Sports

PREPS

Bell High has had its share of success in the City Section volleyball playoffs. Except in the championship.

In the 4-A Division final against University on Friday night at Cal State Northridge, the Eagles suffered their fourth defeat in eight years in a City final, losing 15-3, 15-8, 15-13.

It was the first appearance in the 4-A championship for Bell, which lost in the 3-A title match in 1987, 1988 and 1989.

“We’re a lot like the Buffalo Bills,” Bell Coach Mike Mayfield said. “They’ve never won the Super Bowl, but nobody thinks they’re not a good team. We’ve made it to the big dance four times, but we can’t seem to win it.”

Bell (15-2) held a lead in every game against defending champion University (16-1), but could not overcome the duo of 6-foot-5 outside hitter Mike Rupp (19 kills) and 6-6 outside hitter Mark Williams (12 kills).

Senior outside hitter Rudy Flores had 20 kills and Dickie Purcell added 12 for Bell, which lost to University in last year’s 4-A semifinals. Flores and Purcell both has eight blocks.

“We’re not real satisfied with the way we played,” Flores said. “We just didn’t play our best game. They’re a good team, but they were certainly not unbeatable.”

In the Southern Section volleyball playoffs, Lakewood, Warren and Long Beach Poly advanced to the Division II quarterfinals Friday night.

Lakewood, which defeated Canyon Country Canyon, 15-1, 15-8, 15-6, Tuesday night in the second round, will play Orange. Warren, a 15-7, 8-15, 15-11, 15-3 winner over Saugus, faces Highland, and Long Beach Poly, which swept Foothill, 15-3, 15-6, 15-13, takes on Santa Ana Calvary Chapel.

In Division III, St. John Bosco beat La Salle, 9-15, 15-10, 6-15, 15-11, 16-14. The Braves play San Marino in the quarterfinals.

* Millikan, which won its third Moore League title in five years, is the top-seeded team in the Division I baseball playoffs, which begin Friday. The Rams (22-2-1) will play host to Cypress, the No. 3 finisher from the Empire League at 3:15 p.m. at Long Beach City College.

Defending Division I champion Fountain Valley is seeded second. Fontana and Bishop Amat are seeded No. 3 and 4, respectively.

In Division II, 1994 finalist Gahr (19-4-1) is seeded fourth and will open the playoffs at home against Villa Park.

Del Rio League champion La Serna (20-4) is seeded third in Division III and Olympic League Champion Valley Christian (14-4) is seeded second in Division IV. La Serna plays Laguna Hills and Valley Christian meets St. Anthony in first-round home games.

Other games include:

Division I: Lakewood at Nogales, Long Beach Wilson at West Torrance.

Division II: Warren at Temecula Valley, Paramount at Glendora.

Division III: Santa Fe at Norwalk, El Rancho at Walnut, La Mirada at Charter Oak.

Division IV: Cajon at Cerritos.

Division V: Cantwell-Sacred Heart at Brentwood.

Division VI: L.A. Lutheran at Calvary Chapel.

* The Millikan High softball team, which went undefeated in Moore League play, is seeded second and Lakewood is fourth in the Southern Section Division II playoffs.

Saugus and Rosary are seeded first and third, respectively. Millikan (22-9) will play host to Righetti and Lakewood (25-5) meets Santa Monica at home.

Del Rio League champion La Serna (19-2) and Olympic League champion Valley Christian (13-4) are seeded second and fourth in Divisions III and V. La Serna will play Louisville at home and Valley Christian plays host to either Chadwick or Brentwood.

Other games include:

Division I: Newbury Park at Downey, Fountain Valley at Gahr, Warren at Camarillo.

Division II: Mayfair at West Covina, Canyon Country Canyon at Bellflower, Arroyo Grande at St. Paul.

Division III: California at Magnolia, Quartz Hill at Montebello, Pioneer at Redondo.

Division IV: St. Anthony at Cerritos, Paso Robles at Pius X.

Division VI: Viewpoint at Pioneer Baptist, Calvary Chapel at Hillcrest Christian.

* The Long Beach Poly girls’ track and field team will attempt to win its fourth consecutive Southern Section Division I title Saturday at Cerritos College.

Poly’s Pam Simpson is the defending champion in the long jump and 400 meters and Aminah Haddad won the 100 meters last year.

Simpson was the top qualifier in the long jump with a wind-aided jump of 20 feet, 7 3/4 inches and Naeema Withey had the top mark in the 300-meter hurdles at 44.16 seconds in the preliminaries at Long Beach City College May 13.

The Jackrabbits will be represented by 10 athletes in individual events as well as the 400- and 1,600-meter relays, which had the top qualifying marks of 46.26 and 3:51.48.

Other leading qualifiers include LaKeisha Backus of Long Beach Wilson in the girls’ 100 and 200 with wind-aided times of 11.48 and 23.54; Michael Granville of Bell Gardens in the 800 (1:51.69); Tye Anderson of Long Beach Poly in the triple jump (wind-aided 48-0), and John Davis of Long Beach Wilson in the shotput (58-2) and discus (160-11).

