Mission Viejo Losing Top Performers

Mission Viejo’s powerful combination of senior Mark Gleason and junior Chris Kemp ran their last event for the Diablos during Saturday’s state finals at Cerritos College. Gleason finished fifth in the 1,600 meters. After taking the lead midway through he faded with 100 yards to go. Kemp used a late charge and finished seventh.

“The third lap was about 67 seconds,” Gleason said. “I just got too antsy. I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I just go, ‘This guy’s going to eat me up with his kick, I know it.’ I let it get the best of me. I tried going for a 400 and it caught me with a hundred left.”

Although only a junior, Kemp is returning to his native Australia next month after a year as an exchange student. His presence, along with Gleason’s, was a key in the Diablos’ winning the Orange County championships and Division II section title.

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Speed Castillo is looking for a few good referees.

The county’s liaison for sports officials to the Southern Section said there will be a shortage of football officials this fall unless he can find replacements for several veterans who have retired.

Adding to the problem, Castillo said, is that football referee ranks have been thinning for several years as a result of retirements and poor recruiting efforts.

Football referees go through extensive training and must recertify with at least 18 hours of classwork each season. There are additional seminars and training sessions throughout the year, Castillo said. Referees are also responsible for purchasing their uniforms, shoes and rule books. They make $40 to $50 a game, depending on the level of competition.

For more information, call Castillo at (714) 778-4421.

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When Esperanza met Long Beach Wilson June 2 in a Southern Section Division I baseball semifinal, the teams’ rosters featured 16 players who previously participated in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

None of the six Esperanza underclassmen who played on the 1995 Yorba Hills team that was defeated, 11-3, by Spring, Texas, in the U.S. championship game, got into Tuesday’s game, which was won by the Aztecs, 10-2.

Six starters and 10 players overall for Wilson were members of the 1993 Long Beach Little League team that beat Panama, 3-2, to win its second consecutive World Series title.

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Staff writer Paul McLeod and correspondent Dan Arritt contributed to this report.