DeMartinis Will Double Up at Occidental

Merlin DeMartinis of Harvard-Westlake High, the runner-up in the pole vault in the 1995 Southern Section Division III track and field championships, will attend Occidental College.

DeMartinis, who has a best of 15 feet 1 inch in the pole vault, will also play football for the Tigers. He was a quarterback for Harvard-Westlake last season, but will probably play defensive back at Occidental.

Robert Weir of Great Britain, Jamie Presser of the Bruin Track Club, Mike Mielke of the U.S. Army and Jason Tunks of Southern Methodist will head the list of entrants in the discus at the Antelope Valley College Throws Festival today.

Weir threw the discus 208 feet 6 inches last year. Presser (202-1) and Mielke (201-1) placed first and second in the UC San Diego Invitational on Saturday and Tunks has a best of 202 feet this season.

Former Southern Methodist standout Brian Murer has been added to the hammer field that will include Balazs Kiss of USC, the No. 3-ranked thrower in the world by Track & Field News magazine in 1995.

Jason Hammond of Fowler High, who placed third in the discus and fifth in the shotput in last year’s State championships, has signed a letter of intent with Cal State Northridge.

Hammond, who has personal bests of 61-2 in the shotput and 178-6 in the discus, is the first track athlete to sign with Northridge in April since the school went to the NCAA Division I level in 1990.

Swimming

Katrina Reynoso of Saugus High has signed a letter of intent with Cal State Northridge.

The Matadors also signed Michelle Morris from Rancho Santiago College.

Football

Kennedy High defensive back Karalus Doyle has signed a letter of intent with Washington State but must retake the Scholastic Assessment Test to qualify for the scholarship. Doyle has received a qualifying score on the test, but the score has been challenged by the Educational Testing Service.

Archery

Justin Huish won all three of his elimination matches Monday in Stone Mountain, Ga., to climb past Richard Johnson and claim the No. 2 spot on the U.S. Olympic archery team.

Huish, 21, from Simi Valley, beat Rodney White, who took the top spot on the team, in a shoot-off after they tied, 114-114. He also beat Vic Wunderle, 112-110, and White again, 110-101.

Team positions were determined on a point basis, combining placements and scores from six events.

“I was shooting scores that I normally do in calm weather,” Huish said after the competition in wind gusts of more than 20 mph. “I’m just hoping I can up it another couple of notches for the Games. It’s two, three months away right now, so I think I can be better.”

Equestrian

La Reina High defended its team championship and Hillary Smotherman of Buckley won high-point honors in the Interscholastic Equestrian League finals Sunday at Middleranch in Pasadena.

In the varsity division, Harvard-Westlake won the title and Bernard Levin of Harvard was second among individuals.

In the freshman division, La Reina was team champion and Buckley was second, with Smotherman placing first among individuals and Karin Bloom of La Reina in second.

In the novice division, Brianna Tyson won individual honors, leading Harvard-Westlake to a second-place finish.

Boxing

Fernando Vargas of Oxnard will meet Brian Mitchem in the United States Olympic Boxoffs today in Augusta, Ga.

Mitchem, competing in his hometown, is the youngest participant in the boxoffs. He lost early in the Olympic trials two weeks ago in Oakland, then fought his way through the loser’s bracket to qualify for the boxoffs.

Mitchem needs two victories over Vargas to make the U.S. Olympic team at 147 pounds. Vargas, trials champion, needs one.

Baseball

Brothers Joel and Kevin Mellinger have signed letters of intent with Nevada Las Vegas. Both played at Royal High, where Kevin, an outfielder, is a senior. Joel, a shortstop, graduated in 1994 and then played at Moorpark College.

Basketball

Cal State Northridge received a commitment from Maja Muzorovic, a 6-3 forward on the Serbian women’s junior national team, Coach Michael Abraham said.

Contributing: Jeff Fletcher, Mike Hiserman, Michael Lazarus, John Ortega, Bryan Rodgers.