Sports

PREP TRACK

After missing last track season because of an ankle injury, Westchester’s Kaaron Conwright will be among the favorites in the 100 meters today at the City Section finals at Birmingham High.

Conwright, who is also a standout running back on the football team, ran 10.91 to win his preliminary, second fastest among the eight qualifiers. He will be challenged by Cleveland’s Charles Lee (10.4 hand time), and Kennedy’s Gavin Hooper (11.02). Conwright won his heat in the 200 at 21.49, which was the third fastest qualifying time. Last season, Conwright finished third in the City in the 100 and fifth in the 200.

“Kaaron is a pretty good looking runner,” Westchester Coach Howard Smith said. “He always had the form. It was a matter of him getting into condition.”

In the half mile, Westchester had two of the top qualifiers in Garrick Goods, who recorded the fastest time of 1:57.51, and Ryan Song, who had the sixth fastest time of 2:00.15.

The Comets’ had the second fastest qualifying team in the 400 relay with a time of 42.01. Conwright will run anchor and football teammate Tony Griffin will run the first leg. Damon Anderson and Shay Fields complete the team.

Palisades’ Peter Gilmore is expected to repeat as the 1,600 and 3,200 champion. He may receive a challenge from teammate Erik Larsen, the son of UCLA men’s cross-country and track coach Bob Larsen.

In the girls’ events, freshman Racquel Johnson ran 58.20 to finish with the fastest qualifying time in the 400. Westchester’s Nikelola Balogun, who placed third last season, ran the third fastest qualifying time of 58.74.

ADD TRACK

St. Bernard’s Malika Edmonson, who has been working on her sprinting skills, took first in the 400 meters (56.00) and second in the 200 (24.43 wind-aided) during Saturday’s Southern Section Division III finals at Cerritos College.

Edmonson, who also ran on two relay teams, qualified in four events for the Southern Section Masters Meet Friday at Cerritos College. The Vikings were second in the 400 relay (47.60) and won the 1,600 relay in 3:53.71.

In Division III, Culver City’s Wayne Dooley had a spectacular day. Dooley, who also plays for the basketball team, won the 200 in a wind-aided 21.38 and also took second in the 100 (10.55). Dooley also led the Centaurs to a third place finish in the 400 relay (42.55).

In Division IV, Brentwood’s Trevor Collins placed second in the 100 (11.21 wind-aided) and second in the long jump at 20 feet, 10 inches. Collins led Brentwood (43 points) to a second-place finish behind Banning (77 points).

In other Division IV races, St. Monica’s Phil Austin won the 110-meter high hurdles in a wind-aided 15.49 and was fifth in the long jump (20-3). Dwight Carter took third in the 300 intermediate hurdles (40.65).

COLLEGE TRACK

Santa Monica College sophomore Vanitta Kinard won the long jump and the triple-jump Saturday at the State Championships at Bakersfield College.

Kinard leaped 18-10 1/2 to take first place in the long jump. She leaped 41-1 1/4 to win the triple jump, a stadium record.

The Corsair women finished eighth.

SCOUTING REPORT

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Westchester had one of the fastest runners at the third annual Reebok Preseason Combine Saturday at El Camino College’s Murdock Stadium.

More than 750 high school football players from as far as Hawaii and Texas gathered to demonstrate their skills in drills such as the 40-yard dash, the 20-yard shuffle, vertical jump and bench-press. Division I scouts from Missouri, Oklahoma State, Colorado, Michigan, Southern Methodist, Fresno State and other universities were there to evaluate.

Skill-position players and linemen were also taken through one-on-one drills: running pass routes against a defender and pass-rushing and blocking skills.

Westchester’s Jason Small clocked a 4.52 seconds in the 40-yard dash to finish behind Inglewood’s Tarirou Smith (4.49) for the fastest 40-yard time.

COLLEGE BASEBALL

Pat Harrison, who was an assistant when Oklahoma won the 1994 World Series, hopes to lead Pepperdine to another championship season when the NCAA Division I Baseball tournament begins today.

Harrison, who became Pepperdine’s coach during the summer, led the Waves to a 34-17-1 record and a West Coast Conference championship. The Waves were seeded fourth in the West Regional behind top-seeded USC, second-seeded Long Beach State and third-seeded Cal State Fresno.

The Waves open the tournament against regional host Fresno State (41-20) at 7 tonight.

Pepperdine will be making its ninth NCAA appearance in 11 seasons and 17th overall. They have reached the regional championship five times and the College World Series twice. They won the 1992 national title after winning eight of their last nine games.

The Waves are led by David Newhan (.379), Ryan Christenson (.378) and Justin Hodgdon (.349), who finished 1-2-3 in West Coast Conference batting.

PREP TENNIS

Last season, the City Section tennis doubles finals came down to teams from Palisades High.

After Tuesday’s semifinals, the Dolphins have a good shot at repeating that feat.

The top three seeded teams, all from Palisades, advanced to today’s semifinals at the Racquet Centre in Studio City.

Jason Ebin and Danny Westerman, the top-seeded team, defeated Kirby Capalla and Eugene Rapada of Eagle Rock, 6-4, 6-1.

Second-seeded Jung Cho and Kevin Condon defeated Taft’s Vince Khazanov and Jessie Suri, 6-0, 6-0.

Third-seeded Jon Singer and Adam Pennella beat Marshall’s Sebastian Albelais and Mike Gasparian, 6-3, 7-5.

Ebin and Westerman will play Kevin Kim and James White of Granada Hills in a semifinal and the other semifinal will be an all-Palisades matchup.

Palisades’ doubles teams were the difference two weeks ago when the Dolphins beat Taft, 19 1/2-10, to win the City Section 4-A Division team championship. It was the Dolphins 20th City title, including 10 in the last 15 years under Bud Kling. But their last championship came in 1989.

“We’ve had so many close loses with the boys,” said Kling, who led the Dolphins girls’ to the City title last fall. “We had three loses that came down to the last set. A lot of people thought Taft was going to win because they have marquee-type players.”

The most famous was Dylan Mann, who is ranked 27th in the nation for boys’ 18 and under. Mann swept all four of his sets.

But the Dolphins split the rest of their singles matches and swept the doubles competition for a decisive win.