PREPS

Several San Gabriel Valley-area teams and individuals will contend for titles Saturday in the Southern Section cross-country championships at Mt. San Antonio College.

The Bishop Amat girls will attempt to repeat as Division 2-A champion behind sophomore Malinali Martinez, who has been clocked in 19 minutes 37 seconds over the Mt. SAC course. Mary Nwaoguakor of Muir (19:29) will challenge for individual honors.

Sophomore Annie Ebiner (18:38) leads a St. Lucy’s team that could make a run at the Division 3-AA championship. San Marino’s Allison Twist (19:14) is one of the strongest runners in 3-A.

Sophomores Tracy Maxwell (20:42) and Linda Quintana (21:02) lead Maranatha in Division 4-A.

San Gabriel’s boys hope to challenge Santa Ana and Peninsula in Division 1-AA, Claremont is among the top teams in 2-AA, and Temple City’s John Liu (16:08) is one of the fastest individuals in Division 2-A.

San Marino, led by Warren Wolf (16:03) and Richard Chisholm (16:07), and Covina will contend for the 3-A title with Nordhoff and St. Francis. Maranatha is one of the favorites for the 4-A title.

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As expected, Cameron Murray signed a letter of intent with USC and Jeremy Veal of San Dimas signed with Arizona State to play basketball in 1994-95.

Murray, a 6-foot Glendora guard who was The Times’ San Gabriel Valley player of the year in 1991-92, averaged 28 points a game last season. He has been listed on several preseason All-American teams.

Veal, a 6-3 guard, averaged 23.6 points last season for San Dimas, which finished 26-5 and advanced to the 3-A finals.

COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Mt. San Antonio College and Pasadena City College meet Saturday night at Mt. SAC in a game that has championship ramifications in the Mission Conference.

Mt. SAC (7-2), coming off a 26-7 victory over Cerritos, could tie for a division title with a victory over Pasadena (3-6), which created the opportunity by defeating previously unbeaten Long Beach, 43-13, on Saturday.

Mt. SAC was led by running back Leonard Green, who rushed for 124 yards in 17 carries, scored two touchdowns and caught eight passes for 107 yards. Quarterback Ryan Merrill completed 18 of 26 passes for 246 yards and a touchdown. Molech Blythe had 14 tackles and Tom Merrill had 10 for the Mounties.

Demetrio Williams passed for 197 yards and four touchdowns, and Serrell Rollins gained 179 yards and scored a touchdown for PCC, which intercepted five passes.

Citrus is still in the running for a share of the Foothill Conference championship entering Saturday’s home game against College of the Desert.

Citrus (7-2, 5-1 in conference) beat Victor Valley, 31-10, last week. If Citrus beats Desert and Antelope Valley defeats San Bernardino, the Owls will share the championship with San Bernardino and Antelope Valley.

Curtis Robinson gained 102 yards and Kirk Compton rushed for 90 for the Owls. Kevin O’Leary kicked field goals of 44 and a school-record 50 yards. O’Leary broke the record of 47 yards set by Earl Wessel in 1987.

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The Mt. SAC men’s and women’s cross-country teams will compete for state championships Saturday.

Both teams won South Coast Conference championships last week on their home course.

Angel Martinez of Mt. SAC won the men’s race in 20 minutes 31 seconds as five Mounties finished in the top 11.

Lorena Sanchez was the top women’s finisher for Mt. SAC, placing second in 18:55.

COLLEGES

La Verne’s football team clinched the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship with a 24-17 victory over Whittier on Saturday, but the Leopards were not included in the 16-team Division III playoffs.

La Verne finished 7-2, 6-0 in the SCIAC, breaking Redlands’ three-year hold on the conference title. But Wisconsin-La Crosse, St. John’s (Minn.) and Coe (Iowa)--all unbeaten--and Wartburg (Iowa) (9-1) were chosen from the West region.

Darren McClellan gained 54 yards and scored twice to lead the Leopards against Whittier.

Claremont finished 1-6 and 1-5 in the SCIAC after a 44-9 loss to Cal Lutheran.

Pomona-Pitzer concluded its season 1-7 and 0-6 in the SCIAC after a 30-26 loss to Claremont on Oct. 30.

Azusa Pacific finished 3-6 with a 42-14 victory over Menlo last week. Jack Manu passed for 192 yards and four touchdowns for the Cougars.

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The Claremont and Pomona-Pitzer men’s cross-country teams, the Claremont women’s team and several individuals from Pomona-Pitzer and Caltech will compete in the NCAA Division III championships Saturday at Grinnell College (Iowa).

The Claremont men’s team won the regional title behind the performances of Matt Newman, Walter Voegtli and Brad Aagaard. Avo Artinyan finished second overall, leading the Sagehens to a third-place finish.

The Claremont women finished second behind San Diego.

Katie Burco and Sonya Patton of Pomona-Pitzer and Andrew Zug of Caltech were individual qualifiers.

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Claremont’s water polo team, which finished tied for second place in the SCIAC, will compete this weekend in the Western Water Polo Assn. tournament at UC Davis.

The winner of the tournament gains a berth in the eight-team Division I championship tournament.

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The 19th-ranked Cal Poly Pomona women’s volleyball team plays second-ranked Cal State Bakersfield Friday in the first round of the NCAA Division II Southwest regional at UC Riverside.

The winner will play the winner of the other semifinal between Cal State Los Angeles and Riverside for the right to advance to the national finals.

Senior setter Trang Nguyen of Pomona was the only Bronco player selected first-team All-California Collegiate Athletic Assn.

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Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball Coach Darlene May could earn her 500th victory this weekend when the Bronco men’s and women’s teams play host to season-opening tournaments.

May, with a record of 498-113, is the winningest coach in NCAA Division II history and ranks third behind Jody Conradt of Texas (620) and Pat Summitt of Tennessee (499) among active women at all NCAA levels.

In the women’s tournament, Grand Canyon plays Southern California College at 1 p.m. Friday. Pomona plays Biola at 5:30. Pomona is led by All-American center Mildred Conston, who averaged 18.4 points and 8.9 rebounds last season, and forwards Jennifer Harney (14 points a game) and LeeAnna Hiestand (9.8).

Chico State plays Biola in the first men’s game Friday at 3. Pomona plays California Christian at 7:30. Second-year Coach Kevin Patterson will rely on senior point guard Eric Jones and senior center Matt Mitchell.

The women’s championship is Saturday at 5:30; the men’s championship is at 7:30.

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The Azusa Pacific men’s basketball team, ranked seventh in the National Assn. Intercollegiate Athletics preseason coaches poll, opens its season Friday at home against Bethany.

Azusa Pacific is led by senior forward Ronnie Winbush, who averaged 16.3 points last season, and senior guard Scott Day, who averaged 14.

PREP ATHLETE OF WEEK

Miguel Meriwether, West Covina-- Meriwether, the Bulldog quarterback, passed for 210 yards, rushed for 85 and scored all of his team’s touchdowns in a 35-33 victory over Diamond Bar.

COLLEGE ATHLETE OF WEEK

Demetrio Williams, Pasadena-- Williams completed 12 of 19 passes for 197 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions as the Lancers beat previously undefeated Long Beach, 43-13, in a Mission Conference game.