SPORTS

ARCADIA INVITATIONAL

Malika Edmondson of St. Bernard and Monique Hennagan of Spring Valley, S.C., two of the nation’s best high school sprinters, will meet in the invitational 400-meter event at the Arcadia/Foot Locker Invitational Saturday at Arcadia High.

Hennagan is the national junior champion and has a best of 52.30.

Edmondson, the daughter of 1968 Olympian and UCLA NCAA sprint champion Barbara Farrell, ran 54.73 as an eighth-grader last year and will also run on the Vikings’ 1,600-meter relay team.

“I’m well aware of my parents’ track capabilities entering high school,” Edmondson said. “I just want to establish some good times this season and set the pace for three more years of tough competition.”

In the boys’ events, Tyson Murphy of Santa Monica will challenge Kenny Haslip of Pasadena Muir and Charles E. Reid of Salem High of Virginia Beach (Va.) in the 110 hurdles. Haslip set a nation-leading time of 13.94 two weeks ago. Reid leads the challengers with 14.12, and Murphy’s personal-best is 14.57.

Peter Gilmore of Palisades, the area’s top distance runner, will compete in the 1,600. Gilmore has a personal-best of 4 minutes 17.42 seconds. His main competition will come from Mark Hauser of St. Augustine of San Diego (4:11.1).

Jason Brownlee of Hamilton will challenge Haslip in the 300 hurdles. Haslip has a time of 37.74 this year, and Brownlee has run a 38.7.

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Fairfax’s Jason Lewis won the 110 hurdles with a time of 15.1 Wednesday at the Easter Festival at Dorsey High.

Lewis also helped the Lions win the 400 relay in 42.2 and the 1,600 relay in 3:21.6.

In the girls’ meet, Caitlin McKenney of Marlborough won the 1,500 in 5:23.5. Teammate Heidi Erbsen finished second at 5:27.0

Marlborough also won the sprint medley relay and finished second in the 400 relay.

ALL-STAR TEAM

The Times’ 1994 Westside All-Star basketball team will be announced in the April 14 edition. The section will profile the top 10 boys’ and girls’ basketball players from the 1993-94 season.

COLLEGE BASEBALL

In a battle between the only Southland teams to make the NCAA Division I playoffs each of the past three years, Cal State Northridge beat Pepperdine, 6-4, Monday at Eddie D. Field Stadium.

Northridge left seven players behind because of disciplinary reasons. Pepperdine (19-14) committed five errors, including three by junior shortstop Erik Martinez, leading to four unearned runs.

Northridge took the lead for good in the fourth inning when Wave right-hander Adam Housely (1-1) made a throwing error after fielding a bunt. The error allowed two runs to score and gave the Matadors a 4-2 lead. Northridge (18-16) scored unearned runs in the seventh and eighth to secure the victory.

Despite the loss, Pepperdine has won 10 its past 14 games.

TOUGH LOSS

Santa Monica pitcher Sergio Gonzalez had a no-hitter and a 1-0 lead through six innings March 29 against Leuzinger. Then everything went wrong in a 2-1 loss.

Art Martinez reached first on an error by third baseman Dion Angelopoulos to start the seventh. Gonzalez then gave up a single to Danny Rodriguez and a two-run triple to Gerardo Jiron.

Despite the loss, first-year Santa Monica Coach Pete McKellar is happy with his team’s play.

“We’ve lost only three games and two of them we should have won,” said McKellar, whose team is 6-3 and 2-1 in the Bay League. “Gonzalez pitched great for us. If he keeps pitching like that, we’ll get the win next time.”

SLOW START

Westchester traditionally is the team to beat in the Coastal Conference and the Comets are off to a 2-0 start this season.

But in nonleague play, the Comets are 1-8.

“We have great individual talent, but we’re not putting it together as a team,” Coach Ron Kasparian said. “Sometimes we hit the ball well, but we don’t get the pitching. Another game, we get the pitching, but we can’t field. We have managed to find every combination to lose games. We haven’t put our offense and defense together except in conference.”

Kasparian has scrambled to move players around in the field because of injuries. But he expects to have his normal lineup in this week.

Rod Washington, whose role was limited to designated hitter because of injuries, will return to catcher. Washington is batting .489 with seven runs batted in.

Seka Edwards, who was catching, will move to center field. Edwards, the leadoff hitter, is batting .361 with four stolen bases.

Henry Jones moves back to shortstop after playing center field. Jones is batting .360.

Second baseman Ramel Greenfield is batting .469 with 14 RBIs and a home run.

STAR SEARCH

Louie Baity of Culver City scored 17 points and Bryan Sterling of Pacific Hills had 15 as the Westside defeated the South Bay, 101-99, in a high school senior boys’ all-star game Friday night at Gardena High.

Despite playing with only six players, the Westside girls managed to make the game close before losing to the South Bay, 60-56, in overtime. Jamilla Locke of Venice scored 15 points and Gina Ameri of Notre Dame Academy had eight points to lead the Westside.

On Saturday at Cal State Los Angeles, boys’ and girls’ players from the Southern Section will meet a their City Section rivals.

Baity will compete for the Southern Section boys’ team. The Southern Section girls’ team, coached by St. Bernard’s Lori Pawinski, will feature Viking center Marte Alexander.

STRONG PLAY

Derek Strong may have soared above the crowd in the Continental Basketball Assn., but the former Palisades High standout has struggled in the NBA.

Strong, in his fourth season of professional basketball and second with the Milwaukee Bucks, acknowledges he is still learning the game.

He’s also learning about losing.

Entering Tuesday’s game at Orlando, Milwaukee’s 19-53 record equaled Minnesota’s as the league’s second-worst behind Dallas.

“I think you take every loss as a learning experience--learning how we lost the game and what should we do to avoid it next time, so a couple of years down the road we’ll know how to handle every situation that comes.”

Strong, a 26-year-old 6-8 forward, is averaging 5.6 points and 3.7 rebounds and plays about 13 minutes a game.

“Derek’s done a nice job,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “He’s a guy we need to give some more playing time. I think he has the ability to be more consistent.”

Strong signed Feb. 22, 1993, with the Bucks. He impressed the team with his rebounding and shooting ability during a stint with the CBA’s Quad City Thunder in the midst of a season where he would be named the league’s most valuable player.

Strong’s NBA career began in 1990, when the Philadelphia 76ers selected him in the second round out of Xavier.