NOTEBOOK : Martinez Captures Heart of the City 5K Run By 6 Seconds

Danny Martinez will begin his third season as assistant cross-country coach at Cal State Los Angeles this fall. However, his days as a competitive runner are far from over.

The 32-year-old former Salesian High athlete won the Union Bank Heart of the City 5K run in 14 minutes 52 seconds Wednesday night, pulling away in the final half mile for a six-second victory over Oscar Gonzalez to win the 3.1-mile race through Downtown streets for the second year in a row. James Sheremeta was third in 15:04.

Martinez, the runner-up in the steeplechase at the 1982 State junior college track finals for Pasadena College, has turned his emphasis from the track to the marathon.

He won the 1991 San Francisco Marathon in a personal best of 2:15.31 and is aiming for the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials in the 26.2-mile race.

Kathleen Smith, the women’s Heart of the City run winner, is also a marathon veteran. She finished 30th in the 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials and won last year’s Las Vegas Marathon.

Smith, 28, ran to a wire-to-wire victory Wednesday in 17:10. Ruth Wysocki, a 1984 Olympian in the 800 and 1,500 meters, was second in 17:43 and Lilian Mendoza was third in 18:04.

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Hoop Happenings: Travis Reed, the lone freshman on Crenshaw High’s two-time defending State champion boys’ basketball team, is playing on Fontana A.B. Miller High’s summer league team.

But the stay in Fontana is only temporary for the 6-6 center, who will be returning for his sophomore year at Crenshaw. Reed recently moved with his father to Fontana after his parents’ separation but plans to move back this fall to his mother’s home in the Crenshaw attendance district.

Joe Covarrubias of Huntington Park and Beaver Patterson of Fremont will attend East Los Angeles and Los Angeles City College, respectively.

Crenshaw’s Kimberly Howse and Leon Watson will also continue their careers at the junior college level but not locally. Howse will attend College of the Sequoias in Northern California and Watson is headed for Dixie College in Utah.

Denise Caudillo of Roosevelt, the Central League Player of the Year, has narrowed her choices to Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal Poly Pomona.

The suspension of Fremont boys’ assistant Keith Young for illegal recruiting has been lifted by the City Section after an appeal.

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Repeat Performer: Michael Granville of Bell Gardens has been selected as the State Sophomore of the Year by Cal-Hi Sports magazine. Granville, the publication’s State Freshman of the Year last year, set a national sophomore record of 1:48.98 and also won the event in last month’s State meet to become the school’s first state champion.

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Who’s on First? Pete Loza of Bell Gardens has been selected to the Southern Section Division I first team. The senior pitcher compiled an 8-3 record and a 2.03 earned-run average. He also batted .489 in leading the Lancers to the Almont League title and its first league title in eight seasons.

Pitcher Liz Ballesteros and catcher Michelle Tiger of Roosevelt, who helped guide the Roughriders to the City 3-A softball semifinals, have been named to All-City 3-A team.

Three Cal State L.A. players were chosen in the Major League baseball draft. Outfielder Johnny Hilo was taken by the Dodgers and third baseman Larry Huff and pitcher Allen Hebert were drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies and the Florida Marlins.