Ponciano Planning to Apply at Hancock

Ron Ponciano, who was fired last week as football coach at Cal State Northridge, said he will apply for the vacant athletic director position at Hancock College in Santa Maria.

The job at Hancock became open when John Osborne retired after the last school year.

Ponciano was fired as a result of an internal investigation of alleged NCAA rules violations.

He has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and refused a $43,000 buyout from the school.

Ponciano, 40, coached the Matadors one season.

Northridge is expected to release a report of the inquiry next week.

TENNIS

* Fourth-seeded Prakash Amritraj of Encino and K.C. Corkery of Manhattan Beach advanced to the doubles championship of the boys’ 16 U.S. National Clay Court Championships with a victory in the semifinals Friday at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md.

Amritraj and Corkery defeated sixth-seeded Jeff Kazarian of Rolling Hills and Rylan Rizza of Rancho Palos Verdes, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4).

Third-seeded Rajeev Ram of Carmel, Ind., and Jonathan Stokke of Chapel Hill, N.C., defeated Stephen Amritraj of Calabasas and Sam Warburg of Sacramento, 6-4, 6-1, in the other semifinal.

Kazarian defeated Prakash Amritraj in the singles quarterfinals, 6-4, 6-3.

Fifth-seeded Travis Rettenmaier of Camarillo and Robby Ginepri of Marietta, Ga., reached the semifinals of the boys’ 18s with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Aleksey Bubis of Palm Harbor, Fla., and Brandon Wagner of Tampa, Fla., at Louisville Country Club.

Top-seeded Erica Sauer of Somis and Riza Zalameda of Los Angeles downed ninth-seeded Caitlin Collins of Lawrence, Kan., and Laura McGaffigan of Davenport, Iowa, 7-5, 6-2, in the girls’ 14s quarterfinals at Plantation, Fla.

Second-seeded Alexandria Liles of Largo, Fla., and Anne Yelsey of Corona del Mar defeated Nina Yaftali of Westlake Village and Robyn Baker of Palm Desert, 6-4, 6-0.

GOLF

* Mark Modglin of Simi Valley and Nathan Dahl of Ventura shot three-over-par 74s on Thursday to share the boys’ 15-17 title in a Ventura County Junior Golf Assn. event at Sunset Hills Golf Course in Thousand Oaks.

Mike Bensley of Ojai finished at 75 to win the boys’ 13-14 division, followed by Kyle Thurston of Moorpark and Ramie Sprinkling of Camarillo at 78.

Charlene Alfonso of Agoura won the girls’ title at 86, followed by Susanne Dunwell of Oak Park at 93.

* Jeremy Bovill of Agoura Hills shot four-over-par 76 to win the boys’ 12-13 division of at junior tournament Thursday at Camarillo Springs Golf Course.

Nick Geyer of Agoura Hills took the boys’ 11-and-under title at 36 for nine holes.

* Jeff Sanday, who played at Cal State Northridge, is tied for the lead after two rounds of the Long Beach Open at Recreation Park and El Dorado Park golf courses.

Sanday, who lives in South Pasadena, is at 66-66--132, tied with Jeff Freeman of Palm Desert, who is at 64-68--132, and Chris Trevino of Chula Vista, who is at 67-65--132.

Scott Bashin of Northridge finished in a tie for 20th place at 75-77-69-76--297 on Friday in the boys’ 15-17 division in the Junior World Championships on the South Course at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla.

Hana and Ina Kim of Encino and Saki Uechi of Panorama finished in a tie for 21st in the girls’ 15-17 division on the North Course.

Hana Kim shot 74-81-78-76--309, Ina Kim totaled 76-77-79-77--309 and Uechi was at 83-74-77-75--309.