Michel Enrolls at Mater Dei

Shaun Michel, a 6-foot-2 point guard who played basketball the last three seasons at Simi Valley High, has enrolled at Santa Ana Mater Dei and begun playing for the Monarchs during summer competitions.

Whether Michel ends up attending Mater Dei for his senior year remains uncertain. Mater Dei received another transfer, Trevante Nelson, a sophomore from Fontana who plays the same position as Michel. Returning for the Monarchs is the state’s top guard, Cedric Bozeman.

Coach Gary McKnight of Mater Dei said he hasn’t been able to fully assess Michel’s skills.

“I haven’t seen enough of him to tell you,” McKnight said. “But just watching him in practice, he’s a strong kid, a thick kid. He’s not a teeny, little guard. He can play three or four positions.”

Michel averaged 7.3 points and 8.5 assists last season for Simi Valley before he quit the team with one game to play in the regular season. He had season-long disagreements with Coach Christian Aurand.

McKnight knows far more about Nelson, who played with Mater Dei last summer before enrolling at Fontana.

* Will Sheslow, a two-year starting guard at Montclair Prep, has transferred to Chaminade.

Sheslow, who will be a junior, averaged 10.9 points and 6.0 assists last season for the Mounties. He is an excellent outside shooter. The Eagles struggled at times last season looking for someone to take the pressure off 6-9 center Scott Borchart.

Sheslow applied to attend Chaminade as a freshman but was turned down. Principal Gary Murphy, who announced last year the school would no longer accept transfers based on athletic reasons, said Sheslow was admitted because of improved academic performance in his two years at Montclair Prep.

* Eddie Gutierrez, junior varsity coach at Moorpark High the last 11 years, has been selected to replace Larry Wiksell as varsity coach at Royal.

* The Simi Valley boys’ team won the Ventura County Coaches Assn. tournament championship last week, defeating Newbury Park in the championship game.

* Brandie Murrish, a former assistant and player at Cal Lutheran, has been named girls’ coach at Alemany.

She takes over for Melissa Hearlihy, who guided the Indians to 350 victories in 16 seasons before going to Mission League-rival Harvard-Westlake after last season.

* The Dana Pump Basketball Day Camp for boys and girls ages 7-16 will hold sessions July 31-Aug. 4 and Aug. 7-11 at Birmingham High. There will also be a session Aug. 28-Sept. 1 at Balboa Park. Cost is $200. Information: (800) 678-0935.

BASEBALL

* Coach Mike Batesole of Cal State Northridge is a candidate for the vacant coaching job at UC Irvine, scheduled to bring back baseball in 2002.

Batesole, 36, led Northridge to a 52-18 record in his first season in 1996. But he has spent much of the last two years rebuilding the program after it was dropped, then reinstated, in 1997.

Batesole was interviewed by the search committee at Irvine on Tuesday but said the inquiry was not a reflection of displeasure with Northridge.

“We’ve finally got things turned around and going in the right direction,” Batesole said. “I’m looking forward to next season.”

* Lance Pierson has resigned as coach at Palmdale. Pierson guided the Falcons to two Golden League championships in three years.

* Allen Adams, an assistant coach at Antelope Valley College, has been named coach at Paraclete, his alma mater.

FOOTBALL

* Ontae Chaney of Cleveland High, a standout wide receiver in football and 800-meter runner in track, will attend College of the Canyons.

Chaney, who had 35 receptions for 708 yards and seven touchdowns last season, had accepted a scholarship to play for San Jose State, but failed to meet NCAA’s Proposition 48 requirements to be eligible as a freshman.

Chaney ran a career best of 1:55.15 to finish second in the 800 in the City Section championships last month.

TRACK AND FIELD

* Gina Londono of Highland High, the fourth-place finisher in the girls’ 100-meter high hurdles in the Southern Section Division I final and Masters Meet, has committed to Long Beach State.

Londono has a career best of 14.60 in the high hurdles.

* Paige Osborn of Ventura High, who finished third in the girls’ 3,200 meters in the Southern Section Division II final, has committed to Cal State Chico.

Osborn began the season with a career best of 12:38 in the 3,200, but clocked 11:03.48 to finish seventh in the Masters Meet.

* Senior Jessica Cosby of Cleveland High and freshman Allyson Felix and sophomore Erik Amdisen of L.A. Baptist will compete in the USA Track & Field junior championships, which start today at the University of North Texas.

Cosby, runner-up in the girls’ shotput in the state championships on June 3, will compete today.

Felix, seventh in the 200 in the state meet, will run in that event on Saturday with Amdisen entered in the 3,000 steeplechase.

The top two finishers in each event will qualify for the U.S team that will compete in the world junior championships in Santiago, Chile, on Oct. 17-22.

TENNIS

* David Prinosil of Germany rallied to defeat Rio Mesa High graduate Bob Bryan, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1, in the final round of qualifying Thursday for the Wimbledon Championships that begin Monday at the All-England Club.

Bryan, ranked No. 164 in the world, is trying to earn one of 16 qualifiers’ spots. He defeated American Michael Sell, 6-4, 6-7, 6-2, and Alejandro Hernandez of Mexico, 6-3, 6-4, in the first two rounds.

ATHLETICS

* A proposed state law that would direct universities and community colleges to provide one-year notification to athletes if they drop a sports team has passed the state Assembly Committee on Higher Education by a vote of 8-1.

Senate Bill 338, sponsored by State Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), now goes to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

In an attempt to increase support for the bill, compromise wording was inserted deleting a mandatory one-year notification to athletes when a school decides to drop a sports team. Instead, the bill strongly urges and requests schools to provide notification.

The California State University system opposes the bill, according to LeeAngela Reid, a legislative assistant to Wright.

MOTORSPORTS

* Bryan Herta of Valencia will replace injured Tony Kanaan in the CART series for two races, starting with the Freightliner G.I. Joe’s 200 Presented by Texaco at Portland International Raceway on Sunday.

Herta will drive a Reynard-Mercedes owned by Mo Nunn, who was the chief engineer for Target/Chip Ganassi Racing for several years before starting his own team this year. Herta, who drove for Ganassi in 1995, will also replace Kanaan in the Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland on July 2.

Kanaan sustained a broken left forearm and four cracked ribs in a crash Saturday attempting to qualify for the Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix in Detroit, and will be sidelined between four and six weeks. He could return in the Molson Indy Toronto July 16, and is expected to be recovered in time to defend his U.S. 500 championship July 23 at Michigan International Speedway.

This is the second time Herta has agreed to fill in for an injured driver for two races. He finished fifth in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and 20th at the Rio 200 replacing Shinji Nakano in the Walker Racing Reynard-Honda.