Hogarth in Match Play Field but Wright Bows Out

Defending champion Tim Hogarth of Chatsworth advanced to the 64-player field for match play in the U.S. Public Links Championship by shooting even-par 72 in Tuesday’s second round for a 145 total at Kearney Hill golf course in Lexington, Ky.

Hogarth finished 11 strokes behind medalist Trip Kuehne of Dallas. Kuehne was runner-up to Tiger Woods in the 1994 U.S. Amateur championship.

Chad Wright of Ventura, who was five shots out of the lead after a first-round 70, did not make the cut after shooting 82 in the second round.

Walk-on walks off: Desmond Willows, boys’ soccer coach at Chatsworth the past four seasons, has resigned.

Willows, a walk-on coach, guided the Chancellors to four postseason appearances and three league titles. Chatsworth advanced to the City Section quarterfinals in 1996.

Willows, 32, a 1983 Chatsworth graduate, said he stepped down after school officials would not approve funds to support a boys’ junior varsity and because of differences with Elizabeth Ramos, the team’s coach of record and a credentialed Chatsworth staff member.

Cota won’t return: Henry Cota, girls’ soccer coach at Louisville High the past three seasons, will not return after coming to a “mutual agreement” with school officials.

“I’m kind of bitter about [leaving],” Cota said. “I did all the work for this year’s [Louisville] summer [soccer] camp and they didn’t tell me I wasn’t coming back until after the preparations were complete.”

Cota said his replacement is Jose Perez, a Royal assistant who was hired without Cota’s input before last season.

Signing on: Jose Miranda, who batted .407 with 25 home runs and 90 runs batted in for Cal State Northridge last season, has signed with Sioux City, Iowa of the independent Class-A Northern League.

On the run: Will Bernaldo, Cal State Northridge’s No. 2 runner in the 1996 Big Sky Conference cross-country championships, has transferred to UCLA.

Bernaldo was runner-up in the 3,200 meters in the 1996 state track and field championships for Nordhoff High and a finalist in the 1995 national cross-country championships, but he didn’t perform as well as expected during his freshman year at Northridge because of injuries and illness.

Mason Moore, a former teammate of Bernaldo’s at Nordhoff, will join him at UCLA after spending his freshman year at UC Davis.

Nice catch: Brian Comer, a wide receiver at Chatsworth High and Valley College, is transferring from California to Northridge, Matador assistant Jeff Kearin said.

Comer played at Valley in 1993-94 and holds the school career record with 139 receptions. He was a redshirt at Cal in 1995 and played sparingly last season.

Jumping ship: Brandon Stewart, who finished fourth in the boys’ long jump for Taft High in the City Section track and field championships in May, has transferred to Harvard-Westlake.

Stewart, 1996 City frosh-soph champion in the long jump as a freshman, has a best of 22-4 and spanned a wind-aided 23-11 in the City preliminaries this year.

Happy camper: Elaine Canchola of Nordhoff High, who won the girls’ 1,600 and 3,200 meters in the Southern Section Division III track and field championships in May, will take part in an elite junior (age 19 and under) distance running camp at the Olympic Development Center in San Diego from July 20-25.

Canchola, who set school records of 4:55.07 in the 1,600 and 10:45.84 in the 3,200 this year, is one of 20 girls invited.

Second effort: Steve Page has been hired as St. Genevieve High football coach. Page has served as a varsity assistant and junior varsity coach at Notre Dame High. He replaces James Sims, who left the school in June after one month on the job to become coach at Bishop Montgomery.