Montclair Prep Coach Resigns

Van Nuys Montclair Prep boys’ basketball Coach Tyrone Fuller resigned Friday in the wake of an investigation surrounding former player Nick Stiggers.

Former Mountie coach Howard Abrams took over coaching duties on an interim basis.

The school is investigating questions about Stiggers’ financial aid after the Southern Section put Montclair Prep on probation and banned all the school’s sports teams from playoff competition for one year because of an undue-influence case. Stiggers left the team during the Thanksgiving break, transferring to Booker T. Washington High in Memphis.

-- Eric Sondheimer

Riverside North became the third Ivy League football team to have a coaching vacancy this winter after Steve Hagerty was fired by North Principal Dale Kinnear.

Kinnear cited “personal reasons” for the release of Hagerty after one season. Hagerty guided the Huskies to the Ivy League title and a second consecutive appearance in the Division V championship game, where they lost to Corona Centennial, 57-55, in triple overtime.

Before taking over at Riverside North, Hagerty was offensive coordinator at North for two seasons under Mark Paredes, who left after the Huskies won the Division V title in 2001 to become an assistant at Riverside College.

Riverside Poly’s Dan Castanon and Moreno Valley Canyon Springs’ Doug DuBois also left their positions. Dubois, who guided Canyon Springs to the Division V semifinals, accepted an assistant position at St. Mary’s.

-- Dan Arritt

Other coaching changes:

* Jose Casagran, who guided Los Angeles Roosevelt to three Eastern League championships in five seasons as football coach, has resigned to pursue other options. Casagran, 36, compiled a 43-14 record and helped Roosevelt win its first City Championship playoff game since 1973. He was 4-1 against rival Garfield.

* Gary Cordray has returned as football coach at South Gate. He was the Rams’ coach for 18 years until resigning three years ago. He didn’t coach last season after spending two seasons as an assistant at Cerritos.

A free screening for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a genetic heart condition that is the leading cause of sudden death in student athletes in the United States, will be offered to high school athletes today by the Lakewood Regional Medical Center.

Screenings, which consist of an echocardiogram, an ultrasound image of the heart, will be from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Malibu Room of Cerritos Park East, located at 13234 East 166th St., Cerritos. The screenings are offered in conjunction with A Heart for Sports nonprofit organization.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is characterized by thickened tissue of the heart muscle that can interfere with the movement of blood. During strenuous exercise, not enough blood reaches other areas of the body, including the brain. It is said the condition affects one out of every 500 people.

Ryan King, a 16-year-old junior varsity soccer player at Manhattan Beach Mira Costa High, died Nov. 16, 2001, after collapsing at practice. The Los Angeles County coroner’s office concluded it was because of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

On Nov. 26, 2002, Will Kimble, a junior center for the Pepperdine men’s basketball team, passed out during a practice. He, too, was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The school called it a “career-ending” condition.

For more information: www.aheartforsports.org.