Field events begin at 11 a.m. with the first running event, the girls’ 400 relay, at 1 p.m.

* Kristen Barth won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:10.20 and swam on Long Beach Wilson’s victorious 200 and 400 freestyle relays to lead the Bruins to their first girls’ Southern Section swimming title in the Division II championships at Belmont Plaza Saturday.

Long Beach Poly, led by Heather Zerby, who won the 500 freestyle (5:04.30) and swam the freestyle leg on the Jackrabbits’ winning 200 individual medley, finished sixth in the team competition.

In Division III, Danielle Dealva of Warren won the 100 freestyle (52.94) and 100 backstroke (56.94), and Downey’s Mariana Luevano won the 100 butterfly (57.66).

COLLEGES

The Long Beach City College men’s and women’s track teams won titles in the Southern California finals at Bakersfield City College on Saturday.

The Long Beach men, who won their 10th title in a row and 15th in 17 years, totaled 118 points to outdistance Mt. San Antonio (81 1/2) and Riverside (63).

Eric Boykin won the long jump (24-6) and triple jump (49-1 1/4) for the Vikings, who won five events, including the 400 relay, and scored in 10 of 19 events. Mike Harris and Jason Brownlee of Long Beach were victorious in the 110-meter high hurdles (14.3) and the 400-meter intermediate hurdles (53.85).

Cavetra Mitchell won the 100 (11.59) and 200 (24.11) and ran on the Vikings’ 400 relay team, which won in 46.19 to guide the Long Beach women to their first title after finishing second in 1990, 1993 and 1994. Teammate Karen Vigilant was a winner in the 100 and 400 hurdles in 14.67 and 1:01.66.

The Long Beach men will seek a share of their 12th State title since 1978 and the Viking women will try for their first Friday and Saturday at Bakersfield City College.

* The Cerritos College baseball team took a step toward a record 10th State championship, sweeping Rio Hondo, 5-4 and 12-0, in a best two-of-three series last week.

In the first victory, Jose Alvarez tripled in Santos Cortez from third in the 10th inning for the winning run. Cerritos had 14 hits in its second victory. Rod Barajas had three hits and scored three runs and John Ruiz pitched eight innings, giving up two hits to improve to 10-2.

The Falcons will play host to a four-team double elimination tournament with Cypress, Harbor and Bakersfield or Imperial Valley Friday through Sunday. The winner will advance to the State tournament in Fresno.

Cerritos (34-11) opens play against Harbor at 11 a.m. Friday. Cypress plays Bakersfield or Imperial Valley at 3 p.m.

* The Long Beach City College softball team will compete in the Southern California State junior college tournament that begins Friday in Riverside.

Long Beach, the top-seeded team in Southern California, advanced to the eight-team, double-elimination tournament. going undefeated in three games to win its four-team regional.

On Friday, the host Vikings defeated San Diego Mesa, 2-0, on a one-hitter by Kristen Bailey, and Fullerton, 7-3. Freshman pitcher Jennifer Jaime improved to 9-0 as Long Beach clinched a berth in the State tournament Saturday with a 6-1 victory over Fullerton.

* Jaime Barragan won the 100 and 200 meters in 10.45 and 21.02 seconds to lead the Long Beach State men’s track team to a second-place finish in the Big West Conference championships Friday and Saturday at Long Beach State.

Barragan also ran on the 49ers’ victorious 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams. The junior from Millikan High joined Gary Cablayan, Jacob Glickman and Brandon Thomas to win the 400 relay in 40.52. The four also timed 3:13.82 in the 1,600 relay.

The 49ers, who equaled their highest conference finish since 1990, amassed 157 points to finish second behind defending champion Utah State, which won with 208 points. UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Fullerton were third and fourth with 101 and 66 points, respectively.

Le’Gretta Hinds won the 400-meter hurdles in 59.71 for the third consecutive year and was second in the 100-meter hurdles in 13.57 to lead the Long Beach women to a sixth-place finish with 64 points. The Utah State women won their third consecutive title with 181 points, followed by Nevada and UC Santa Barbara with 151 and 94 points, respectively.

Long Beach’s Jason Hinkin cleared 17-7 3/4 to win the pole vault and qualify for next month’s NCAA championships in Knoxville, Tenn. Christa Ayuso and Chris Czerwinski were other 49ers winners in the women’s 1500 meters (4:36.39) and triple jump (46-1 1/2).

* Wil Weir, the 1993-94 Southern California Athletic Conference co-most valuable player at Compton College, has signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Pepperdine.

MISCELLANY

The Long Beach Barracuda will play host to the Sonoma County Crushers in its first home game at Blair Field at 7:15 Monday night. The first-year minor league franchise, coached by Jeff Burroughs, the 1974 American League most valuable player, are part of the eight-team independent Western Baseball League. The Barracuda will play a 90-game schedule which runs through September.

Information: (310) 436-2525.