Escamilla, Sawyer Win City Titles

Birmingham sophomore Hector Escamilla scored 332.50 points and El Camino Real freshman Chelsea Sawyer scored 405.35 points to win the City Section boys’ and girls’ diving championships Friday at Pierce College.

Escamilla, who placed third last year, was in first place after nine dives but trailed by 1.25 points after 10 dives. He had to successfully complete a front 2 1/2 somersault-tuck with a 2.4 degree of difficulty to outscore second-place finisher Sloan Bailey of El Camino Real on his 11th dive to win the title.

Bailey, a senior who won the 2001 title and finished with 324.75 points Friday, overtook Escamilla with a well-executed front 1 1/2 somersault with a twist in the 10th round, but he came up short on a front double somersault-tuck in the last round.

Sawyer led the girls’ meet from the start to unseat defending champion Rachel Pearson, a Taft sophomore who finished a distant second with 363.70 points.

-- Lauren Peterson

A memorial service for Jim Arquilla, a cross-country and track coach at Long Beach Wilson, will be held at Grace Community Church in Seal Beach at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Arquilla, 52, died May 15 of malignant melanoma. He was first diagnosed with skin cancer last July, and it had recently spread to his lungs and liver.

Arquilla was the boys’ cross-country coach at Wilson since 1986 and worked with the school’s distance runners during track season.

Jami Shannon of La Palma Kennedy has been selected to coach the North team and San Clemente’s Bill Everhart has been chosen to coach the South for the 11th North vs. South Orange County all-star softball game June 9 at Brea Olinda High.

Admission to the game, which begins at 6:30 p.m., is $6 for adults and $4 for children. Information: (714) 283-2811.

The Ventura County all-star boys’ and girls’ basketball games will take place May 31 at Ventura High.

Bill Varela of Ventura St. Bonaventure will coach the North boys’ team and Tom Donahue of Westlake Village Westlake will coach the South boys. Chris Ruffinelli of Oxnard Hueneme will coach the North girls’ team and Nori Parvin of Newbury Park and Dave Murphy of Simi Valley will co-coach the South girls.

The girls’ game begins at 5:30 p.m. and the boys’ game at 7:30. There also will be a three-point shooting contest for boys and girls and a slam dunk contest for the boys.

Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for students.