Canyon’s DeLong Denies Allegations of Recruiting

Dave DeLong, the co-coach of the Canyon Country Canyon cross-country program, says he is innocent of all the recruiting allegations brought against him in a letter sent to school Principal Bob Messina.

DeLong, who is in his 16th year at Canyon, said Messina received a letter Tuesday accusing Canyon’s coaches and parents of some team members of recruiting middle-school runners from outside the school’s attendance area.

The letter was signed by cross-country and track coaches from Newhall Hart, Saugus and Valencia, the other three schools in the Santa Clarita Valley and members of the Foothill League along with Canyon, Burbank and Burbank Burroughs.

DeLong said he, two other Canyon coaches and most of the coaches who signed the letter had a meeting at Hart on Friday. He would not comment on the specifics of what was discussed, but did say he left with the impression that, “It’s all cleared up.”

Larry David, cross-country coach at Hart, would only say that the “situation is progressing” and is “in the hands of the [schools’] principals.”

Much of the letter centered on the alleged influence that Canyon coaches and some parents of runners in the Santa Clarita Warriors youth cross-country and track programs have had in getting middle-school runners from outside Canyon’s attendance district to attend the school.

“I haven’t done anything wrong,” said DeLong, who helped Canyon win the state Division I boys’ title last year and earn a No. 2 national ranking. “I wasn’t surprised when I got this letter because there had been rumors that some of the [other] coaches were very upset ... but in terms of what it said, basically every statement was false.”

Canyon won its eighth consecutive girls’ title and fourth consecutive boys’ championship in the league finals at Lake Castaic on Thursday.

John Ortega

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North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake handed Newport Harbor its first loss of the season when Katie Wong made the only penalty stroke during the Los Angeles Field Hockey Assn. high school championship game Saturday at Pleasant View Park in Huntington Beach.

The teams played to a scoreless tie through regulation and a 10-minute overtime. Wong’s penalty stroke was the 10th taken by each team.

Sandhya Dhir of Harvard-Westlake (12-4-4) and Terry Garcia of Santa Ana were selected co-most valuable players in the tournament.

Newport Harbor finishes with a 15-1-3 record.

-- Mike Kennedy