Sports

PREPS

Twenty-six San Gabriel Valley-area high school football teams begin playoff competition in six divisions Friday night and one Eight-Man team plays in a semifinal.

Bishop Amat, ranked No. 1 in the nation by one publication, is the top-seeded team in Southern Section Division I. Here is a list of games involving local teams:

Division I: Mission Viejo at Bishop Amat.

Division II: Quartz Hill vs. Muir at Pasadena City College; Pasadena vs. Saugus at Canyon High of Canyon Country; Arcadia at Downey.

Division III: Keppel vs. Westlake at Thousand Oaks; Diamond Bar vs. Buena at Ventura; Newbury Park at Rowland; Royal vs. Alhambra at Moor Field.

Division VI: Rosemead vs. Claremont at Citrus College; Whittier at Walnut; Arroyo vs. Rancho Cucamonga at Chaffey High; Wilson vs. Alta Loma at Chaffey College; Chino at South El Monte; La Serna at Damien; Cerritos at Charter Oak.

Division VII: Ganesha vs. Rancho Alamitos at Bolsa Grande; Beverly Hills at Covina, South Hills vs. Los Amigos at Garden Grove.

Division VIII: Rim of the World at Duarte; Bellflower at San Marino; Bassett at Temple City; Monrovia at Artesia; Sierra Vista at Bloomington.

Eight-Man Large Division: Flintridge Prep at Brentwood (semifinal).

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The Southern Section girls’ volleyball quarterfinals were played Tuesday with four area schools competing.

Diamond Bar defeated La Serna, 15-9, 4-15, 7-15, 15-6, 15-8, and San Gabriel beat Katella, 15-5, 7-15, 15-12, 14-16, 15-7, in Division III. Maranatha defeated Capistrano Valley Christian, 15-8, 15-11, 15-5, and Mayfield beat St. Margaret’s, 15-13, 15-13, 15-12, in Division V.

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South Pasadena defeated Whittier, 13-8, and Crescenta Valley beat La Canada, 19-12, Tuesday in Southern Section water polo quarterfinals.

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Girls’ tennis quarterfinals were played Tuesday. Diamond Bar was defeated by Calabasas, 10-8, in Division II, El Dorado beat Alhambra, 11-7, and Pasadena Poly edged St. Lucy’s, 10-8, in Division III. In Division V, South Hills beat West Valley, 18-0.

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Rowland High’s Dante Quinine signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Oregon. The 6-foot-5 guard averaged 15.5 points and 4.7 rebounds as a junior.

“He is very athletic and has great three-point range,” Oregon Coach Jerry Green said.

COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Football teams from Mt. San Antonio College, Pasadena City College and Citrus College conclude their seasons Saturday.

Mt. SAC (3-5-1) travels to San Diego Mesa. Mt. SAC is coming off a 38-35 loss to Long Beach.

Pasadena, 2-6-1 after a 30-16 defeat by Cerritos, plays El Camino.

Citrus College (2-6-1), coming off a 40-22 defeat by Antelope Valley, plays host to San Bernardino Valley.

COLLEGES

La Verne University will make its first appearance in the NCAA Division III football playoffs Saturday when the Leopards play St. John’s College at Collegeville, Minn.

La Verne (10-0) completed its regular season by clinching the championship of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a 30-6 victory over Occidental. Darren MacLellan gained 169 yards in 27 carries and scored twice for La Verne. Anthony Rice scored on a 66-yard and a 35-yard pass play from Ryan Campuzano.

Azusa Pacific closed out Jim Milhon’s 17th and final season as coach with a 32-17 victory over Menlo. Marcus Slaten gained 245 yards in 35 carries and scored four touchdowns for the Cougars, who finished 3-6. Menlo finished his Azusa Pacific career with a record of 82-68-4. No replacement has been named.

