Paperwork Error Costs Orange a Win

An administrative oversight will cost Orange High’s football team its 34-20 victory over Fullerton Sunny Hills on Sept. 21. With the forfeit, the Panthers entered their Golden West League opener against Santa Ana Saddleback on Thursday night with a 1-2 nonleague record. Sunny Hills improved to 3-0.

Orange Athletic Director Edward Howard said he failed to turn in paperwork to Southern Section officials for a junior who had previously attended Orange El Modena as a freshman through an intradistrict transfer.

The player, a starting cornerback this season, returned to Orange midway through his sophomore year but didn’t decide to play football until the start of this school year.

Corona had to forfeit its only victory this season, a 40-17 win over Riverside King on Sept. 26.

Southern Section spokesman Thom Simmons said the team played a 14-year-old freshman in the game but had not turned in paperwork that would allow the section to waive the 15-year-old age requirement for varsity competition.

Corona’s record falls to 0-3 and King improves to 2-0-1.

Eric Stephens

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An undiagnosed case of mononucleosis hampered Laura Meyers of Sierra Madre Maranatha during the second half of the 2001 cross-country season, but the senior has looked stronger than ever in winning her first four races of this season.

Meyers won the Division IV race of the Bell-Jeff Invitational at Griffith Park last Saturday with a 17-minute 12-second clocking over the 2.8-mile course. It moved her to sixth on the all-time course performer list.

“I’ve added a hard tempo run to my training this year and it has really made a difference in how I feel,” Meyers said.

Meyers won the 1999 Southern Section Division V title as a freshman in her first season of competition. After finishing fourth in the state Division IV final as a sophomore, she fell to 11th in the state Division IV final as a junior.

Postseason tests revealed that Meyers had mononucleosis, but that gave her peace of mind. “It was actually kind of a relief to know that something was physically wrong with me,” she said. “That it wasn’t just something in my head.”

John Ortega

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Point guard Jennifer Katsuyama of Brea Olinda has committed to San Francisco. Katsuyama, who missed most of last season because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee, suffered a torn ACL in her left knee at the end of July. Based on last year’s recovery period, she should return in December.

Martin Henderson