Hart Runner Strahan Headed for Wake Forest

Brett Strahan of Hart High, the No. 3 returning 1,600-meter runner in the nation, has made a verbal commitment to Wake Forest.

Strahan, who has a best of 4 minutes 9.71 seconds in the 1,600, took recruiting trips to UCLA, Arkansas and Wake Forest.

“It’s just a really good all-around school and program,” Strahan said. “I want to major in business and they have a awesome program there.”

Strahan will join a Demon Deacon squad that won the 1994 Atlantic Coast Conference title.

Strahan was fifth in the Foot Locker West regional cross-country championships in December. He was fourth in the 1,600 in last year’s State championships and finished seventh in the State Division I cross-country championships as a sophomore.

Baseball

Former Cal State Northridge pitcher Marco Contreras has signed a contract with the Oakland Athletics and reported to spring training in Arizona.

Contreras pitched a school-record three shutouts as a junior in 1993 and was 7-7 with a 5.02 earned-run average last year.

He was not drafted in June and pitched briefly in an independent professional league last summer. Contreras, a 22-year-old right-hander, is considered a replacement-player candidate.

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Keyaan Cook, a former infielder at Montclair Prep High and Cal State Northridge, has signed a contract to play professionally with an independent team.

Cook batted .317 last season as a senior second baseman for the Matadors and batted .306 as a junior. He was not drafted last June. Cook signed with Evansville, Ind., of the independent Frontier League. Cook, 23, hit three home runs and had 30 runs batted in last season. He will report in June.

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Newbury Park High has picked up a victory because Cypress used an ineligible player in a 10-2 victory over the Panthers in a Loara tournament game March 7, Newbury Park Coach Gary Fabricius said. Newbury Park is 2-3.

The Southern Section announced a hearing will be held March 24 to review the allegations of undue-influence violations within the Simi Valley High baseball program.

Simi Valley Coach Mike Scyphers has been accused of pressuring sophomore Mike Rainer to enroll at Simi Valley.

Rainer’s eligibility at Royal will be determined at a separate hearing March 22.

Cycling

Thurlow Rogers of Van Nuys placed 10th in the Redlands Cycling Classic last weekend.

Rogers led the Valley-based Nutra-Fig Racing Team to fourth place.

Harm Jansen of Nutra-Fig finished second in overall sprint points and teammate John Wordin was eighth. Both are from West Hills

Basketball

Anna Celaya of North Hollywood High, Nyoki McKeith of Taft and Tami Ross of Kennedy were named to the All-City 4-A Division team. Nadra Manley of Sylmar was a second-team selection.

Nancy Vincent of Chatsworth, Dora Lopez of Poly and Kristi Kiley-Boynton of Grant were named to the All-City 3-A team. Chatsworth’s Tynitra Wilson made the second team.

* Contributing: Steve Elling, Jeff Fletcher, John Ortega, Bryan Rodgers.