Claremont-Mudd finished 2-7 with a 34-26 SCIAC victory over Pomona-Pitzer, which finished 1-8. Kurt Brubaker gained 216 yards and scored three touchdowns for Claremont.

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The Cal Poly Pomona women’s volleyball team opens play in the NCAA Division II Southwest Regional on Friday against Cal State Los Angeles at Bakersfield.

Cal State L.A. (23-3) is seeded second and Pomona (19-10) third in the four-team regional, which also includes No. 1 Bakersfield (37-2) and fourth-seeded UC Davis (14-10).

Junior hitter Jeannie Lane of Pomona was selected All-California Collegiate Athletic Assn. by league coaches.

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The Azusa Pacific women’s volleyball team plays Biola Friday in the first round of the Nationa Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics West Regional at Fresno. Southern California College and Fresno Pacific are also in the tournament.

The winner advances to the 20-team national tournament Dec. 1-3 at Chattanooga, Tenn.

Azusa Pacific’s Tiara Ainuu and Stephanie Benitez were named All- Golden State Athletic Conference by league coaches.

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Dawn Mautner, a senior outside hitter for Pomona-Pitzer, and Margaret Pulver, a junior outside hitter for La Verne, were selected All-SCIAC by league coaches.

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The Cal Poly Pomona men’s cross-country team will compete in the NCAA Division II cross-country championships on Saturday at Kearney, Neb.

The Broncos are led by Rondie Gibbs and Cliff Curtis, who finished second and third, respectively, in the West Regional.

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The Azusa Pacific men’s and women’s cross-country teams will compete in the NAIA championships on Saturday at Kenosha, Wis.

John Gachao and Anthony Fisher lead the Cougar men. Michelle Teodoro and Beth Hake are the top women.

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Jennifer Stuart of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps finished first and teammates Gretchen Brugman and Louise Tench finished ninth and 10th, respectively, as Claremont won the NCAA Division III West Regional cross-country title last weekend at Prado Park in La Mirada.

Claremont’s women, along with Matt Newman and Walter Voegtli, and Pomona-Pitzer’s Avo Artinyan will compete in the Division III national championships on Saturday at Lehigh (Penn.).

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The Azusa Pacific men’s basketball team, which finished 29-5 last season, opens play Saturday at Cal State Hayward.

Azusa Pacific, under fourth-year Coach Bill O’Dell, has no returning starters and only four players back from last season. Sophomore guard Raymond Tutt averaged 14 points a game as a reserve.

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The Cal Poly Pomona men’s and women’s basketball teams open their seasons Friday by playing host to the Bronco Classic tournaments.

Pomona’s men will play Pacific Christian College in a tournament that also includes College of Notre Dame and Biola. Senior guard Bobby McCrae is the Broncos’ top returning player.

Pomona’s women will play Azusa Pacific in a tournament that also includes Cal Baptist and Southern California College. Pomona’s top returning players include junior forward Tyeast Brown, junior center Vanisha Miles, junior guard Michelle Kerzie and sophomore guard Lori Talley.

PREP OF THE WEEK

Michael Graham, Charter Oak--Graham rushed for 325 yards and scored touchdowns on runs of 54, 56, 34 and 73 yards as the Chargers clinched the Miramonte League championship with a 49-23 victory over Walnut.

COLLEGE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Jennifer Stuart, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps--Stuart won the NCAA Division III West Regional cross-country title with a time of 19 minutes 21 seconds and led her team to the title at Prado Park in La Mirada.

Stuart and her teammates will compete in the Division III national championships Saturday at Lehigh (Penn.)

MISCELLANY

The city of Covina is accepting registration for Pee Wee and youth basketball programs for ages 5 to 11. The programs, which begin Nov. 29, teach fundamentals and sportsmanship. Information: (818) 858-7271.

CALENDAR

* The 19th annual Turkey Trot 5/10-K run, 5-K walk and 1-K youth run will be staged Saturday in San Gabriel.

Registration is $18. Information: (818) 308-2875.