Mishap costs Sostak playoff shot

An apparent miscommunication at the tournament desk denied Estancia

High sophomore golfer Marcus Sostak a chance to compete in a playoff

to advance from Monday’s CIF Southern individual regional

championship at SeaCliff Country Club in Huntington Beach.

Estancia Coach Art Perry said he and Sostak, who shot 5-over-par

77, were led to believe that 76 was the cutoff for those to advance

to next week’s Southern Section individual championship tournament in

Palm Springs.

So, Perry, Sostak and Estancia sophomore Greg Les, who shot 87,

left the tournament.

But, Huntington Beach Coach Bill Seckington, a co-director of the

tournament along with Mission Viejo Coach Bob Bosanko, said the

Estancia contingent left before the playoff combatants were announced

and three golfers who shot 77, sans Sostak, competed in a two-hole

playoff for the one remaining berth.

Informed of the mishap later Monday night, Perry expressed

disappointment and took responsibility for Sostak missing the

playoff. He stated, however, that he was told by tournament officials

before leaving that Sostak, the Golden West League champion, had not

made the cut.

Corona del Mar junior Ben Tilsen shot 84 Monday to conclude his

noteworthy season.

-- Barry Faulkner

Vanguard opens at nationals

* TENNIS: The Vanguard University men’s and women’s tennis teams

begin play today in the NAIA championships, which run through Friday

in Mobile, Ala.

The women, the No. 4 seed in the 24-team, dual-match event, will

play either Shorter of Georgia or Cedarville of Ohio today at 9 a.m.

The Lions, who drew a first-round bye, are hoping to advance to

Wednesday’s quarterfinals, where they could match up, once again,

with Golden State Athletic Conference rival Pt. Loma Nazarene at the

Mobile Tennis Center.

Pt. Loma upset the Lions, 5-2, in the Region II championship match

last week in Santa Barbara.

The VU women are 22-2 this season, including a 10-0 mark in GSAC

regular-season matches to claim the conference crown.

The VU men (19-5) also received a first-round bye Monday and will

meet either Freed-Hardeman of Tennessee or Lewis-Clark State of Idaho

today at 1 p.m.

A VU win in Wednesday’s quarterfinal action could mean a rematch

with top-ranked Azusa Pacific, which won the GSAC men’s title and

defeated the Lions in the title match of the Region II tournament.

The Vanguard men are ranked No. 3 in the NAIA.

UCI vacates polls

* BASEBALL: The UC Irvine baseball team, which was swept by Big

West Conference-leading Cal State Fullerton in a three-game series

that concluded Sunday at Anteater Ballpark, is not ranked in the

Baseball America Top 25 poll for the first time in two months.

The Anteaters, on a season-worst four-game losing streak, remain

unranked by Collegiate Baseball.

Newport places second

* WATER POLO: The eighth-grade “AA” Newport boys volleyball team

finished second at the San Diego County Cup Tournament May 7-9.

Kip Armstrong, Spencer Ashurst, Jimmy Burger, Nate Castillo, Myles

Christian, Clinton Jorth, Colin McKibben, Jon Sanglerat, Richie

Seaberry, Colin Sherman and Wyatt Wardell comprised the Newport

roster. The team was coached by Cory Delahunt.