Tennis Title for Corona del Mar

Corona del Mar High senior Cameron Ball edged Stanford-bound James Pade, 8-7 (7-1), at No. 1 singles to lift the Sea Kings to a 5-4 victory over Atherton Menlo in the championship match of the Corona del Mar/National High School All-American boys’ tennis tournament Saturday night at Palisades Tennis Club in Newport Beach.

Ball held 3-0 and 4-1 leads but Pade stormed back to take six of the last nine games before losing the tiebreaker.

Tyson Hunter also won a key match at No. 4 singles, 8-4, over David Oehm to pull the Sea Kings into a 4-4 tie after they trailed, 2-1, following doubles play.

The title is the first for Corona del Mar in the third annual tournament. The Sea Kings were runners-up last season and finished fourth two years ago.

Irvine University lost to Menlo, 5-4, in the semifinals, and Harvard-Westlake finished fifth after a 6-3 victory over St. Joseph’s College of Brisbane, Australia.

Lauren Peterson

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In track and field:

Reid wins 1,600--Phillip Reid of Oxnard Rio Mesa High didn’t get the opening 800-meter split he hoped for in the Meet of Champions Distance Invitational at Azusa Pacific, but he used a strong last lap to post a runaway victory in the invitational race of the boys’ 1,600.

Reid, a junior who placed sixth in the Southern Section Division I cross-country final in November, ran the final 400 meters in 60.3 seconds to clock a career-best 4:17.1 and defeat second-place Juan Robles of Placentia Valencia by about 25 meters.

Robles was timed in 4:21.0, with Erick Maldonado of Chino Don Lugo third in 4:22.0 and Shane Dougherty of Lake Forest El Toro fourth in 4:22.8.

Reid was in fourth place, about a second back of leader Kellen Acosta of Murrieta Valley through the 800, but he moved into third down the backstretch, into second midway through the second curve and into the lead entering the home straightaway.

Sophomore Liza Pasciuto of Murrieta Valley won the girls’ 800 in a career-best 2:14.5 at 11:45 in the morning and placed first in the 3,200 in 10:53.9 about nine hours later.

Senior Mark Batres or Rosemead Bosco Tech won the boys’ 3,200 in 9:16.2 after coming through the 1,600 in 4:35.2.

John Ortega