Panel Rules in Favor of Grant Soccer

A City Section appeals panel has overturned a decision by the Rules Committee that had stripped the Van Nuys Grant boys’ soccer team of its second-place City finish and banned the team from next year’s playoffs for using an ineligible player.

The panel ruled that standout player Johny Amaya did not play in a Feb. 9 club game that would have made him ineligible. Amaya presented new evidence, showing a card from work with his signature that did not match the signature on the club card that Amaya allegedly signed.

In another matter, the appeals panel overturned another Rules Committee decision, declaring senior catcher Danny Salazar eligible to compete for Sylmar after his transfer from San Fernando.

The Rules Committee had refused to grant Salazar a hardship waiver for protection reasons, but the appeals panel determined that new evidence showed there were “safety issues” involved, according to Assistant Superintendent Willie Crittendon.

-- Eric Sondheimer

Trevor Ariza of Westchester has been named Cal-Hi Sports’ boys’ basketball player of the year.

A 6-foot-8 senior, Ariza averaged 22 points and eight rebounds to lead the Comets to a second consecutive Division I state championship.

Ariza, who is headed to UCLA, follows 2002 winner Hassan Adams, also of Westchester, who recently completed his freshman season at Arizona.

-- Bob Rohwer

Long Beach Poly’s record-setting girls’ relay teams and defending state champions Michael Haddan of Irvine Woodbridge and Sharon Day of Costa Mesa are some of the leading entries in the Mission Viejo Trabuco Hills Invitational track and field meet today.

Poly, which set national indoor records of 1 minute 35.86 seconds in the 800 relay and 3:41.54 in the 1,600 relay in the National Scholastic Indoor championships in New York City on March 16, will run in the 400 and 1,600 relays at Trabuco Hills.

Poly junior Shalonda Solomon, runner-up in the 100 and 200 in the state championships last year, will also run in those events.

Haddan, defending state champion in the boys’ 800, will run in that event against a field that includes Ian Ritchie of Murrieta Valley.

Day will be looking to clear 6 feet in the girls’ high jump for the first time after clearing a career-best 5-11 to win the state title last June.

It turns out Bryan Rodie of Simi Valley Royal did not run a yearly state-leading time in the boys’ 800 meters last Saturday when he clocked a school-record 1 minute 52.89 seconds in the Pasadena Games. .

That’s because Duane Solomon of Lompoc Cabrillo had run a hand-timed 1:51.1 in the Atascadero Invitational earlier in the day.

“His goal is to go under 1:50 by the end of the season,” Cabrillo Coach Jesse Davis said of Solomon, who ran a career best of 1:51.76 to finish second in the state championships last year. “But the way he’s running right now, he’s way ahead of schedule.”

-- John Ortega

Mary Hauser has been hired as girls’ basketball coach at Thousand Oaks, succeeding Chuck Brown.

Hauser previously coached in the Southern Section at Santa Ana Mater Dei, where she led the Monarchs to the state finals in 1995 and ‘96, winning a title in ’95. She resigned in the fall of 1997 to spend more time with her family. Her record at Mater Dei was 105-16.

Hauser comes to Thousand Oaks from Salpointe Catholic in Arizona, where she led the team to consecutive Section 5A championships and the state semifinals in 2002.

Noelle Quinn of Torrance Bishop Montgomery finished with 11 points, four rebounds, two blocked shots and an assist in a 72-63 overtime victory for the White team in the 2003 Women’s Basketball Coaches Assn. all-star game at Georgia Tech.

Ivory Latta of McConnell, S.C., had 17 points for the White team. Alesha Robertson of Plainview, Texas, led the Red team with 19 points and eight rebounds.