Greiner Wins but Hart Fails to Advance

Junior Joe Greiner of top-ranked Newhall Hart shot a five-under-par 67 to earn medalist honors, but the Indians did not qualify for the Southern Section championships when they posted a 377 to tie for fourth in the Northern Divisional boys’ golf tournament Monday at Soule Park Golf Course in Ojai.

North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake (362) and Ventura St. Bonaventure (373) were the two qualifiers out of the Northern Divisional, advancing to the section championships Saturday at La Cumbre Country Club in Santa Barbara. Junior Brent Josephson shot a two-under 70 and freshman Justin Lee shot 71 for the Wolverines, who took second in the Mission League behind Loyola (389). Ben Carter shot 71 for the Tri-Valley League champion Seraphs.

Four other teams ranked in The Times’ top 10 did not advance to the section championships. No. 3 Goleta Dos Pueblos, No. 5 Riverside Poly, No. 6 Cerritos and No. 7 Cypress did not advance from their divisionals. Dos Pueblos, Poly and Cerritos all finished fourth in their respective divisionals. Palm Desert (361) and Anaheim Servite (370) qualified ahead of Poly (373) in the Eastern Divisional at Canyon Crest Country Club in Riverside.

Cerritos (386) was behind No. 2 Cerritos Gahr (369) and No. 8 La Mirada (375) in the Central Divisional at the PGA of Southern California Legends Course in Beaumont. Garrett Sapp of Gahr and Daniel Im of La Mirada each shot three-under 69 to share medalist honors.

Dos Pueblos (366) lost the Central Coast Divisional to three-time Southern Section Champion Santa Barbara San Marcos (358) at Santa Barbara Golf Club. Thousand Oaks tied with Paso Robles for second place with 363 but advanced on the strength of their sixth player’s score.

Cypress (370) landed third in the Southern Divisional behind Huntington Beach (362) and Anaheim Esperanza (364) at Los Serranos Golf Course in Chino Hills. Kris Assawapimonporn shot a six-under 66 to medal for Huntington Beach.

-- Rafer Weigel

Boys’ Tennis

Corona del Mar, the defending Southern Section Division I champion, was the top-seeded team in its division when playoff pairings were announced Monday. North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake (18-0) was seeded No. 2.

Wild-card matches will be held Friday, and first-round play begins May 18.

The Sea Kings (19-1) were No. 1 in The Times’ rankings each week of the regular season until a 10-8 loss to Irvine Northwood on Thursday ended a 44-match winning streak and dropped them behind the Wolverines. The other division’s top-seeded teams are Palm Desert in Division II, Redlands in Division III, Redondo in Division IV and Cerritos Whitney in Division V.

-- Elia Powers

Boys’ Volleyball

Several upsets in the last two weeks of the regular season appear responsible for a shakeup in the seedings for the Southern Section Division I boys’ volleyball playoffs, which begin Wednesday with wild-card matches.

Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, which shared the Bay League title with Redondo, is the No. 1-seeded team in the division. The Mustangs beat Los Angeles Loyola, the defending division champion, and Westlake Village Westlake, a two-time division semifinalist, to win the Redondo tournament May 1.

Westlake is seeded No. 2 and Loyola is No. 4. San Clemente, which expected to be seeded No. 1 until it was upset last week by Lake Forest El Toro, fell to No. 3. All four seeded teams have first-round byes.

The other top-seeded teams are Valencia in Division II, Costa Mesa Estancia in Division III, Lakewood Mayfair in Division IV and Pasadena Poly in Division V.

Top-seeded Chatsworth is two victories away from its third consecutive City Section Championship Division title. The Chancellors (17-2), who swept L.A. Garfield in a quarterfinal Friday, play host to Venice in a semifinal at 7 tonight. Venice (13-2) advanced by outlasting Van Nuys Grant in five games. Second-seeded L.A. University (13-1) plays host to Granada Hills (12-3) in the other semifinal tonight at 7.

-- Paul McLeod

Baseball

As league races come down to the wire this week, none is as unpredictable as the Sierra League’s.

La Verne Damien and Diamond Bar began the final week of the regular season tied for first with 8-5 league records. Glendora, Chino Hills Ayala and Chino each are 7-6. Damien plays two games this week against Ayala, beginning at 3:15 p.m. today at Ayala. Diamond Bar begins a series today against visiting Chino.

Glendora might have the best chance to finish among the top three and earn an automatic playoff berth. The Tartans have two games against last-place Chino Hills.

“It has been a dog fight,” Damien Coach Rob Verdi said. “With the pitching depth in this league, we knew it would be a tight race.”

Damien is led by senior pitchers Daniel Moskus (6-2, 1.95 earned-run average), Travis Ward (5-1, 2.24) and Andrew Liebel (3-2, four saves).

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Santa Margarita (16-9, 8-3) clinched at least a share of the Serra League title and the league’s No. 1 playoff berth with a 3-2 victory over visiting La Puente Bishop Amat. Matt Cusick had one of six hits for Santa Margarita and drew a two-out, bases-loaded walk in the fourth to give the No. 9-ranked Eagles a 3-2 lead. Third baseman Steve Martlaro of Bishop Amat (15-8, 6-5) was three for three, including a home run in the third that tied the score, 2-2.

-- Dan Arritt

Football

John Aguirre, who guided Carson to the City Championship last season and has been the Colts’ coach since 1999, has resigned to focus on becoming an administrator.

-- Eric Sondheimer