Sports

PREPS

Five boys’ and four girls’ teams from the San Gabriel Valley participated in Southern Section semifinals this week.

In boys’ basketball competition, Glendora was defeated by Mater Dei, 64-42, and Nogales beat Rialto, 93-63 in Division I-A.

Pasadena beat Trabuco Hills, 74-71, in Division 2-AA, Duarte lost to Harvard-Westlake, 60-53, in 3-A and Pasadena Poly defeated St. Margaret’s, 60-51, in 5-AA.

In girls’ competition, Diamond Bar was defeated by Peninsula, 74-60, in 1-AA, Muir beat Norco, 82-45, in 2-A, Pasadena Poly met Brentwood in 5-AA and Rio Hondo Prep played San Bernardino Christian in 5-A.

* Three San Gabriel Valley-area boys’ teams and two girls’ teams participated in Southern Section soccer semifinals on Tuesday.

San Marino’s boys lost to La Canada, 3-0, in Division IV and Bosco Tech advanced on penalty kicks, 4-1, over Maranatha in Division V.

Claremont’s girls defeated Irvine, 2-0, in Division I and Rowland edged Brea Olinda, 1-0, in Division III.

* Michael Kawamura of Rosemead and Tony Fukuma of Alhambra won their divisions at the Masters’ Meet last weekend and will compete in the state championships this weekend in Stockton.

Kawamura won the 121-pound division and Fukuma was the titlist at 173. The two champions were among nine San Gabriel Valley wrestlers that finished among the top eight in their divisions and qualified for the state championships.

* Sixteen football players from the San Gabriel Valley were among those who received recognition as scholar athletes from the Pasadena/San Gabriel Valley chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame.

A banquet honoring the athletes will be staged Friday at the Brookside Country Club in Pasadena.

Athletes to be honored: Elbert Baker of Monrovia High, Matthew Benavidez (Charter Oak), Jake Bergman (Diamond Bar), Michael Chen (South Pasadena), Chris Dagne (Covina), Daniel Elias (Bassett), Mario Garcia (Baldwin Park), John Ho (Rosemead), Ramogi Huma (Bishop Amat), Marc Paramo (Rosemead), Mikel Pruett-Walker (Muir), Joseph Stephens (Covina), Joey Strycula (Charter Oak), Richard Tafoya (Charter Oak), Kevin Winegar (Ganesha) and Mario Woizeschke (Temple City).

COMMUNITY COLLEGES

The Mt. San Antonio College men’s basketball team saw its season come to an end with an 84-47 loss to top-seeded Los Angeles City College in the first round of the Southern California regional of the state tournament.

Mt. SAC finished 12-17.

The Citrus women’s team lost to Cerritos, 69-67, in the second round and finished 22-9.

* Monica Rocha of the Pasadena City College women’s basketball team was selected first-team All-South Coast Conference by league coaches for the second consecutive year.

Rocha averaged 11.4 points and 12.8 rebounds for the Lancers, who finished 11-16 and 3-11 in conference play.

COLLEGES

The Pomona-Pitzer men’s basketball team opens play in the NCAA Division III playoffs tonight by playing host to Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Pomona-Pitzer (18-7), champion of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, is making its second consecutive playoff appearance. The Sagehens lost to UC San Diego, 67-66, in the first round last season.

Wisconsin-Whitewater is 18-7. The winner of tonight’s game plays the winner of the game between St. John’s (Minn.) and Wisconsin-Platteville.

* The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women’s basketball team, which finished second in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, played host to league champion Cal Lutheran in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs on Wednesday night.

The winner of Wednesday’s game was to meet the winner of a game between St. Thomas (Minn.) and Gustavus-Adolphus (Minn.) on March 4.

* The Azusa Pacific men’s and women’s basketball teams began play in the Golden State Athletic Conference tournaments this week.

Azusa’s men, champions of the GSAC, played Biola Wednesday night in a first-round game. The winner was to play Cal Baptist or Concordia on Saturday in the semifinals at Whittier College. The winner of the GSAC tournament gains an automatic berth in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics championship tournament March 14-20 in Tulsa, Okla.

