Irvine’s Newland Named Coach of Year

UC Irvine’s Ted Newland and UCLA’s Sean Kern were named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s water polo coach and player of the year.

Newland led the Anteaters to a 20-7 record. He has a record of 663-288-5 in 35 seasons at Irvine.

Kern, a senior, had 29 goals in 15 games for the Bruins, who won the conference tournament.

Irvine’s Dan Klatt, Jeff Powers and Dan Hipp were named to the first team.

FOOTBALL

Mater Dei quarterback Matt Leinart said he will probably visit Oklahoma next month but will wait and see who USC brings in to replace Coach Paul Hackett before deciding whether to honor his commitment to the Trojans.

“I think I’m going to take a trip out there [to Oklahoma],” Leinart said, “but right now I’m committed to USC.”

Leinart, who threw for 2,642 yards and 24 touchdowns this season, said he also might visit Georgia Tech.

USC’s other two high-profile Orange County recruits, Edison running back Darryl Poston and Mission Viejo quarterback Billy Hart, said they still intend to play for the Trojans.

The Southern Section Division VI football semifinal between Tustin and Irvine will be broadcast in South Orange County on Cox Cable channel 3. It will air at 11 p.m. Friday, and Saturday at 1 p.m. and 8 p.m.

VOLLEYBALL

Former Foothill High middle blocker Danielle Bauer of UC Santa Barbara and former Laguna Hills High middle blocker Tayyiba Haneef of Long Beach State have been named first team All-Big West Conference in women’s volleyball.

Bauer, a 5-11 sophomore, moved to outside hitter and was the center of the offensive attack for the second-place Gauchos (23-7 overall), who host Texas San Antonio (24-8) Thursday in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

Haneef, a 6-7 junior who has also moved to the outside, repeated on the first team. She has a .372 hitting percentage and takes a streak of 10 straight matches with at least 10 kills into Thursday’s NCAA opener at San Jose State (22-9). Long Beach is 22-7.

Three former county high school standouts were named to the second team. Former La Habra middle blocker Worthy Lien, a sophomore at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (16-11), helped the Mustangs to their second consecutive NCAA berth. They play Friday in Los Angeles against South Florida (28-5). UC Irvine sophomore opposite/setter Chanda McLeod, a two-time all-county choice from Marina, recorded two triple doubles and was among the conference leaders in aces. Cal State Fullerton outside hitter Megan Sabo, a junior from Mater Dei, averaged 4.04 kills a game and totaled 29 service aces on the season.

Irvine’s 5-7 freshman outside hitter Brenda Waterman, formerly of Newport Harbor, was chosen to the Big West all-freshman team. Her team-leading 351 digs ranked sixth in the Big West.

MOTORSPORTS

Townsend Bell of Costa Mesa, who had hoped his second-place finish in the Dayton Indy Lights open wheel series would propel him to a ride in the CART FedEx Championship Series, will instead return to Bakersfield-based Dorricott Racing for the 2001 season. Bell, the series rookie of the year, is the only returning driver to the three-car team.