Pomerantz No Longer in Baseball

Mark Pomerantz, the Van Nuys High football and baseball coach, said he will step down from his baseball duties after one disappointing season.

Pomerantz guided Van Nuys to a 2-23 overall record and 1-15 in the Valley Pac-8 Conference.

“[Coaching baseball] is taking too much time away from the football program,” Pomerantz said.

Football

Fillmore High has hired veteran NCAA Division I assistant Norm Andersen as its head coach.

Andersen, 43, graduated from UCLA in 1976 after earning Pac-8 Conference honors as a wide receiver. He coached at UCLA, Iowa State and Arizona and returned to UCLA for a second term last season as receivers coach. Andersen replaces John Wilber, who resigned last winter.

Track and Field

The Cal State Northridge men’s and women’s teams will begin defense of their titles today when they host the second--and last--American West Conference championships.

Northridge, Cal State Sacramento, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Southern Utah have made up the AWC for the past two years, but the conference will fold in the fall when Northridge and Sacramento move to the Big Sky Conference and San Luis Obispo heads to the Big West.

Hurdler Marquis Jones, thrower Beth Burton and sprinter Zarinah Tillman are expected to be among Northridge’s top performers in the four-day meet that begins at 10 this morning with the first day of the men’s decathlon and the women’s heptathlon.

Volleyball

Notre Dame High’s Bro Richmond has accepted a partial scholarship to Cal State Northridge.

Soccer

Grant Sawyer will not return as boys’ coach at Chaminade High, athletic director Ed Croson said. The Eagles were 7-16-2 and finished last in the Mission League in Sawyer’s only season. Coach Cristo Kosmidis has been promoted from the junior varsity to the varsity. Kosmidis guided the Eagles to their only league victory while Sawyer served a suspension.

St. Bonaventure High boys’ Coach David Bierly, whose two-year record with the Seraphs is 6-33-2, said he has asked the school to replace him before the start of next season.

Westlake High midfielder Stacia Spangler has signed with Pepperdine and teammate Danica Liberman, a defender, has committed to Yale. Both players were first-team All-Marmonte League selections last season.

Kim Pickup of Chatsworth High scored the winning goal in overtime as the Las Virgenes Blazers, an under-18 club team, defeated the San Diego Surf, 2-1, last weekend in the Southern California final of the National Cup tournament.

The Blazers will compete in the Far West regional June 17-22 in Redmond, Wash. If they win the regional, they will travel to Indianapolis to compete in the National Cup finals July 25-28.

Contributing: Mike Bresnahan, John Ortega, Tris Wykes.