Esmero Reaches Sectional Tennis Final

Melissa Esmero of Huntington Beach advanced to today’s final of the girls’ 16s at the Southern California Junior Sectionals at Los Caballeros Sports Club in Fountain Valley.

Esmero, seeded third, defeated top-seeded Luana Magnani of Pasadena, 6-4, 6-4, in the semifinal. Esmero will face La Mesa’s Amber Liu, seeded second, in today’s final.

The rest of the county’s players did not fare as well. Top-seeded Chase Exon of Irvine lost to seventh-seeded Sean O’Connor of Sylmar, 7-6, 6-4, in the semifinals of the boys’ 18s.

In the boys’ 10s final, Laguna Niguel’s Shan Sondhu lost to Del Mar’s Steve Forman, 7-5, 6-2. In the girls’ 10s final, Lorren Butterwick of Laguna Beach lost to Woodland Hills’ Kristen McVitty, 6-2, 6-2.

Tracy Lin of Anaheim lost to Erica Sauer of Somis, 6-1, 6-1, in the girls’ 12s semifinals. Ashley Maddock lost to Gardena’s Dianne Matias, 6-1, 6-0, in the girls’ 14s.

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Jeanette Antolin, a gymnast from Marina High, won the all-around title Saturday at the International Como-Cup in Milan, Italy.

Antolin won the balance beam and vault, was third on the bars and fifth in the floor exercise.

Antolin teamed with SCATS (a Huntington Beach-based club) teammates Cassie Alvarado and Tonya Allen to lead the U.S. team to a fourth-place finish. Slovakia was first, followed by Russia in second and France third.

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The U.S. national women’s team beat Germany, 9-2, to advance to the final of the Yugoslavia Women’s Invitational water polo tournament today in Pacevo, Yugoslavia.

The U.S. team will face Hungary, a 9-5 winner over host Yugoslavia in the other semifinal, in the championship.

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Tara Dakides of Laguna Niguel finished fifth in the women’s snowboarding big air event at the X Games in San Diego. Janet Mathews from Kirkland, Wash., won the event.

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Rob Wigod, an assistant baseball coach the last 14 years at Lakewood High, has been named varsity baseball coach at Los Alamitos, Assistant Principal Jerry Halpin said.

Wigod, 39, will replace John Bryant, who left to become an assistant coach at Santa Ana College.

Wigod, the boys’ athletic director at Lakewood the last six years, is a graduate of Long Beach Wilson and UCLA. He will also teach government and physical education at Los Alamitos.

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Kurt Lundberg has been hired as boys’ soccer coach and Lee Heigl as wrestling coach at Newport Harbor High, vice-principal Lee Gaeta announced.

In another move, Jim Warren, who coaches the boys’ golf team in the spring will also coach the girls’ golf team, which begins play this fall.

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Ron Vander Sluis, football coach at Ocean View High School, has been hired as the head football coach at Rowland Heights Rowland. Vander Sluis had a 3-17 record in two seasons at Ocean View.

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Frank Rizzo has been named softball coach at Concordia, Athletic Director Curt Cattau announced. Rizzo replaces Alan Estoesta, who resigned after guiding the injury-prone Eagles to a 13-31-1 record this past season.

Rizzo, 41, has been assistant softball coach at San Clemente High since 1994. He played baseball at San Clemente and Saddleback College. His assistant coach will be Bud Clark of San Clemente.

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Taz Murtaugh, Saddleback College’s sprints and relays coach, will take over the men’s and women’s track and field teams next season.

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Bo Bryant, an outfielder from Fullerton College, has signed with Arkansas, Coach Nick Fuscardo said.

Bryant, a two-time all Orange Empire Conference player, hit 12 home runs and had 36 doubles last season.

Orange Coast second baseman Yoshi Ehinger has signed to play at Gonzaga, Pirate Coach John Altobelli said.

Ehinger, a Beaverton (Ore.) High graduate, transferred to Orange Coast from Oregon State. He batted .311 and finished among team leaders in runs (34), hits (50) and doubles (11).