Sanchez Commits to Trojans

Mission Viejo’s Mark Sanchez, considered the top quarterback prospect in Southern California, has committed to USC after also considering Texas, Ohio State and Notre Dame.

Sanchez, who completed 75% of his passes with 29 touchdowns and four interceptions last season, led the Diablos to a 13-1 record and the Southern Section Division II final.

Sanchez is the fourth Mission Viejo player to commit to a major Division I program in the last two months: Kevin Bemoll, a 6-foot-5, 300-pound offensive lineman, and Ryan Williams, a 6-5, 240-pound defensive end, have committed to Ohio State, and Nick Reed, a 6-2, 235-pound defensive end, committed to Oregon.

Baseball

Bryan Anderson, an All-Southland catcher from Simi Valley, has become the first player to commit to UCLA under new Coach John Savage.

Golf

Jennie Lee of Huntington Beach shot a one-under-par 70 and is tied for fifth place after the first day of stroke play at the 56th U.S. Girls’ Junior golf championship at Mira Vista Golf Club in Fort Worth, Texas.

Other Southland girls in position to qualify for match play after today’s second round are Sommer Scholl of Riverside and Grace Woo of Burbank, who each finished at 72, and Sarah Salvo of Glendale, Jane Park of Rancho Cucamonga and Sooji Cho of Glendale, who are at 73.

In the U.S. Junior boys’ golf championship at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, Lucas Lee of Los Angeles is the only Southland competitor in the top 20 following a four-over 74, which placed him in a tie for 18th.

More than half the field failed to complete the first round. Sihwan Kim of Fullerton and Tim Cha of Chino Hills finished at 76, which is tied for 34th, and Ben Fox of Studio City shot 77.

Miscellany

Three Southland high school coaches are among the most recent recipients of the CIF Model Coach Award, presented to positive role models in their schools and communities.

They are: Dean Balzarett, who has coached track and field and cross-country in the City Section for 41 years, the last 37 at North Hills Monroe; Bob Burt, who retired after 41 years as a football coach, most recently at Lake Elsinore Temescal Canyon; and Janice Kelley, who is the boys’ and girls’ cross-country coach and assists with the track team’s distance runners at Hemet.