Granada Hills’ Park Sets the Pace

Steven Park of Granada Hills came within two seconds of breaking two meet records Wednesday at the City Section swimming preliminaries at USC.

Park, a junior, was the top qualifier in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1 minute 56.61 seconds and the 100 breaststroke at 59.57. When the finals are held next Wednesday at USC, Park will be aiming for the individual medley record of 1:55.18, set last season by Tyler Clark of Granada Hills, and the 23-year-old breaststroke mark of 58.22.

Granada Hills’ hopes of unseating defending champion Palisades suffered a setback when its second-seeded 400 freestyle relay team was disqualified for an early departure on one of the legs.

In the girls’ meet, Palisades appears to have the talent and depth to defend its title. Laura Johnson was the top qualifier in the 100 breaststroke and second in the 200 individual medley, while Cara Davidoff and Louiza Campos were the first and third qualifiers in the 100 freestyle and second and fourth in the 50 freestyle.

-- Dan Arritt

Holly Bussey had three hits, including a run-scoring single in the second inning and two-run triple to deep center field in the fourth, to lead Moreno Valley Canyon Springs to a 4-2 victory over Upland in a Southern Section Division I wild-card softball playoff game.

Bussey and Amanda Carver, batting eighth and ninth in the order, accounted for five of the Cougars’ eight hits and all their RBIs as they opened a 4-0 lead. Tiffany Hemphill (17-4) gave up two unearned runs, allowing five hits while striking out seven for Canyon Springs (19-6-1).

Jennifer Chavez (12-7) took the loss. Shannon Stein had a run-scoring double for Upland (16-10).

Canyon Springs, the third-place team from the Ivy league, will play at Moore League champion Lakewood on Friday.

-- Martin Henderson

A broken bone in his right ankle isn’t expected to keep Bryan Rodie of Simi Valley Royal from running in the Division I final of the boys’ 800 meters when the Southern Section divisional track and field championships are held Saturday at Cerritos College.

Rodie ran a school-record 1 minute 52.79 seconds to win the 800 in the Ventura County championships on May 2 at Moorpark High, but injured his ankle last Thursday when he stepped on a shoe at his home.

The fracture was diagnosed the following day, but Rodie still led all qualifiers with a time of 1:54.12 in the Southern Section Division I preliminaries at Long Beach City College on Saturday while running with a brace on the injured ankle.

The No. 3-ranked 800 runner in the state has since been fitted with a removable fiberglass cast that gives his ankle added support.

“He definitely wants to run and see how far he can [advance in postseason competition],” Royal assistant coach Ryan Luce said. “The fracture is in such a place that the doctor doesn’t think he’ll injure it further if he doesn’t roll it again.”

-- John Ortega

Terrance Flournoy Jr., who rushed for 430 yards as a freshman at Los Angeles Cathedral before breaking his leg last fall, will be enrolling at Woodland Hills Taft next school year.

Flournoy will be reunited with Coach Kevin Pearson, who resigned at Cathedral when he was hired to replace Troy Starr as coach at Taft. Flournoy’s adoptive father, Derwin Henderson, will be joining the coaching staff as well.

Flournoy, who averaged 14.8 yards a carry before his injury, joins a Taft team that has been in the City Championship game the last two seasons.

All-City basketball player Nick Young of Reseda Cleveland has failed in his attempt to gain a fifth-year of athletic eligibility. The City Section Rules Committee refused to give Young a hardship waiver. Young plans to take his case to a City appeals panel.

Daric Barton, first baseman for Huntington Beach Marina, first baseman and outfielder Brennan Boesch of North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake, pitcher Jared Hughes of Santa Margarita and outfielder Delmon Young of Camarillo have been selected to compete in the All-American High School baseball game on June 9 at Yogi Berra Stadium in New Jersey. The East vs. West game will be televised by Fox Sports.