Los Alamitos Griffins turned in another impressive win , downing Dana Hills 35-7 last Thursday at vets. Tailback Chris Soto rushed for a game high 170 yards on 25 carries and sophomore quarterback Clark Evans, running a stripped down version of the Griffin offense, completed 10 of 18 passes for -- and just as impressively, turning in 58 yards rushing, some on Earl Campbell-esque rushes that may make Barnes squirm a bit. And the defense again turned in a strong effort which kept the pressure on the quarterback and showed good team speed. Los Al now travels down 7th Street to face Long Beach Wilson this Thursday.

      Hey, you can’t say coach Jimmy Munoz of the Los Al Griffins volleyball team is afraid of a tough schedule.
      After just finishing the Durango-Las Vegas Tournament, featuring arguably, the toughest competition of any tournament in the nation, the Griffins face three stiff games this coming week, against Marymount (CIF-SS Division IV-AA champion) and perennial power Mater Dei (a Division II-AA semifinalist last season.
      But the match most people are looking forward to is this Thursday's (September 21) match-up between the Griffins, the defending state Division I champion, and Mira Costa, the top-ranked team in the country.
     Mira Costa has already beaten Los Al once, in the finals of the Ann Kang tournament in Hawaii, and downed two teams who defeated Los Al in Las Vegas this past weekend -- #2 Assumption, #8 La Costa (and Mater Dei as well) to win the championship in Las Vegas. This match-up is at Los Alamitos, and the Griffins hope to bring a full, healthy squad with them.
     Scheduled start time is 5:30, following the frosh-soph and JV games.

      The Griffins started the Durango Las Vegas tournament with 2-0 pool play wins over Whittell of Zephyr Cove, Nevada, Rim of the World (Lake Arrowhead) and Desert Vista, Arizona, but then fell 2-0 to Assumption (Louisville, Kentucky; #1 in the nation last year, and #2 pre-season in 2006; 12 of the last 14 Kentucky state titles) . The Griffins rallied for wins over Marymount and Bakersfield Christian, before falling to #8 ranked nationally La Costa Canyon 2-1. Just prior to going to Vegas, the Griffins lost the championship match of the Gahr Tornament, falling to Redondo, 3-1. And here’s the view from Redondo territory.

      Ok, I said last week, that Long Beach State was off to its best start in school history. Turns out I was wrong (I know, I know, very hard to believe, but nonetheless true).
      But after their wins this past weekend over Texas State and Tennessee-Martin at the Northern Arizona Tournament in Flagstaff, Arizona, the 49ers have now officially (7-1-0) posted its best start in school-history, and in the process have moved up to #21 in the nation (in the Soccerbuzz.com rankings. )
      Kristin Childers scored her first goal of the season in Beach's 1-0 victory over Tennessee-Martin (2-5-1) on Sunday morning, scoring off a rebounded corner kick attempt by Hayley Bolt and Sahar Haghdan at 76:36 to better the team's start from last year, which began the 2005 campaign at 7-1-1.
      On Friday, the 49ers scored a school-record six goals paced by two goals a piece by Kim Silos and Sahar Haghdan to easily defeat Texas State (1-5-0) 6-1,
      Perhaps the biggest surprise of the season so far for LB coach Mauricio Ingrassia has been the play of freshman defensive midfielder Sarah Strohl, who stepped in when defender Tiffany Vaught was injured. Needing somebody to handle UCLA’s height in the midfield, Strohl got the nod against the Bruins and turned in a stellar effort and has been in the starting line-up since then.
      The 49ers close out their three week road trip in the Spokane area next weekend, playing at Eastern Washington on Friday and at Gonzaga on Sunday.

      Oklahoma State improved its record to 6-1-1 when former Griffin Niccole Grimaldi's corner kick was headed in for the winning goal as the Cowgirls defeated Southern Utah (1-5-1), 2-0, at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex on a rainy Sunday morning. State downed on Friday.

      Pepperdine had a big weekend on the road -- downing #18 Kansas 3-1 on Friday and shutting out Arizona State 1-0 on Sunday night. Bo Medina started both games for Pepperdine.
      Still to see any action for the Waves this year is former Griffin Erin Bay (’05) who is still recovering and rehabbing from a sprained MCL, suffered when tackled from behind by a German u20 National Team player. This past summer, Pepperdine went to Europe and played German, Swedish u20 National teams. The rehab has not slowed down Bay’s noted proclivity for studying as she was named to the The West Coast Conference Commisioners Honor Roll, with the highest rating of "Gold Award", earning 3.97 GPA for the year, despite traveling with her team all year and undergoing knee surgery. Apparently, a single "A-minus" kept Erin from a perfect 4.0. (We hope next year Erin will get a little more serious about her academics and bear down a little harder.)

