JUST PREPS / A page dedicated to high school athletes, their families and coaches--and to those who follow high school sports. : Area News : CENTRAL CITY

Downey Coach Gordon Weisenberger goes for his eighth consecutive San Gabriel Valley League wrestling title when the Vikings face Warren, a co-champion last season, tonight at 7 at Warren. Downey, which will compete in the Southern Section’s Division III in postseason competition, is led by senior Ben Smith, who is 29-2 at 189 pounds, including 17 pins. . . . Bell, which won City Section team wrestling titles in 1993 and ‘94, concludes its regular season at home against Granada Hills today at 3:30 p.m. with the Central League title on the line. Bell is led by senior Jose Parra, who won the City’s individual title at 127 pounds last year and now is competing at 130. . . . For the second season in a row, the winner of the Magnet Conference will receive an automatic berth in the City Section Division 3-A basketball playoffs. The boys’ entry will probably be the winner of today’s game between Mid-City Alternative and Sherman Oaks CES at Whitney High at 4:30 p.m. Mid-City (8-6) has scored 100 or more points three times and is led by forwards Tremaine Smith and Robert Turnbull, who are averaging 21 points each. . . . Senior forward James Lee, who transferred from Artesia to Locke earlier this month, will not play again this season after losing an appeal for an eligibility hardship waiver last week. . . . The Crenshaw High girls’ basketball team took over first place in the Southern Pacific Conference with a 78-64 victory over Washington last week. . . . The CIF State Federated Council will consider a plan to alternate the state basketball tournament and track and field championships between Northern and Southern California at a meeting Friday in Burlingame. If approved, the basketball tournament would be held at the Pond of Anaheim in 1997 and the track championships at an undetermined site in the north.