Ishii Isn’t Where the Boys Are

For the first time in 20 years, the top five golfers in the Marmonte League will not advance to the Southern Section tournament.

Not because the Southern Section has changed the league’s allotment of representatives, but because one of the top five is a girl.

Linda Ishii of Westlake High shot a four-round total of 303 in the league championships that concluded Thursday, good enough for fifth place. But because the Southern Section added a separate girls’ tournament this season, she can not qualify for the boys’ tournament.

“It’s ridiculous,” Westlake Coach Dave Costley said. “It’s been boys and girls together for the whole season and now all of a sudden it’s separate? Golf is one of the few sports where everything is equal. If she’s good enough to compete with the boys she should get a chance to showcase it.”

Ishii, the first girl from the area to qualify for the boys’ Southern Section tournament, finished tied for eighth in the girls’ tournament Monday with a three-over-par 75 at Mission Lakes golf course in Palm Springs. That qualified her for the girls’ Southern California Golf Assn. tournament June 6.

The ironic thing about Ishii’s situation is that the Southern Section boys’ individual tournament scores are taken at the same time as the team tournament. The girls play a separate round.

Players who qualify as individuals, but play for teams that do not advance to the Southern Section team tournament are simply added to the group.

But Westlake--one of the top teams in Southern California--is certain to qualify, meaning Ishii will be playing anyway.

The Marmonte League, which has sent its top five golfers to the Southern Section tournament since 1976, will send sixth-place finisher Matt McCrite, also of Westlake, in Ishii’s place.

Golf Notes

Alemany won its first Mission League championship since 1986 with a 193-211 victory over Notre Dame at Porter Valley on Thursday. A loss to the Knights would have dropped the Indians into a tie for the league title, something coach Pat Degnan was glad to avoid. “We needed to win and we did it with style,” he said. On Wednesday the Indians defeated Loyola, 199-201, at Wilshire Country Club to clinch at least a tie for the league title. Alemany, Notre Dame and Loyola advanced to Monday’s Southern Section North Regional playoffs. . . .

Westlake posted the second-best team score in the 20-year history of the Marmonte League team championships with a four-round total of 1,463. The Warriors’ Ross Fulgentis shot a 67 in the second round of the Marmonte championships at Los Robles Golf Club on April 25, breaking the league single-round course record previously held by Simi Valley’s Mark Singer, who shot a 68 in 1982. . . .

Hart golfers captured all four Foothill League slots in the Southern Section Individual tournament. League MVP Carlos Robledo, who received an automatic qualification, was joined by Jason Semelsberger, Charlie Smith and Brandon Wallace. Semelsberger shot an 80 in the first round and was four shots out of the fourth spot, but shot a four-under-par 68 to finish two shots ahead in the league tournament.

Softball Notes

Oak Park Coach Roger Newell feels compassion for batters who must face Eagle ace Kaylene Boldroff (8-5, 0.62 ERA through Monday). “When the umpire gives her those outside corners, she’s tough to beat,” Newell said. “She’s not a Marmonte League-type power pitcher, but she’s got great control.”. . .

Newell said second-string pitcher Tabitha Tata, who had pitched 58 1/3 innings to Boldroff’s 79 at week’s start, is also crucial to the Eagles’ success. Before Boldroff’s arrival at the school, Tata was the No. 1 pitcher as a freshman.

Swimming Notes

Granada Hills swept all 11 events in the East Valley League girls’ championships Monday at Valley College. Natalie and Stephanie Shapiro, and Katherine Nielsen each won two events and were on two winning relay teams. Hadi Jorabchi of Van Nuys won the 100 butterfly, 500 freestyle and swam legs on the 200 medley and freestyle relays. . . .

Senior Gretchen Ballard of Birmingham won the 100 butterfly and 500 freestyle in the West Valley League finals last week at Valley College. Ballard has won five City Section titles the past three years. The City Section preliminaries are Wednesday at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach, with the finals May 15.

Tennis Notes

Quartz Hill has done it again. The Rebels beat Ridgecrest Burroughs, 13-5, Tuesday to capture their sixth consecutive Golden League championship and complete their sixth consecutive undefeated league season. Aaron White finished undefeated in singles. . . . With the Marmonte and Channel leagues stocked with great singles players, Erin Carroll of Ventura was lost in the shuffle. But Carroll emerged last weekend, winning the boys’ 16-and-under division in the Ojai Valley tournament while facing the best competition in Southern California. Carroll, 15, who stands 6 feet 1 1/2, was successful with a new serve-and-volley attack. Coach Nelson Emery credits the player’s growth and maturity. “He’s a lot calmer,” Emery said. “He doesn’t lose his cool. He’s more serious. He’s in better shape.”

