NOTEBOOK : Cal-Hi Sports Names Granville State’s Top Freshman

Sprinter Michael Granville of Bell Gardens High was selected the state’s freshman athlete of the year by Cal-Hi Sports Magazine.

Granville set three national records and one state record.

He began the season running 1:00.01 to set the freshman national indoor record in the 500 meters Feb. 20 at the Sunkist meet.

In the 800 meters, Granville ran a 1:51.61 to set a freshman and age-15 national record April 10 at the Arcadia Invitational. He later lowered his national records to 1:51.03 on June 12 in the National Scholastic Meet at UCLA.

He also became the first ninth-grader this year to break 48 seconds in the 400 meters. In late May, He set the state freshman record of 47.24 seconds at the Masters Meet. He also ran 47.74 in the state meet, finishing third to North Salinas’ Calvin Harrison, who set a national record of 45.25, and Andre DeSaussure of Woodland Hills Taft, who ran 47.11.

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Baseball: Tryouts for the 310-213 Area Code Baseball Team will be Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Crenshaw High.

Players between 15 and 18 may compete. The team will play in a tournament against squads from the continental United States and Hawaii, and will play an Australian national team Aug. 18-21 at San Diego State.

Information: Otha Evans at (213) 756-1308.

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Tennis: South Gate High placed two singles players and Bell had two doubles teams selected to the City Section All-Star Team, it was announced Monday.

Lazaro Gutierrez and Jesse Zaldivar of South Gate were selected to the third team in singles.

The Bell doubles teams of Mitchell Apodaca and Jose Ruiz, and Anton Chow and Edgar Flores were selected to the third team.

No area players were selected to the first or second teams.

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Add tennis: The 62nd annual Los Angeles Junior Metropolitan Tennis Championship will begin July 12 and continue through July 17.

The event, at the Vermont Canyon Tennis Complex, will involve 10 boys’ and girls’ singles tournaments. There are no doubles competitions.

The categories are 18 and younger, 16 and under, 14 and younger, 12 and younger and 10 and under.

Competitors from across the nation--and a few from outside the United States--have signed up. Two groups from Australia and New Zealand will make the trek to Los Angeles and join youths from Marshall, Pacific Palisades and Eagle Rock.

Local area schools fielding participants include Crenshaw, Locke, Lincoln and Washington.

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Junior Olympics: More than 3,000 people came out June 19 to celebrate Kedren’s Junior Olympics and annual Community Services Day.

About 1,500 youngsters, ages 3 to 17, from Kedren Head Start, Hands Across Watts from Nickerson Gardens and Imperial Courts and the Hollenbeck Youth Center participated.

Games included tennis, track and field, soccer and basketball.

Three- to 5-year-olds, who participated in a Munchkin Run and musical chairs, also enjoyed games, prizes and food in Kedren’s Kiddieland.

Visitors were taken on tours of Kedren’s Family Service Center, which features a day-care center, educational resource center and employment training program.

The Los Angeles Police Department’s Southeast Division staff, headed by Capt. Willie Pannell, greeted the public along with Kedren staff members.

Twenty companies, including Dunn-Edwards Paint Corp., Encyclopaedia Britannica and Texaco, set up booths to offer information and gifts regarding their services.

The L.A. Deliverance Community Youth Choir, Kedren’s South Gate Head Start Parents’ Dance Troop and the Kedren Kid’s Choir were some of the groups that provided live entertainment.

During the week leading up to the Junior Olympics, Kedren hosted the Police Department’s second Town Hall Meeting to promote a community-based partnership between residents and police. More than 150 community residents and business people attended the three-hour meeting June 17.

“The (Junior Olympics and Community Services Day) are designed to bring together residents with those who serve the community to establish a greater awareness of the resources available locally and enhance the spirit of community that seems to have been lost over the past few decades,” said Robert Owens, Kedren’s executive director.

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Volleyball: The Amateur Athletic Foundation will conduct a beach volleyball program Monday through Aug. 6 at four recreation centers in Los Angeles.

More than 300 youths, 11 through 17, are expected in the program, which is free.

Steve Anderson and Jeff Rodgers of the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals will be among the instructors. Members of the men’s and women’s professional volleyball circuit also will be instructors.

Courts, complete with sand and nets, were recently constructed by the Amateur Athletic Foundation to introduce beach volleyball to the inner city.

Local clinics will be at:

* Algin Sutton Recreation Center, 8800 S. Hoover St.,

* Bellevue Recreation Center, 826 Lucille Ave.,

* Montecito Heights Park, 4545 Horner St.,

* Ross Snyder Park, 1501 E. 41st St.