Barstow Boys Race to Mt. SAC Title

The Barstow boys and the Felton San Lorenzo Valley girls won the Division III-IV-V team sweepstakes titles in the Mt. San Antonio College cross-country meet on Friday while running in the rain.

Barstow, the defending state Division III boys’ champion, totaled 87 points. Castroville North Monterrey County placed second with 117 points and Santa Margarita was third with 141.

Barstow, the No. 4-ranked team in the Southland by The Times, placed four runners among the top 19 finishers.

Junior Avery Himes paced the Aztecs with a ninth-place time of 15 minutes 43 seconds over the 2.91-mile course.

San Lorenzo Valley, led by individual winner Raquel Barrientos, defeated Moraga Campolindo, 71-79, for the girls’ title.

Barrientos, a senior, clocked 17:58 to defeat junior Lindsay Flacks of North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake by 13 seconds with the fastest girls’ time of the meet.

San Lorenzo Valley also produced the fastest boys’ time as junior Alex Dunn won the team sweepstakes in 15:00.

The 6-foot-3 Dunn was pushed by senior Humberto Rojas of Costa Mesa Estancia for the first two miles before pulling away to victory.

Senior Mike Powers of Santa Margarita finished second in 15:10 with Rojas third in 15:18.

“I just concentrated on working the downhills,” Dunn said. “[Rojas] would pass me on the uphills, but then I would work the downhills.”

The meet continues at 7:15 a.m. today. The Division I-II team and individual sweepstakes start at 9 a.m.

-- John Ortega

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Lauren Ervin, who averaged 21 points and 15 rebounds as a junior before leaving Artesia High late last season, said she has committed to play basketball at Kansas.

A 6-3 center-forward, Ervin helped Torrance Bishop Montgomery win a state title as a freshman and will play at Inglewood this season. She chose Kansas over Tennessee.

“It was an extremely tough decision because of Tennessee’s program, the people, the coaches, but my heart was telling me to go to Kansas,” she said.

--Martin Henderson

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Andrew Kartunen, a senior goalkeeper at San Clemente, has committed to Stanford. He is a member of the U.S. national under-18 soccer team and a 2002 Parade magazine All-American.

--Eric Sondheimer

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Moreno Valley has forfeited its 19-17 victory over Lake Elsinore Temescal Canyon in Week 1 of the football season because of a paperwork error concerning the transfer of linebacker Chris Lopez, the Southern Section confirmed.

Lopez transferred from Riverside Notre Dame during the 2001-02 school year, moving from the Moreno Valley Valley View attendance area into the Moreno Valley area. Under the section’s rule, if the player would have been immediately eligible with the proper paperwork, failure to submit that paperwork results in no more than one forfeit.

With the forfeit, Moreno Valley falls to 5-1 entering play Friday and Temescal Canyon improves to 2-4.

--Dan Arritt

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Cindy Kramer resigned as softball coach at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame after nine seasons and six playoff appearances.

Kramer, the school’s athletic trainer, hadn’t worked as a trainer in the spring while she coached. Athletic Director Kevin Rooney said it was a mutual decision to allow Kramer to be a trainer year-round.

--Martin Henderson