Section to Mull Eligibility Proposal

The Southern Section will decide Monday whether it will back a California Interscholastic Federation proposal that would grant students immediate athletic eligibility when they transfer under new open-enrollment laws.

On May 6, the Southern Section and representatives of each of the CIF’s other nine sections will determine the policy.

“The CIF has been meeting with legislative analysts and the feeling is that students who transfer under these laws ought to be immediately eligible,” said Dean Crowley, Southern Section commissioner.

Crowley predicted, however, the new CIF policy probably will stipulate that students who transfer by means other than open enrollment will continue to lose a year of eligibility.

Under current CIF rules, a student who transfers without changing residence loses one year of varsity eligibility.

Open-enrollment laws, which will take effect in June, allow students to attend any school in their district that is not full.

The City Section is formulating its own proposal, Commissioner Barbara Fiege said.

“At the moment, there are discussions about the rules and we intend to come out with a proposal in May,” she said.

Water Polo

Rich Corso, the Harvard-Westlake High water polo coach who also coaches the U.S. national team, is taking the U.S. squad to France today to compete in a major international tournament.

The eight-nation French Open will feature the top teams in the world: Italy, Russia, Spain, Hungary and the United States.

“Anytime we can get a game like this, with this kind of competition, it’s fantastic,” Corso said. “These are the same teams that will play in the world championships in September and also in Atlanta (in the 1996 Olympics).”

The United States will train in Marseilles for a week and then play Russia on March 30, Italy on March 31 and France on April 1.

Former Harvard-Westlake star Jim Toring, who currently plays for UCLA and the national team, will not accompany the 13-man team, Corso said, because of final exams at UCLA.

Baseball

Kirk Hagge, Crescenta Valley High shortstop, has committed to play at Cal State Fullerton next season now that he has scored the NCAA-required 700 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

“My brother Erick really helped me prepare for the SAT,” Hagge said. “I studied every night for about a month and a half for two hours.”

Hagge leads the Falcons with a .615 batting average.

Cycling

Thurlow Rogers of Van Nuys on Saturday won the 60-mile Visalia Cycling Classic.