Three More Players Quit Canyon High Football Team

Three more Canyon High varsity football players have quit the team Wednesday. The program has lost five players in eight days.

Canyon Coach Harry Welch would neither confirm nor deny Wednesday’s departures. But junior quarterbacks Brian Shubin and Brian Bialas said they have left the team along with junior lineman Matthew Skinner. None of the players were starters. Skinner could not be reached for comment.

Last week, All-Foothill League defensive back Marc Uda and receiver Brian Connelly turned in their uniforms. Both refused to explain.

Three weeks ago, Welch was involved in a confrontation with a parent after a game and later filed an assault report. Two weeks ago, Welch considered resigning.

Shubin and Bialas said their decisions had nothing to do with those incidents. Shubin, sidelined since the first game with a back injury, said he is moving to Woodland Hills and transferring to Taft High today. Shubin, who transferred to Canyon from Thousand Oaks High last spring, praised Welch as a good coach. Bialas said Welch told all three players “the door is still” open for them to return.

“When you deal with 40 high school players, this is not uncommon,” Welch said. “They’re not impact players. But all three are good kids.”

Golf

The 20-man field has been set for the fifth Shark Shootout, Nov. 16-21 at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks.

Tom Kite and Davis Love III will defend their title against other two-man teams in alternate-shot, best-ball and scramble formats.

Also playing are tournament host Greg Norman, Nick Price, Paul Azinger, Payne Stewart, Ray Floyd, Chip Beck, Corey Pavin, John Daly, Arnold Palmer, Ben Crenshaw, Hale Irwin, Curtis Strange, Mark Calcavecchia, Mark O’Meara, Bruce Lietzke, Peter Jacobsen, Steve Elkington and Brad Faxon.

Information: 800-924-8983.

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Entries are being sought for the 14th Sparky Anderson/Cal Lutheran Baseball Golf Classic, Nov. 8 at Sunset Hills Country Club in Thousand Oaks.

Anderson is the longtime manager of the Detroit Tigers and a resident of Thousand Oaks. Proceeds benefit the school’s baseball program.

Information: 805-493-3398.

Cross-Country

The Thousand Oaks High boys’ and the Agoura High girls’ cross-country teams have retained their No. 4 rankings in The Harrier magazine’s latest national poll.

Thousand Oaks, runner-up in last year’s state Division I championships, is undefeated.

Agoura is three-time defending state Division I girls’ champion.

Hart, three-time defending state Division I boys’ champion, climbed to 15th in the national poll.

Triathlon

Seven area athletes will be among nearly 1,500 competitors in the Ironman Triathlon World Championship on Oct. 30 in Kallua-Kona, Hawaii.

Mark Edwards, 36, of Westlake Village; Scott Berry, 34, of Ventura; Christine Brown, 27, of Ventura; Becky Ilagan, 50, of Westlake Village; Garren Mizutani, 30, of Camarillo; and John Steidl, 51, of Thousand Oaks have qualified for the race.