Boxer Vargas Named to Olympic Festival

Fernando Vargas of Oxnard, the reigning U.S. amateur lightweight champion, was among 47 boxers selected to compete in the U.S. Olympic Festival in St. Louis, July 2-5. Vargas, 16, earlier this year become the youngest boxer in more than two decades to win a national amateur championship.

Vargas is among 14 area athletes to be named to Olympic Festival rosters this week.

The dressage event of the equestrian competition will include Heather Bender-Atwell of Burbank, Dennis Callin of Westlake and Leslie Morse of Glendale.

In judo, Amy Liou of Granada Hills will compete in the 45-kilogram class, and Yvette Gray of North Hollywood is among the participants in the 52kg class.

Tony Jelso of Ventura returns to the Festival to defend his men’s singles championship in racquetball. Masaru Hashimoto of Pacoima and Anita Zakaryan of Glendale will compete in table tennis. Ania Bleszinski of Thousand Oaks is among the tennis participants.

Michael Andrade of Woodland Hills will make his second consecutive appearance in weightlifting, competing in the 218-pound class. Christi Tucay, 16, another Festival veteran, returns for rhythmic gymnastics. In sailing, Robbie Dean of Newbury Park will race. Jill Moreno of Oxnard is participating in artistic roller skating.

Track and Field

Jamaal Chase of Quartz Hill High, runner-up in the triple jump in the state championships earlier this month, has made a commitment to Kansas State. A state finalist in the long jump and triple jump as a junior and senior, Chase chose Kansas State over Humboldt State.

Chase took recruiting trips to Kansas State, Kansas and Northern Arizona, but considered Humboldt State because his brother Brock Chase is a member of the Lumberjacks’ basketball and track teams.

Jamaal Chase ranks third in the triple jump (49 feet 11 inches) and sixth in the long jump (24-2 1/4) on the all-time region list.

Basketball

Bob Mandeville, who resigned as baseball coach at Notre Dame High in 1992 to become an assistant basketball coach at San Diego State, has accepted a position as a basketball assistant with Pepperdine.

Mandeville moves to Pepperdine with Tony Fuller, who served as head coach at San Diego State for two seasons before accepting the head-coaching job at Pepperdine last month. Fuller replaces Tom Asbury, who resigned to take a coaching position at Kansas State.

Mandeville, a 1980 Notre Dame graduate, played three years in the Chicago Cubs’ organization before returning to Notre Dame in 1987 as a basketball and baseball coach. Mandeville joins Marty Wilson, who played at Simi Valley High, as one of two Pepperdine assistants.

Hart High assistant coach Gary Spindt has been named varsity head coach at Valencia High, which will open next fall but will not participate in varsity sports until the 1995-96 school year. Spindt will also be chairman of Valencia’s physical education department, a position he currently holds at Hart.

Spindt, a lifelong assistant coach, has written 15 text books on physical education.

He was named California P.E. Teacher of the Year in 1984 and was one of six finalists for National P.E. Teacher of the Year in 1985.

Miscellany

Valencia High, scheduled to open this fall, has named three other head coaches in addition to Spindt.

Fred De La Vega, track coach at College of the Canyons, will coach track and girls’ soccer. Martin Dinsenbacher, a Saugus assistant, will coach cross-country. Bob Romar, a community tennis teacher, will coach boys’ and girls’ tennis.

Cycling

The Valley-based Nutra-Fig Cycling Team placed first in a National Cycling League event last weekend in Tulsa, Okla. The team features Thurlow Rodgers of Van Nuys, Shawn Cronkhite of Chatsworth and John Wordin of West Hills.

Wordin and Rogers will compete this weekend in the criterium and road race events at the U.S. National Cycling Championships in Seattle.

Rogers, a former professional, ranks third in the national Korbel Cup individual points standings entering the event.

Baseball

UCLA-bound pitcher-infielder Josh Morton of Calabasas High leads a list of area players who were named to the All-Southern Section Division IV baseball team.

Joining Morton, a senior pitcher, on the first team are senior infielder Joseph Jauregui of Santa Paula and Moorpark seniors Rick Collier, an infielder, and Jason Adamson, an outfielder. Adamson was drafted earlier this month by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Montclair Prep juniors Jared Sandler, a pitcher, and Darrell Dent, an outfielder, were second-team choices. Senior pitcher Matt Hernandez of L.A. Baptist was one of three area players to make the Division V first team. He was joined by junior pitcher Judd Granzow of Faith Baptist and junior infielder Jake Brown of St. Bonaventure. Junior pitcher Dan O’Gara and senior infielder Dennis Winchell of Paraclete were second-team selections.

In Division VI, senior pitcher Joel Hernandez of First Lutheran and senior infielder Mitch Brim of Buckley made the first team. Senior infielder Brian McMillen of Bethel Christian was a second-team selections.

Golf

Jamey Forsyth of Chatsworth took medalist honors by firing a one-under-par 71 Monday at Bakersfield Country Club, earning a berth in next month’s 95th Southern California Golf Assn. Amateur Championship.

Lawrence O’Neil of Camarillo, a former Rio Mesa High standout, and Kelly Schlender of Thousand Oaks each shot 72 to qualify for one of five available berths in the 36-man field. The SCGA Amateur is July 22-24 at Hacienda Country Club in La Habra Heights.

Football

St. Genevieve quarterback Alex Muller, who led the Valiants to the Santa Fe League championship and a 9-3 record, has accepted a partial scholarship from St. Mary’s.

Muller passed for 1,419 yards and 13 touchdowns.