Grant High’s Riney Pleads Not Guilty

Gino Riney, a senior guard at Van Nuys Grant High who averaged 29.1 points last season, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of automobile theft with a firearm and is being held in Sylmar Juvenile Hall, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Feldstern.

Grant High basketball Coach Howard Levine said Riney was arrested Sept. 13 for alleged incidents that took place on April 21 and June 28 in the San Fernando Valley..

“He claims he’s innocent and we’re hopeful,” Levine said. “It seems so unlike him.”

A hearing is scheduled next month to determine whether Riney, 17, will be prosecuted as a juvenile or adult.

Eric Sondheimer

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Dorsey will have to forfeit its season-opening victory over Sylmar because school officials did not turn in transfer paperwork on one of its players to the City Section before the Sept. 13 game.

The player, a transfer from Playa del Rey St. Bernard, has been at Dorsey since the summer and participated in the victory. City Section administrator Jeff Halpern confirmed that he did not receive the California Interscholastic Federation Form 510 until after the game.

Dorsey Coach Paul Knox said that dealing with a change in athletic directors and a fire in the athletic offices over the summer may have contributed to the oversight.

Eric Stephens

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Kyle Weatherspoon lost his appeal before the Southern Section’s executive council on Wednesday and is ineligible to play football for Lynwood.

An all-league player last year at Paramount, Weatherspoon was ruled ineligible by San Gabriel Valley League principals because of undue influence surrounding his transfer.

It is a blow to Lynwood (1-1), which was 3-6 last season. Weatherspoon would have started at receiver and cornerback as well as returned punts and kickoffs.

Second-year Coach Jeff Jenkins said Weatherspoon would have been the featured player in the offense. Jenkins said that despite the ineligibility, Weatherspoon will not return to Paramount, which was 3-6-1 last season.

Martin henderson

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Erick Maldonado of Chino Don Lugo is expected to run in the Division I race of the Stanford Invitational after missing the Irvine Woodbridge Invitational last Saturday because of a leg injury.

Maldonado, the defending state Division I champion, set a course record in winning the Division I race of the Bronco Invitational in Chino on Sept. 14. But he missed eight days of training after that because of soreness in a tendon that runs from his left knee to his hip.

John Ortega

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Al Gragnano has stepped down as boys’ and girls’ golf coach at Los Alamitos after retiring from teaching at the school, he said Tuesday.

Gragnano has also coached baseball, basketball, cross-country, track, softball and football during his 34 years at Los Alamitos. John Haygood replaces Gragnano as coach of both golf teams.

Peter Yoon

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