Chaminade Quarterback Zdenek, Like Teammate Crecion, Picks UCLA

Jason Zdenek, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound quarterback and defensive back for Chaminade High, has committed to UCLA, choosing the Bruins over California, Boise State and Idaho.

Zdenek, a Times All-Valley selection last fall as a defensive back, made eight interceptions, returning two for touchdowns. He also passed for 941 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Zdenek led Chaminade (11-2) to the Southern Section Division III semifinals. Teammate Gabe Crecion, a tight end and linebacker, also has committed to UCLA.

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Montclair Prep linebacker Anwawn Jones has committed to Northwestern. Jones, 6-5, 220, chose the Wildcats over Arizona and UCLA after receiving assurances he would also be able to play basketball. Jones is the returning state Division V player of the year in basketball and is averaging 22.6 points.

Jones also will be near his brother, Rahshawn Jones, who plans to play football at Trinity College in Deerfield, Ill.

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Doug Woodlief, coach at Bell-Jeff High, has resigned after 11 years, Principal Mary Ellen Rausch said.

The Guards were 37-72-2 under Woodlief and made the Southern Section playoffs four times.

Last season, the Guards were 1-9 and scored only 26 points.

Woodlief played linebacker for the Los Angeles Rams from 1965 to 1969.

Rausch said that Woodlief, who also teaches at the school, has not yet decided whether he will remain on staff for the next school year.

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Norman Clarke, a running back from San Bernardino Valley College, has committed to Cal State Northridge. Clarke (6-0, 190) also considered Southeast Missouri State, Pacific, which dropped its program, and Northern Arizona.

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Receiver Troy Garner of Notre Dame High has been selected Far West offensive player of the year by SuperPrep magazine. Garner, who has committed to USC, had 44 receptions for 830 yards and 13 touchdowns last season.

Baseball

David Siedelman, a former assistant at South Dakota State, has been hired as an assistant at El Camino Real High.

Taft High will host an alumni game Feb. 24 at 1 p.m.

Information: 818-348-7171.

The Baseball Development Center will open Feb. 15 in a facility scaled down from its original plans, BDC chief executive officer Bob Selen said. Private lessons and physical therapy will be offered.

The facility in Woodland Hills is owned and operated by Dodger batting coach Reggie Smith and his partners.

Track and Field

The Asics Twilight Distance Classic, held the past three years at Birmingham High, will return to Santa Monica College. This year’s meet is scheduled for May 17-18.

The meet, which draws some of the nation’s top middle- and long-distance runners, was held at Santa Monica from 1986-92, but was moved to Birmingham after Santa Monica administrators refused to issue a permit for the meet.

Santa Monica administrators have become more receptive to the idea in the last year, however.

“We have never been treated more fairly than at Birmingham,” meet director Skip Stolley said. “But logistically it makes more sense to have the meet at Santa Monica. The airport is close by and we lost a lot of local sponsorship when we moved the meet.”

Miscellany

Nordhoff High on Friday will induct eight new members to the school’s athletic hall of fame: Stan Coburn (basketball, 1967), Marcy Cochran (volleyball and track, ‘88), Tami Dobel (cross-country, ‘88), Greg McNeil (cross-country, ‘86), Leeana Merriweather (volleyball, ‘87), Greg Stafford (golf, ‘68), Amy Svikhart (volleyball, ‘87) and Julie Tulberg (tennis, ‘87).

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Contributing: Jeff Fletcher, Steve Henson, Vince Kowalick, Michael Lazarus, John Ortega, Bryan Rodgers, Tris Wykes, Peter Yoon.