Wrestlers Ready for State Meet

For the second consecutive year, Calvary Chapel has seven wrestlers qualified for this weekend’s state championships in Stockton. And like last year, the Eagles will be traveling to the University of the Pacific with three Masters champions.

Last year, the champions were Joe Calavitta, Josh Holiday and Ed Mosley. This year, they are Matt Azevedo (119 pounds), Calavitta (135) and Ty Wilcox (152).

“I can’t say who will win state, but anything can happen in a meet like that,” said Calvary Chapel Coach John Azevedo, whose team finished second last season after winning the title in 1994.

“Last year, we had four wrestlers who had a shot at a state title. Two of them won a title, one was beaten by the flu, and the other lost in a semifinal match,” Azevedo said. “But things could go our way this time and we could win it.”

The state championships begin Friday and conclude Saturday in Spanos Center on the Pacific campus.

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On your mark: The inaugural Earl Engman Relays, which features 27 boys’ and girls’ track teams competing in 18 relay events in three divisions, begin at 9 a.m. Saturday at Rancho Santiago College.

The event, named for former Santa Ana track coach and veteran high school track official Earl Engman, replaces the Santa Ana Relays for boys’ teams and the Orange Rotary Relays for girls’ teams.

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Perfect timing: When Ocean View girls’ basketball Coach Ollie Martin announced he was taking a one-year sabbatical after this season--he is undecided beyond that--he said his announcement wasn’t to get his team fired up emotionally.

“There were some rumors going around and I wanted to clear them up,” Martin said. “I wanted to acknowledge what [the team] has accomplished already. If they were to lose a game, I don’t want them to think it was because of that.”

So far, Ocean View hasn’t lost a playoff game. The Seahawks play Brea Olinda for the Division II-A championship Saturday at the Pyramid. No matter how the final turns out, the semifinal might be the one game Martin remembers the rest of his days. Ocean View beat Laguna Hills, 63-59, in triple overtime.

“No matter what happens,” he said afterward, “this has to be the greatest win I’ve ever been involved in, in terms of importance--three overtimes and the shots it took to win it.”

Martin has been coaching 10 years, and the victory put him 100 games over .500 (185-85). It was the first triple-overtime game of his career.

“We’ve only had one other double-overtime game,” Martin said.

That was this season, a 51-46 loss to Laguna Hills.

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Foreign exchange: Foothill Coach Ty Watkins credited a communication problem with helping his girls’ basketball team turn its fortunes around this season, going from 6-17 to 19-7 during the regular season. The team went to China last summer.

“Our chemistry took off,” Watkins said. “Because of the language barrier, we relied on each other. When we came back, we trusted each other and relied on each other more.” And that translated into victories.

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Gone awry: The best-laid plans of Rosary girls’ basketball Coach Rich Yoon were laid to waste when leading scorer/rebounder Kathleen Celio tore her anterior cruciate ligament days before the first game. Yoon had scheduled some of Orange County’s toughest teams, and many thought that with Celio, the Royals were a top 10 team. That never panned out, and the Royals finished 13-13.

“I believe it pays off to play those big teams,” Yoon said. “If the girls want to reach a certain level, you have to see what that level is.”

After Rosary’s first-round playoff loss to Estancia, nine teams accounted for 11 of the Royals’ losses. The combined record of those nine teams is 203-40 (.835). One of the other losses was to Kent (Wash.) Meridien, ranked sixth in the West at the time.

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All-around athlete: Meghan O’Neill, a freshman at Canyon High, has bounded onto the school’s sports teams.

O’Neill averaged about 16 points and four assists to lead the Comanche basketball team (14-13) to the second round of the Division II-AA playoffs, where it lost to Norco, 74-50.

O’Neill also plays for the soccer team (16-6-2), which plays Century League rival El Modena at 8 p.m. Saturday for the Southern Section Division II championship at Cerritos Gahr High.

In the fall, O’Neill played for the volleyball team and was a second-team all-league selection.

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Football honors: The Orange County Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame will honor 23 local athletes for their performances on the football field and in the classroom at its 26th awards banquet, March 6 at the Doubletree Hotel in Orange.

To qualify for the award, the student must be in his final year of eligibility, have at least a 3.4 grade-point average and earn first-team all-league honors. Each county high school and college was asked to submit names, and the board of directors made the final selection.

Craig Fertig, quarterback at USC in the mid-60s, will serve as master of ceremonies. Tickets for the banquet are $35 and are available by calling (714) 263-0600.

The honored scholar athletes and their GPAs:

Chris Amato (Orange Lutheran), 3.63; Mike Beamer (Brea Olinda), 3.7; David Bell (Western), 3.62; Nathan Blakely (Dana Hills), 4.03; Nick Brown (Troy), 4.3; Chris Collins (Santa Margarita), 4.28; Kostas Hatzidakis (Esperanza), 4.03; David Kuhn (Calvary Chapel), 3.88; Troy Larkin (Los Alamitos), 3.74; Ryan Long (El Dorado), 3.94; Brian Maize (Orange), 3.51; Mike Martinez (Los Alamitos), 4.15; Matthew Mason (El Toro), 4.0; Kevin McLean (Mater Dei), 4.2; John McMahon (El Dorado), 3.69; Brian Miklos (Sunny Hills), 4.04; Andy Murphy (Brea Olinda), 3.62; Justin Overdevest (University), 3.63; Scott Patton (Saddleback College), 3.78; Jack Rhoads (Sunny Hills), 4.17; Joel Sugg (Irvine), 3.74; Nick Sveslosky (Foothill), 3.95; Ryan Wilkins (Esperanza), 4.19.

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David Lalazarian, a 6-foot-7 swingman from Tustin High, has committed to attend Notre Dame, his mother, Sandy, said.

Lalazarian, the county’s second-leading scorer, averaged 24 points for Tustin (25-5), which lost to San Bernardino Pacific, 56-54, in the Southern Section Division II-A basketball quarterfinals.

Lalazarian, a Times first-team all-county selection last season, will join former Tiller teammate Doug Gottlieb, The Times 1994-95 player of the year, a freshman guard at Notre Dame.

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Kennedy High running back Darrin Martineau has accepted an appointment to the U.S. Air Force Academy, Kennedy Coach Mitch Olson said.

Martineau rushed for 1,103 yards last season for the Fighting Irish, helping them win the Empire League title and advancing to the Division V quarterfinals.

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Staff writers Martin Henderson and Wendy Witherspoon contributed to this story.