Gardner, Crouch Named County Athletes of Year

San Clemente’s Gabriel Gardner and Marina’s Marcy Crouch were named the boy and girl athletes of the year Wednesday by the Orange County Athletic Directors Assn. at its meeting at Anaheim Stadium.

Gardner, a 6-foot-9 goalkeeper, was The Times Orange County’s player of the year and an All-Southern Section first-team selection in water polo this past season. He helped the Tritons reach the Division I semifinals. He also played basketball and is a member of the school’s volleyball team, which will meet Irvine in the Division I quarterfinals Friday.

Crouch is a four-year varsity member of Marina’s volleyball, soccer and softball teams. She has earned all-league honors in all three sports, and made The Times’ all-county team in soccer and softball. Crouch helped lead the Vikings to three consecutive section soccer titles, and their 61-game unbeaten streak is the longest large-school streak in the nation.

She is 17-4 on the mound for Marina’s softball team, which begins defense of its Division I title Friday in a first-round game against visiting Oxnard Hueneme.

Gardner will attend USC on a volleyball scholarship, and Crouch received a softball scholarship from Stanford.

*

Steve Howard, who resigned as El Modena football coach in April, has changed his mind and will stay at the school, boys’ Athletic Director Don Mott said.

Howard, 8-11 in two seasons at El Modena, had accepted a high school teaching position in Hutchinson, Kan.

*

Tim Haney, a junior at Los Alamitos High who swims for the Golden West Swim Club in Huntington Beach, was selected to compete in the Inter-92 Swim Meet in Paris. Haney, who won the 200 individual medley and took second in the 500 freestyle at last week’s Southern Section Division I Swim finals, will be representing the U.S. national Junior’s team. Haney was one of 11 boys selected and the only Californian to qualify for the team.