OCC’s Fitzel Steps Down With Good Track Record

Gordie Fitzel, whose Orange Coast cross-country teams have won five state titles in his 18 years at the college, announced Monday he is stepping down as coach because of continuing trouble with his knees.

Fitzel, 55, will remain on staff as a teacher and work with the distance runners on OCC’s track and field team. He has had surgery on his knees five times.

“I can [coach track] because I don’t have to climb hills and mark courses and do all the physical things that coaching cross-country requires,” he said. “The pain last season was just too much to deal with.”

His women’s teams won state titles in 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1987. His women’s teams also won seven conference titles.

Orange Coast’s 1981 men’s team also won a state title.

“I figure if I’m going to make it on this earth 20 more years,” Fitzel said, “I want to do it with some knees.”

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Wrestling: Tito Ortiz of Golden West and Alfred Frausto of Rancho Santiago won individual state titles in wrestling Saturday in Chabot College.

Ortiz, at 190 pounds, had three pins and beat Rami Kiriakos of San Bernardino Valley, 19-8, in the final. Ortiz, a freshman from Huntington Beach High, was 30-2 this season and is the first Golden West wrestler to win a state title since Paul Herrera in 1987.

Frausto, a sophomore from Edison, beat Cerritos’ Fred Leavy, 5-1, to take the title at 142 pounds.

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Men’s soccer: High marks go to the officiating crew at the state men’s soccer game Sunday between Rancho Santiago and American River at East Los Angeles College. Rancho Santiago won, 3-0.

Once Rancho Santiago took a 3-0 lead early in the second half, the game became dangerously physical with several players going down after hard tackles.

But the referee kept things in check for the most part with a no-nonsense attitude and a quick whistle, which appeared to end the game a few minutes early.

Two American River players were ejected and three others got yellow cards. One Rancho Santiago player was ejected and three received yellow cards. All the ejections came in the second half.

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Women’s volleyball: Not only did Golden West become the first team to win three consecutive state titles Sunday by beating Long Beach in the title game, but it was also the sixth state title in eight seasons for Coach Albert Gasparian.

Golden West’s strength this season was its balance as four players had 200 or more kills. Ursula Luna finished with 297, including the one that won the final game of the season.

Mary Luhrs had 276, Tina Bowman 271 and Jessica Redding 233. Lisa Brown, a middle blocker, had 154.

Despite the balance, the Rustlers at times were bothered by inconsistent play. Golden West was down, 2 games to 1, before rallying to beat Santa Monica in the regional final.

The Rustlers then had a chance to put Long Beach away Sunday in the double-elimination tournament but the Vikings won, 15-4, 12-15, 15-9, 15-12, forcing a one-game playoff for the championship.

The Rustlers opened a 14-6 lead and won, 15-11.

“I told them I didn’t care what it looked like--just win it,” Gasparian said. “And that’s about what happened.”

Redding, who had four kills in the final game, was the tournament’s most valuable player. Bowman, Luna and Fullerton’s Christy Deming also were on the 12-member all-tournament team.

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Men’s basketball: Five of the eight Orange Empire Conference teams are in the Riverside Holiday tournament this week.

In first-round games today: Irvine Valley (3-4) plays Cerro Coso at 1 p.m. and Riverside (10-2) meets Citrus at 7 p.m.

Also in the first round Wednesday: Cypress (6-3) and Pasadena play at 1; Golden West (4-5) and Southwestern meet at 3 and Fullerton (5-4) and Imperial Valley play at 5 p.m.

The tournament continues Thursday and Friday and the title game is 7 p.m. Saturday.

Notes

Long Beach (11-0) finished top-ranked in the Southland football poll and Los Angeles Valley (10-1) was second. Bakersfield (10-1) was third, San Bernardino Valley (10-1) fourth, Hancock (9-2) fifth, Saddleback (8-3) sixth, Moorpark (8-3) seventh, Mt. San Antonio (8-3) eighth, Citrus (9-2) ninth, and Desert (7-3) 10th.