D’Amore’s 65 Clinches Tournament
Jason D’Amore of Manhattan Beach Mira Costa shot a school-record seven-under-par 65 at Griffith Park’s Wilson Golf Course on Thursday to clinch the Bay League tournament medalist honors with a 10-under 134, which is a 36-hole school record.
D’Amore shot three-under 69 at Harding Golf Course on Tuesday to forge a three-way tie with John Lim of South Torrance and teammate Brandin Cohen at the halfway point of the tournament. Lim and Cohen shot 73 and 72, respectively, on Thursday to finish fourth and sixth and qualify along with D’Amore, Daniel Wax of Santa Monica (141), Chris McDowell of Santa Monica (141) and Jason Kang of South Torrance (143) for the Southern Section Northern Division tournament on May 17 at Village Country Club in Lompoc.
Rafer Weigel
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Track and Field
The high school career of Mohamed Trafeh is over. That became official Wednesday, when the Duarte senior did not run in the Montview League finals at Mt. San Antonio College because he was academically ineligible.
Trafeh, a two-time All-American and two-time state Division IV champion in cross-country, is among the state’s fastest competitors this season in the boys’ 800, 1,500 and 3,200 meters with bests of 1 minute 53.58 seconds, 3:49.04 and 9:02.64. But he received a failing grade for an Algebra II class on a report card a few weeks ago.
He could have been placed on academic probation and been eligible to compete in the league finals had he been passing a minimum of 20 units or four five-unit classes. But that was not possible because he was enrolled in only four classes.
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Senior Chad Smith of Irvine University will try to regain the top spot on the yearly state list in the boys’ shotput when he competes in the Pacific Coast League finals today at Irvine High.
Senior Mark Lewis of Arroyo Grande supplanted Smith twice this year, including a 63-2 3/4 effort Saturday at the Meet of Champions in Sacramento.
John Ortega
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Baseball
Ventura Buena can clinch its first Channel League title in 15 years with a victory today in its regular-season finale at Ventura.
The Bulldogs (20-4, 9-2) will send senior Robert Collins (5-3, 3.95 earned-run average) to the mound against Ventura senior Jeremy Berg (3-5, 1.25). Buena, ranked No. 22 in the Southland by The Times, has two byes next week in the five-team Channel League.
Brian Stevens (9-0) threw a four-hitter and Nick Di Napoli hit his ninth and 10th home runs of the season in a 4-0 victory over visiting Ventura (9-14, 1-8) on Tuesday.
Dan Arritt
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Softball
Scott Weber, who coached at Anaheim Loara for the better part of eight seasons, has been removed as coach.
Weber was fired a week ago after meeting with Principal John Dahlem. Weber wouldn’t comment, other than to say his departure was by mutual consent.
Weber’s dismissal comes after the discovery of financial disorder within the program. The problems stemmed from a tournament that Loara had hosted over three weekends in March and April. Entry fees for some teams were not collected, and the teams were not charged enough to cover officials’ fees.
Dahlem said that Weber’s dismissal had nothing to do with his on-field actions and that the coach did nothing improper with any funds.
“He has not absconded with any funds, but he has not followed protocol as we have discussed before,” said Dahlem of Weber, who had a 129-103 record at the school, including 18-6 this season.
Junior varsity coach Kevin Smith, an on-campus instructor, will take over the varsity the remainder of the season. It has split its two games since Weber left.
-- Martin Henderson