Azusa’s women played Point Loma Nazarene on Tuesday. The winner was to play Cal Baptist or Concordia in the semifinals. The winner of the tournament advances to the NAIA championship tournament March 15-21 in Jackson, Tenn.

* Five men’s basketball players from San Gabriel Valley-area colleges were selected to the seven-man All-SCIAC team by league coaches.

Area players selected were Travis Greer and Phil Kelly of Pomona-Pitzer, Bill Cornelius and Kevin Zitar of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Fitzgerald Moore of La Verne.

Cedric Jones and Mark Reliford of La Verne and Derrick Quinet of Pomona-Pitzer were second-team picks.

* The Azusa Pacific men’s track team finished second for the eighth time in nine years at the NAIA indoor track and field championships last weekend at Lincoln, Neb.

The Cougars finished behind Lubbock Christian, 108-97, in the highest-scoring meet between the top two teams in NAIA history.

Azusa won five of 17 events and scored in 11. Rene Bustamante won the weight throw and the shotput, Tim Cockrell the pole vault, Benny Fernando the long jump and Tage Peterson the pentathlon.

Azusa’s women won three events and finished third with 51 points. Southern-New Orleans and Central State (Ohio) were first and second with 90 and 71 points, respectively.

Azusa’s Fatima Yusef was named female athlete of the meet after winning the 200 and 400 meters. Carmen gage won the pentathlon.

* Cal Poly Pomona will play host to the annual Bronco Invitational track meet on Saturday.

The meet, one of the largest collegiate open meets on the West Coast, begins at noon with field events. Sprint events begin at 1 and distance races at 6.

* The Cal Poly Pomona men’s basketball team finished 15-11 and 3-9 in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. after losing to Cal State San Bernardino, 53-50, and Cal State Dominguez Hills, 68-60.

Junior forward Tyrone Merriweather concluded the season as the Broncos’ top scorer (14.1 points a game) and rebounder (7.6).

Pomona finished sixth in the seven-team CCAA.

* The Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball team concluded its season by defeating Grand Canyon, 84-68.

Pomona finished 10-15 and 3-7 in the CCAA, the first time in 14 years that the Broncos failed to win a share of the conference championship.

Freshman forward Jessica Eggleston finished as the Broncos’ leading scorer and rebounder, averaging 15.6 points and 8.5 rebounds.

* Cal Poly Pomona’s baseball team opens play in the CCAA today when the Broncos travel to UC Riverside.

Pomona enters the three-game series, which continues with a doubleheader Saturday at Pomona, with a 10-9 record.

The Broncos gave Coach Chuck Belk his 100th victory with a 9-4 victory over Cal State Hayward Feb. 22.

Joe Ramirez has won four games for Pomona.

PREP OF THE WEEK

Kyla Johnson, Muir--Johnson scored 17 points as the Mustang girls’ basketball team advanced to the Southern Section II-A semifinals with a 59-56 victory over El Dorado.

COLLEGE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Fatima Yusef, Azusa Pacific--Yusef was named female athlete of the meet at the NAIA indoor track and field championships at Lincoln, Neb., after winning the 200 and 400 meters.

Yusef helped lead the Cougars to third place.

MISCELLANY

The Pomona-based Puno de Oro boxing program, for youths ages 8 to 17, is accepting registration. The gym is located at 850 East Grand Ave. in Pomona. Information: (909) 629-5494.

CALENDAR

The city of Covina is accepting registration for roller hockey and pee-wee and youth track programs.

The roller hockey program is for ages 6 to 15 and will consist of five practice sessions and nine games, plus playoffs for qualified teams. Play begins in April.

The pee-wee program is for ages 5 to 7 and the youth program is for ages 8 to 11. Youngsters will learn fundamentals of events and will participate in the Mt. SAC Invitational youth days and Southern California Municipal Athletic Federation meets.

Information on all city programs: (818) 858-7271.

* A golf tournament sponsored by the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce is scheduled for June 19 at Brookside Golf Course in Pasadena.

Players of all ability levels are welcome to participate. Cost is $125 an individual or $400 a foursome. Information: (818) 795-3355.