Cypress’ Clark Set to Retire as Coach

Howie Clark, men’s water polo coach at Cypress College for 16 seasons, will retire, the college announced.

Clark, 58, was the 1991 Southern California Coach of the Year after leading the Chargers to a 27-9 record. He coached 10 All-American players while at Cypress.

Clark also coached the 1995 women’s team. One of that team’s players, goalkeeper Bernice Orwig, earned a silver medal with the 2000 Olympic squad.

BASEBALL

Four Saddleback College players have signed letters of intent to play baseball at Division I universities, Gaucho Coach Jack Hodges said.

Pitcher Ryan Williams will attend Oklahoma, Tony Wright will play at Georgia State, Chris Wicks at St. Joseph’s, and center fielder Vinny Valiente is going to Nevada.

BASKETBALL

Orange Coast’s Jeremy Madrid, a 6-foot-2 guard, will play basketball at San Francisco State. He averaged eight points for the Pirates last season.

* Sarah Middlebrooke, a 5-11 forward who played for OCC from 1998 to 2000, has signed with Cal State Dominguez Hills. She averaged 10.5 points and 8.2 rebounds as a freshman and 11.8 points and 8.9 rebounds as a sophomore. Middlebrooke spent last year at Fullerton College but did not play.

GOLF

Santiago Canyon’s Rob Clever, who led the Orange Empire Conference with a 72.69 scoring average, has committed to play golf at San Jose State, Santiago Canyon Coach Tom Shine said.

HONORS

Orange Coast College won the Orange Empire Conference’s Supremacy Award for its athletic success during the 2000-01 academic year.

The award is based on a points system for final conference standings in 23 men’s and women’s sports. Orange Coast finished with 224 points, ahead of runner-up Riverside, which scored 176.

The Pirates have won the award 20 times in the past 24 years.

* Swimmer Tyler Townsend and water polo goalie Erin Kennedy were named Orange Coast’s male and female athletes of the year.

SOCCER

Orange Coast’s Spencer McDearmon will transfer to Cal State Fullerton and Gene Vitale-Sansosti will go to Vanguard.

SOFTBALL

Vanguard has signed two softball recruits. Andrea Smidt, a catcher, is from Bellflower Valley Christian High. Her sister, Alison Smidt, already plays for Vanguard. Also signed was Ashley Mauro, a middle infielder from Las Vegas Bonanza High.

TRACK AND FIELD

Cal State Fullerton has announced the signings of Jennifer Clarke and Ian Jennings.

Clark is a pole vaulter from Alta Loma High who has cleared 11-6 this season. Jennings is a triple jumper who graduated from Edison High in 1998, where he led the county in the event. Jennings competed at Golden West the last two seasons, where he has a personal best of 49 feet 7 inches.