Quance Regains Spot in 400

Kristine Quance of Northridge, who led USC to the NCAA women’s swimming title earlier this year, won the 400-meter individual medley in the Phillips 66 U.S. National Championships in Nashville on Saturday.

The victory qualified Quance, a graduate of Granada Hills High, for the United States team that will compete in the World Championships at Perth, Australia, early next year.

Quance’s time of 4:39.67 at Tracy Caulkins Pool was a world trials meet record.

It gave her a 1.13-second margin of victory over runner-up Maddy Crippen of Philadelphia and came in the event from which Quance was disqualified in last year’s Olympic trials when she was clearly the best American swimmer in the event.

Jennifer Parmenter of Granada Hills, who won three national titles last spring, finished fourth in 4:47.42.

Quance is expected to compete in seven events in the meet, which ends Aug. 1.

Parmenter, 16, has entered five events.

VOLLEYBALL

Jeff Campbell has been named men’s volleyball coach at the Cal State Northridge, with one catch--if there’s a team next year.

Campbell, a seven-year assistant and former player for the Matadors, was named interim coach by Athletic Director Paul Bubb.

Men’s volleyball was eliminated with three other sports June 11 for budget and gender-equity reasons, but a decision next week on a $586,000 loan request by Northridge could resurrect baseball and men’s volleyball for one year.

Campbell, 31, replaces 12-year Coach John Price, who accepted the women’s volleyball coaching position at Cal State Bakersfield on Friday.

“I’m fairly confident, if I was betting on it, there will be a program,” said Campbell, who played volleyball and basketball for Chatsworth High.

The Matadors’ lineup remains relatively intact.

Starting setter Dan Fisher accepted a scholarship to Pacific and freshman Andy Rivera opted for UC Santa Barbara but Campbell said there might not be more transfers.

Two-time All-American Chad Strickland, who is considering scholarship offers from Hawaii and Stanford, was upset with the departure of Price but concurs with the hiring of Campbell.

“He’s a great coach and he’s played at this level,” said Strickland, who will be a senior. “[Stanford or Hawaii] would have to come up with something big to get me there.”

BOXING

Hector Lopez of Palmdale easily defeated Mark Lewis of Mira Loma to retain his North American Boxing Organization junior welterweight title at the Tropicana Resort in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

Lopez, the 1984 Olympic silver medalist for Mexico as a bantamweight and a graduate of Hoover High, dominated Lewis in his first title defense, winning by scores of 119-107, on each of the three judges’ score cards.

“I give the kid a lot of credit,” Lopez said of Lewis. “He had heart.”

The victory was the eighth in the last nine fights for Lopez (36-6-1 with 17 knockouts), who knocked down Lewis twice in the 11th round, but appeared to take it easy on him in the 12th round by dancing around the ring and throwing very few punches.

“Basically he was looking for a door [to escape], but there’s no door in a boxing ring,” Lopez said of the 11th round.

Lopez’s only loss in his last nine fights came in a disputed 10-round decision to former WBO 140-pound champion Carlos Gonzalez in March at the Forum.

Lewis, 28, dropped to 15-3 with the defeat.

He entered the fight with 12 knockouts, but he never came close to knocking out Lopez.

BASKETBALL

Michelle Greco scored 19 points to lead Crescenta Valley High to a 49-38 victory over Morningside in a quarterfinal game of the Bell-Jeff girls’ summer tournament on Saturday afternoon in Burbank.

Crescenta Valley, runner-up to Buena in the last season’s Southern Section Division I-A playoffs, will play Ayala, a 48-22 victor over Alemany, in a semifinal game at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

Simi Valley will play Palisades in the other semifinal at 8:40.

The Pioneers defeated Pacifica, 50-30, and Palisades trounced Canyon, 44-16, in other quarterfinal games Saturday.

In consolation bracket games Saturday, Moorpark defeated Valencia, 37-27, Bell-Jeff beat Eagle Rock, 31-27, Bell Gardens downed Rio Mesa, 46-37, and Fontana routed Oxnard, 58-22.