LOCAL NOTES

* Martin Iti ended months of speculation Tuesday by enrolling at Villa Park High, the fifth high school he has attended in less than two years.

Iti, a 6-11 sophomore center, averaged 12 points and 7.6 rebounds last season for Servite.

Villa Park Coach Kevin Reynolds referred inquiries to Athletic Director Frank Becker, who said Iti and Kyle Hogan, a promising 6-0 freshman guard from Servite, showed up together to enroll.

Iti, a native of Colorado, briefly attended two Denver area schools in the fall of 1999 and played in 18 games at Cardinal Gibbons High in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. A knee injury cut short his season in Florida, and he came to California to play for Bob Gottlieb’s Branch West Academy traveling team and to live with an uncle at Hogan’s home in Anaheim Hills.

Iti is expected to face stiff competition for the starting center position at Villa Park, where 6-10 freshman Sean Phaler averaged 9.5 rebounds and was among the county’s best field-goal shooters.

Hogan is expected to fill a void left by junior guard Tony Bryant. Bryant, who transferred to Villa Park from Marina last summer, told Reynolds he would not play for the Spartans next season.

* University of Redlands assistant Ariana Bates has resigned to become girls’ coach at Villa Park, a Redlands spokesman said.

Bates had been the Bulldogs’ graduate assistant coach in charge of recruiting. She graduated from Redlands in 1998, where she was an All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference point guard.

FOOTBALL

Former Brethren Christian Coach Mike Roark has been hired to coach football at Whittier Christian.

He replaces Steve Randall, whose contract was not renewed.

Most recently, Roark had been an assistant football coach at Rowland Heights Rowland High. He compiled a 23-11 record in three seasons at Brethren Christian and led the Warriors to the 1992 Olympic League title and into the semifinals of the Division X playoffs.

Whittier Christian was 2-8 in 1999 and has gone 15-36 overall in the last five seasons.

BASEBALL

Capistrano Valley Christian’s baseball team forfeited six games this month for using an ineligible player, Eagle Athletic Director Keith Patefield said.

The player, a senior, attended Laguna Hills his freshman year before using his one-time eligibility move to transfer to a boarding school. Patefield said school officials only recently became aware that the player’s subsequent transfer to Capistrano Valley Christian made him ineligible.

The Eagles (7-9, 5-1 in the Academy League) forfeited five nonleague games and one league game. They are tied with Downey Calvary Chapel (10-4, 5-1) atop the league standings.