State Council to Consider Bowls and Invitationals

The CIF State Federated Council, comprised of officials from the state’s 10 sections, will convene today and Saturday to discuss and consider existing bylaws and to vote on--among other things--the initiation of football bowl games, officials for regional and state basketball playoffs and a proposed soccer invitational.

Votes from the Southern and City sections are as different as the schools they represent.

The Southern Section, the largest of the 10 sections which accounts for 26 of 104 state votes, is voting no to football bowl games and a soccer invitational, and yes to three-man crews for regional and state final basketball playoffs.

The City, which has nine of 104 votes, will vote exactly the opposite of the Southern Section: yes on bowl games and a soccer invitational and no on three-man crews for basketball playoffs.

GIRLS’ SOCCER

Question to be answered: Thousand Oaks Athletic Director Jim O’Brien said Thursday that he expects to know within a week whether girls’ soccer standout Nikki Zar will be eligible for varsity competition.

Zar, a junior defender, recently transferred from Chaminade, where she helped the Eagles win the Southern Section Division III title in March. She attended Thousand Oaks as a freshman.

O’Brien said he needed to gather information on Zar’s residence and grades from her sophomore year and to talk with Chaminade officials to determine her eligibility.

Tony Zar, Nikki’s father, said Thursday that his daughter will play with the Lancer varsity if she is eligible and that she left Chaminade because of “people problems.”

“The administrators and teachers were great but there was some peer pressure that sent her right to the edge,” Tony Zar said.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Finishing the season: Cal Lutheran, which already has wrapped up its seventh consecutive SCIAC women’s soccer title, plays its regular-season finale against Pomona-Pitzer at 11 a.m. Saturday at Cal Lutheran as part of a doubleheader with the men’s team.

Ranked 12th in the Division III poll, the Regals (14-4, 12-0), hope to claim one of two playoff berths to be awarded Sunday to teams in the west region.

In the past, just one postseason berth was assured in the west region.