Briefly In Sports

Samuelson earns top CIF honor

Edison senior Bonnie Samuelson has been named the Player of the Year for the All-CIF Girls’ Basketball Division 1A team. Samuelson is one of six local players to earn All-CIF status. She is joined on the team by sister, Karlie, a sophomore guard, and another Edison teammate, senior guard Christina Marquette. Edison’s Dan Wiley was named the division’s Coach of the Year. Edison defeated Troy in the division championship game earlier this month at Anaheim Arena.

Also gaining Southern Section honors were Huntington Beach junior guard Kelsey Minato, who made the girls’ Division 2AA team, and Ocean View senior guard Billy Keller and Edison senior guard Dylan Garrity, who both were named to the boys’ Division 2AA team.

Bonnie Samuelson, who will play next year at Stanford, is in Chicago this week for the 2011 McDonald’s All-American Game. She played for the West, which took on the East team Wednesday at United Center. Samuelson was one of four Orange County players on the West squad, along with Justin Hartman of Brea Olinda and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Alexyz Vaioletama of Mater Dei.

Samuelson arrived Saturday in Chicago and is slated to return to Huntington Beach on Thursday. She said the whirlwind experience has been nothing short of “amazing.”

On Monday, she finished second to University of Connecticut recruit Mosqueda-Lewis, the girls’ Gatorade National Player of the Year, in the girls’ three-point shooting contest. A players’ banquet was held Tuesday where all participants received game rings, she said.

“I’m having so much fun. It’s been an incredible experience,” she said Wednesday, just hours before the tip of the girls’ game at United Center. “We’ve done so much and the McDonald’s people have been so amazing. We got to visit the Ronald McDonald House here and meet the kids. It was very inspiring and definitely a highlight of the trip for me.”

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Players earn All-CIF soccer honors

Four local players have earned All-CIF honors in boys’ and girls’ soccer. Edison, which won the Sunset League boys’ championship and was ranked No. 1 throughout the regular season, placed senior midfielder Mitchell Alvarez and senior defender Tyler Smith on the Division 1 team. In girls’ soccer, senior midfielder Mikhaila Bowden and senior forward Kara Pedersen, both of Ocean View, were named to the Division 6 team.

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Locals entered in boarder competition

Tosh Townend and Nathan Groff of Huntington Beach are among several local athletes competing at The Ultimate Boarder Championship. The fourth annual triathlon-like event — a week-long series that pits some of the top surfers, skaters and snowboarders in three competitions — starts Saturday at Mammoth Mountain and continues Monday through April 9 at Seaside Reef. The first-place prize is $30,000.

Mike Morrissey, of Laguna Beach, is the defending champion.

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AYSO Region 117 teams forming

AYSO’s FLEX EXTRA is a program designed for soccer players with a higher level of interest, skill and ability. Region 117 (Huntington Beach/Fountain Valley) is forming U10 to U14 boys’ and girls’ teams. Week-long tryouts start April 11 at Talbert Middle School, 9101 Brabham Drive, Huntington Beach.

For more information on specific times and dates for all tryouts by division, visit https://www.ayso117.org or email Lou Piscopo, program coordinator, at Lpiscopo@np-attorneys.

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Baseball clinic dates set

The Lifeletics Spring Break Clinic, a three-day instructional baseball clinic that combines defensive, offensive and speed/strength/agility training, is April 19-21 at Wardlow Park (home of Huntington Valley Little League) in Huntington Beach. The clinic runs from 9 a.m. to noon all three days. The cost is $149 per person. To register, visit https://www.lifeletics.com. For more information, call (714) 843-1989.