Leagues Approve Plan to Realign

A league realignment plan for football, boys’ and girls’ basketball and 10 other sports has been approved by the South Bay Athletic Assn.’s principals and athletic directors, Manhattan Beach Mira Costa Athletic Director Bob Fish said Tuesday.

Currently, the association’s schools are placed in leagues for each individual sports, depending on their successes.

The change was proposed because most of the association’s athletic directors “felt the power leaguing was a nightmare in terms of scheduling and felt this was the best route to go,” Hawthorne Athletic Director Art Houghtaling said. Enrollment numbers and competitiveness were the main criteria used to determine a school’s new placement in a league.

The realignment plan places Lawndale Leuzinger, Mira Costa, Rolling Hills Estates Peninsula, Redondo, South Torrance and West Torrance in the Bay League; Beverly Hills, Culver City, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Inglewood Morningside and Santa Monica in the Ocean League, and Compton Centennial, El Segundo, Palos Verdes, Lawndale, North Torrance and Torrance in the Pioneer League.

The releaguing also covers baseball, softball and boys’ and girls’ cross-country, soccer, track and volleyball.

The only sports not affected by the plan are wrestling, golf, swimming, tennis and water polo because some of the association’s 18 schools do not field teams in those sports.

The plan takes effect in the 2004-05 school year and will also be used in 2005-06, after which realignment will again be considered, Houghtaling said.

-- Steven Herbert

Domenique Manning of Riverside North, the top returning girls’ high hurdler in the state, has signed a letter of intent with Notre Dame.

Manning, who placed third in the state championships last year, took recruiting trips to Notre Dame, Washington, California and Georgia Tech.

She said she chose Notre Dame primarily because of its strong psychology department.

Elizabeth Woepse of Santa Ana Mater Dei, a two-time finalist in the girls’ pole vault in the state track and field championships, has signed a letter of intent with UCLA.

Woepse placed sixth in the state meet last year and was ninth in 2001.

-- John Ortega