Davis Replaces Whitacre as Villa Park Girls’ Basketball Coach

Joni Davis has been hired as girls’ basketball coach at Villa Park High, girls’ Athletic Director Sue Gardiner announced Wednesday.

Davis is a graduate of Missouri, where she played basketball and was named Big Eight Conference athlete of the year in 1987. She currently is a personal fitness trainer at the Spectrum Health Club in Fullerton.

Davis replaces Len Whitacre, who led the Spartans to three Century League titles in three seasons. Whitacre, a walk-on coach who had a record of 54-17, moved to Carlsbad during the summer and was told last month by Principal Fran Roney that his position was being opened.

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It will be a busy day of appeals for the Southern Section’s Executive Council when it meets next Wednesday at the Sequoia Athletic Club in Buena Park.

Section Commissioner Dean Crowley said Wednesday he received appeals from three schools in the Catholic Athletic Assn., which had voted Oct. 21 on new league alignments that would begin in the fall of 1999.

Santa Fe Springs St. Paul and Mission Hills Alemany appealed placement in the Del Rey League for football, and Gardena Serra appealed placement in the Mission League for all sports except boys’ basketball and football.

Also expected to appeal is Esperanza, which was left in the Sunset League when Orange County principals voted Oct. 8 on league alignments. Esperanza likely will appeal on the grounds of geography and enrollment--an appeal it made successfully last January.

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Ten softball players from the county have been invited to participate in a selection camp for the 1999 USA Junior Girls National Team that will defend the ISF Junior Girls World Championships this summer in Taipei, Taiwan.

Of the 40 players invited, 17 will be selected to the national team.

The county’s representatives: Toria Auelua (Pacifica), Tia Bollinger (Mater Dei High), Jaime Clark (Foothill), Kristin Farber (Los Alamitos), Lovianne Jung (Fountain Valley), Sara Kahler (Los Alamitos), Kelsey Kollen (Mater Dei), Jenny Topping (La Habra), Robin Walker (Mater Dei) and Natasha Watley (Woodbridge).