Howard Resigns Position as El Modena Football Coach

Steve Howard has resigned as El Modena football coach, Athletic Director Don Mott said Wednesday.

Howard, who was the Vanguards’ coach the last two seasons, has accepted a high school teaching position in Hutchinson, Kan. El Modena was 8-11-1 under Howard.

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Mark Gardner, a sophomore pitcher at Orange Coast College, has accepted a scholarship to play at California, OCC announced.

Gardner, a left-hander from Fountain Valley High, is 6-3 with a 4.03 earned-run average and leads the Orange Empire Conference with 81 strikeouts.

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Kurt Nelson, a 6-4 setter from Laguna Beach, has signed a letter of intent to play men’s volleyball at UCLA, his father, Byron, said.

Nelson, who helped the Artists to the Southern Section Division I final last season, picked UCLA over Stanford and UC Irvine. Byron played football at UCLA in the mid-1960s.

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Jon Paisley, a center/forward at Trabuco Hills High, plans to play basketball next season at Claremont McKenna College, it was announced in a news release.

Paisley averaged 18 points and seven rebounds for the Mustangs last season. Jeremy Vandervoet, a center from Los Alamitos, also recently committed to Claremont McKenna.

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Casey Snow, a sophomore catcher from Long Beach State, has been invited to USA Baseball’s spring training camp, which begins June 7.

Snow is one of 28 players who have received invitations and a total of 40 will be invited. The top 26 players will make the U.S. national team that will play a 36-game, 15-city tour to prepare for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.