Conference Honors Clever, Cunerty

Santiago Canyon’s Rob Clever was named Orange Empire Conference golfer of the year and Saddleback’s Bill Cunerty earned coach of the year honors.

Also making the all-conference team: Gordon Fraser, Vinnie Poncino and Kevin Olson (Saddleback); Gil Calas and Shayne Lewis (Cypress) and Brian Winston (Orange Coast).

Saddleback, Orange Coast, Santiago Canyon and Palomar play in the Southern California Regional team and individual championships at 7:30 a.m. Monday at Rio Bravo in Bakersfield.

SPEEDWAY MOTORCYCLES

Chris Manchester of Reno won the four-lap scratch main event Saturday night in the weekly speedway motorcycle racing program at the Orange County Fairgrounds. Shawn McConnell of Brea was second and Randy DiFrancesco of Bakersfield was third.

Ryan Fisher of Norco won the eight-lap handicap main and DiFrancesco was second.

SOFTBALL

Santa Ana’s Marie Caballero was named the Southern California community college player of the year by the region’s coaches.

Caballero, a freshman utility player from Downey High, batted .496, .500 in the Orange Empire Conference. She was 6-1 with a 0.11 earned-run average in conference.

Other local players on the All-Southern California team were: utility players Sharmaine Kendrick and Inez Vasquez and shortstop Ana Velazquez (Santa Ana), and pitcher Colleen Burdick (Fullerton).

FOOTBALL

Servite’s Joe Cicero, who plays running back and linebacker, has been added to the North roster for the July 13 Orange County North-South prep all-star game at Orange Coast College.

BASKETBALL

Kristin Lynch, a point guard at Santa Margarita, has committed to Princeton, according to Eagle Coach Richard Schaaf.

VOLLEYBALL

Junior middle blocker Erick Helenihi has been named second-team All-America by the American Volleyball Coaches Assn.

Helenihi, formerly of Villa Park High, led the Anteaters with an average of 3.84 kills a game.

* Steve Taylor resigned after four seasons as girls’ volleyball coach at Los Alamitos to concentrate on full-time employment opportunities, said Donna Bohannon, the girls’ athletic director.

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