Orange County Athletes Get Big West Academic Honors

The Big West Conference announced Wednesday its all-academic team for the fall sports of football, men’s and women’s cross-country, women’s volleyball and women’s soccer. To be eligible, student-athletes have to maintain a 3.2 cumulative grade-point average, have attained sophomore standing and competed in at least 50% of their team’s contests.

County athletes named to the all-academic team:

Women’s cross-country--Theresa Santana, Sr., Cal State Fullerton; Michele Greening, Sr., Long Beach State; Karin Schick, Sr., UC Irvine; Christy Beckman, So., UCI; Laura Monson, Sr., UCI; Kay Nekota, Jr., UCI; Kelly Hughes, So., UCI.

Men’s cross-country--Brad Balaban, So., Long Beach; Pat Bendzick, Jr., Long Beach; Shahrdad Lotfipour, So., UCI.

Women’s volleyball--Heather Lee, Sr., Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (hometown: Costa Mesa); Colleen Moro, Sr., San Luis Obispo (hometown: Fountain Valley); Melissa Blackler, Jr., Fullerton; Stephanie Streeks, Sr., Long Beach; Jennifer Dunn, Sr., UCI; Sarah Libecap, So., UCI; Tara Pollack, So., Nevada (hometown: Laguna Niguel).

Women’s soccer--Kori Zimmerman, So., UCI; Kim Thompson, Jr., Pacific (hometown: Mission Viejo).

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Loara High has hired Scott Weber to coach softball, Assistant Athletic Director John Selbe said Wednesday. Weber previously coached at Fullerton High and won a Southern Section Division II championship there in 1994. He replaces Bob Watson.

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The Southern Section Division I prep football championship game Dec. 13 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum will be televised by KCOP-TV Channel 13 for the fourth consecutive year.

The game, which has a 7:40 p.m. kickoff, matches up the winners of this weekend’s semifinals. Long Beach Poly (9-3) meets Mater Dei (12-0) Friday at Santa Ana Stadium, and L.A. Loyola (11-1) plays at Fontana (11-0-1) Saturday.