Village Christian Earns Top Spot

Village Christian High, the only boys’ volleyball team from the region to earn a top-four seeding for the Southern Section playoffs, is seeded No. 1 in Division IV.

It is the first time the Crusaders have earned the top seeding.

First-round matches in the five divisions begin Friday, though the Crusaders (24-2) have a bye and host the winner of Bosco Tech-Bolsa Grande next Tuesday.

Royal (23-4) has a first-round bye in Division II and hosts the winner of Canyon-Palmdale next Tuesday.

In Division I, Highland (24-6) hosts Downey and Valencia (26-4) hosts Peninsula, setting up a potential second-round match between the area schools.

Football

* Bob Mesa, co-coach at Poly, has been hired to replace Mark Pomerantz at Van Nuys High. Mesa played and coached at Poly for more than 20 years.

Golf

* Brad Uptgraft of College of the Canyons shot a 73-73--146 and Charlie Smith had a 76-74--150 to pace the Cougars to a second-place finish in the Southern California Junior College championships at Rio Bravo Country Club in Bakersfield.

Canyons, defending state champion, shot a 35-over-par 755 to finish 17 strokes behind Long Beach.

* Westlake finished third and failed to qualify for the Southern Section team finals during the Central Coast regional Monday at La Purisima Golf Course in Lompoc.

The Warriors finished with a score of 381, leaving them behind Atascadero (372) and San Marcos (374). Colin Wilcox of Camarillo shot 71 to finish second behind Blake Brown of Atascadero, who had a 66. Kyle Dowden of Camarillo shot 72.

Hart (367) and Harvard-Westlake (371) also did not qualify for team finals, finishing behind Loyola (358) and Brentwood (365) in the Northern regional at Soule Park Golf Course in Ojai.

Track and Field

* Injury concerns caused Alexis Weatherspoon of Grant High to miss the Sunset Six League preliminaries last week, ending her senior season.

Weatherspoon, two-time defending City Section champion in the girls’ 100 and 200 meters, competed in only three dual meets this season.

Weatherspoon, who has signed with USC, placed fifth in the 100 and 200 in the state championships last year. She has bests of 11.77 in the 100 and 23.90 in the 200.

* Jason Lovell of Cleveland High, defending City Section champion in the boys’ 400 meters, has committed to Texas Tech.

Lovell, fifth in the state championships last year, has the fastest time (47.58) in the state this season.