the 400 to equal the best mark ever in Division II and won the final in 58.01.

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Head of the class--Michael Granville of Bell Gardens broke the state freshman record in the 400 meters for the third time this season in the Masters Meet at Cerritos College on May 28.

Granville ran 47.24 seconds to easily defeat Ethan Taub of Foothill, who finished in 48.12. The time broke Granville’s mark of 48.00 set in winning the Southern Section Division I championship a week earlier. He first broke the record with a 48.40 at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays.

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The agony of defeat--Roosevelt High’s baseball season came to an end May 27 with a 6-5 extra-innings loss in a City 3-A quarterfinal game against Hollywood, but Coach Ernie Rodriguez still has painful memories from the game played on the infield of the track at Hollywood.

Coaching at third base, Rodriguez stumbled into the long-jump pit while waving a runner home in the top of the eighth, fell backward and hit his head. He coached the remainder of the game holding an ice pack to his injury.

Rodriguez remained sore more than a week after the fall: “As a player you learn to play in pain. Then you learn to work in pain and I guess when you’re a coach you have to do the same thing. You owe it to the team.”