Track and Field Notes

Boys: If the results from the Mission League prelims Tuesday are any indication, there should be plenty of fast sprint times today in the league finals at the University of La Verne. Alemany sophomore Miguel Fletcher, the state leader in the 100 (10.47 seconds) and the national leader in the 200 (21.06), posted hand-timed clockings of 10.4 and 21.0 in the prelims and Chris Forde of Notre Dame led qualifying in the 400 with a personal best of 49.4. Forde and teammate Jess Garner ran 22.0 and 21.7, respectively, in the 200. . . .

Newbury Park won the regular-season Marmonte League title with a 7-0 record in triangular and dual meets, but the Panthers have to defeat defending champion Thousand Oaks in the league finals today to win their first outright title. If Thousand Oaks (6-1) wins the league meet and Newbury Park finishes second, the teams would tie for the league title, but if Thousand Oaks wins and Newbury Park finishes third, the Lancers would win outright. . . .

Verdugo Hills defeated Belmont, 79-48, in a Northern Conference meet last Friday to give the Dons (7-0) their first conference or league title since 1962. Vache Hacopian won the long jump (19 feet 10 1/2 inches), triple jump (42-0) and high jump (6-0) as Verdugo Hills outscored Belmont, 43-2, in the field events. . . . When Will Bernaldo of Nordhoff ran a personal best of 4 minutes 22.91 seconds to win the 1,600 meters in the Ventura County championships last Friday. It was the first time that the school had produced a county champion in the same event two consecutive years. Javier Ramirez, a freshman at Cal State Northridge, won the 1,600 in the 1995 county meet.

Girls: Her methods were a little unusual, but freshman Bridget Pearson of Hoover established a region record and state-leading mark of 11 feet 8 inches in the pole vault in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays on April 20. After clearing a disappointing 10 feet to finish second in the girls’ invitational pole vault in the morning, she was allowed to jump into a second flight in the afternoon as a nonscoring competitor. Because she was a nonscoring performer, she was not listed in the results distributed to the media and her mark went unnoticed until last week. . . .

Thousand Oaks shotputter Crystal Crawford has set three school records in the past two weeks. Crawford, who began the season with a personal best of 35-5 3/4, set her first school mark of 36-10 1/2 in a meet against Royal and Simi Valley on April 18. She followed that with efforts of 37-3 1/2 against Agoura on April 23 and 37-4 in the Marmonte League prelims Monday. . . .

It’s not easy getting noticed when you’re a sprinter at the same school as Miguel Fletcher, but Alemany freshman Tiffany Thompson is doing her best. After being hampered by injuries during the first part of the season, Thompson ran 24.9 seconds in the 200 and 58.4 in the 400 in the Mission League prelims Tuesday. She is heavily favored to win the 200 in the league finals at the University of La Verne today. She and Louisville’s Peggy Johnson--personal best of 57.73--should stage an exciting race in the 400. . . .

Tiffany Smith of Taft is another talented freshman who is beginning to hit her stride after being slowed by injuries early in the season. Smith, a teammate of Thompson on the West Valley Eagles youth team last summer, ran 12.5 in the 100 in a meet against El Camino Real last Friday and clocked 25.4 in the 200 and 58.2 in the 400 in the Northwest Valley Conference prelims Thursday.

Wrestling Notes

Senior Anthony Vitale of Alemany and sophomore Cristobal Gonzalez of Ventura each placed third at the California State Freestyle Junior Division tournament April 20-21 at Cypress College. Vitale, a heavyweight, and Gonzalez, who competed at 171 pounds last season, both advanced to the state finals last season but failed to medal.

Vitale and Gonzalez will advance among the top three in each weight class to the National Freestyle Championships July 5 at North Dakota State.

Volleyball Notes

Southern Section: Alemany, Crespi and Notre Dame could finish tied for third place--and the final Division I playoff spot awarded to the Mission League. Who wins the tiebreaker? Nobody really knows. Last season, it would have come down to a coin flip. But Mission League coaches met earlier this season and discussed a series of tiebreakers that would eliminate a coin flip. Nothing was set in stone, however, and the coaches are debating whether there will be a coin flip or a series of tiebreakers. Alemany could end the confusion with a victory against Loyola today, which would give the Indians sole possession of third place.

*

Contributing: Mike Bresnahan, Dana Haddad, Vince Kowalick, Michael Lazarus, John Ortega, Tris Wykes, Peter Yoon.