Jones, Jacobs Picked as World Beaters

Marion Jones, a 1993 graduate of Thousand Oaks High, and Regina Jacobs, a 1981 graduate of what is now Campbell Hall High, have been picked to finish among the leaders in the World Championships in Athens next month by Track & Field News magazine.

Jones is picked to place second in the women’s 100 meters, fourth in the long jump and first in the 400 relay as a member of the United States team.

Jacobs is tabbed to finish fifth in the 1,500. She was 10th in that event in last year’s Olympic Games.

Women’s day: Bridgett “Baby Doll” Riley of Tarzana and Fredia “The Cheetah” Gibbs of Studio City will participate in the second all-female boxing card on pay-per-view TV on Aug. 2 in Biloxi, Miss.

Riley (2-1 with one knockout) will fight Shirley Prescott in an eight-round bantamweight bout. Gibbs (2-0) will face Anneliese Kolan in a six-round welterweight bout. The fights are part of an eight-bout program that will include four title fights.

Optimistic: Brandon Christianson of Valencia shot a one-over-par 73 Thursday to finish with a four-stroke victory over Tyler Miskell of Heath, Ohio, in the 10-11 age group of the Wittnauer Optimist International Junior Golf Championships at the PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Career move: Cal State Northridge third baseman John Wilson, who redshirted last season, accepted a scholarship to Kentucky on Thursday.

Wilson, who attended L.A. Baptist High, decided to leave Northridge even though it appears the program will be reinstated for one year.

“Kentucky is more secure and stable,” Wilson said. “[Northridge Coach Mike] Batesole did his best, and he’s a great coach, but with so much uncertainty this is the best choice for me.”

Splashdown: Eleven-year-old Josh Joffred of the Dive Thousand Oaks team finished fourth in boys’ 13-and-under platform competition and was seventh in the boys’ 13-and-under one-meter springboard competition and the boys’ 13-and-under three-meter springboard in the Region 9 Junior Olympic Diving Championships last week in Tempe, Ariz.

Reassigned: Baltimore Orioles’ catcher Tim Laker, a former player at Simi Valley High and Oxnard College, as been assigned to the team’s International League affiliate in Rochester, N.Y.

Matt Whisenant, a former pitcher for Glendale High, has been designated for assignment by the Florida Marlins.