      Illinois which has been struggling came away with a big 4-1 win over Utah. Ex-Griffin Jamie Alvis (’05) saw extensive action for the first time this season.
      The Illini fell to St. Louis 2-1 in double overtime on Friday.

      They start Big 10 conference play this weekend against Wisconsin and Northwestern.

      In a mini-battle of former Griffins, the Evansville Purple Aces (Rocky Hearst ’05) downed the Virginia Tech Hokies (Megan Strawther ’06) 3-0 last Saturday.
      The Aces trumped Tech 38 seconds into the match for their first goal and added one in the fifth minute. Strawther, who had missed two games due to illness, played the entire second half, while Hearst played 44 minutes.

      Wright State extended its unbeaten streak to eight games with wins last weekend over Eastern Kentucky (4-2) and and Bowling Green (3-0). Dana Meisner, who’s been plagued with Achilles tendonitis, played in both contests and got off a shot in the latter contest.

      On the alumni mens side of things, Sammy Montemer is seeing a lot of action for Westmont, the #13th ranked team in NAIA. The Warriors fell 2-0 to Graceland (Iowa) and had their record drop top 3-2 on the season. Montemer has been starting at the left defender position. Sammy is starting and playing left defense. In the 9th Westmont Heritage Club Classic, Westmont scored three times in the second half to knock off #7 Oklahoma Baptist (Shawnee, OK) 3-1. They also beat #5 ranked beat Hastings College in the preseason by a score 2-0.

      Ex-Griffin David Bacani (LAHS '97) helped the Portland Sea Dogs win the Eastern league Playoff Championship by scoring from second on an infield single as the “PawSox” defeated Akron 8-5 in the fifth and final game of the best of five championship series on Sunday.
      Bacani is a two-time Eastern League all-star.

      Former Griffin J.T. Snow (LAHS '86), who was released by the Boston Red Sox in June, got a big standing ovation from the San Francisco fans when he showed up to watch a Giants game.
      Snow played for the Giants for nine years from 1997-2005, until the club declined to offer Snow arbitration last December, severing ties with the six-time Gold Glove winner who had worn orange and black longer than anyone other than Barry Bonds on the current team.

      It’s been a tough playoff for former Griffin Ronnie Prettyman (LAHS ’01) but his Inland Empire 66ers won the championship of the California League (Class A). The South division playoff against Lake Elsinore is probably one Prettyman would rather forget. He was just 1 for 15 in the four games (.067) and was dropped to seventh from his usual third spot in the batting order for game four. And when the 66ers, trailing 5-0, in the fourth game, rallied for six runs, Prettyman had already been replaced by a pinch hitter.
      However in the first two games of the Cal league best-of-five championship series against North winner Visalia, the ex-Griffin hit safely in both games from the seven-slot in the batting order, going 2 for 8 with a run scored, two walks and a RBI. Visalia won on on Friday to take a 2-1 lead in the best of five series. But , back home in San Bernardino, Inland Empire routed Visalia 8-2 on Sunday to force a fifth game on Monday night, and Prettyman had a single in that game which Inland Empire won 2-1.

      Speaking of Prettyman’s, Ronnie’s dad, Ron Prettyman, is now the athletic director of Indiana State University. A long-time resident of Los Alamitos, Ron was the athletic director at Cal State Dominguez Hills, and his wife Carol was a long-time music teacher in the Los Al School District. Here is an article on his first year at the university from the Terre Haute Tribune-Star.

      Former Griffin mens volleyball coach J.P. Calderon (he coached the Griffins in the late 90’s) is one of the contestants on the new season of Survivor: Cook Islands.
      Calderon coached the Griffins boys team for two seasons, and he has also been an assistant coach with the Long Beach State women’s team, and with Mizuno Long Beach girls club for which many Los Al players have played.. He played for the Long Beach State mens team prior to that.
      Calderon now joins an august list of local "ancillary" celebrities, a group which of course has to include former Los Al assistant principal Jerry Halpin (now the current principal at Brea Olinda HS) who once used Rosie O'Donnell as his lifeline on "Who Wants to Be a Millionairre?"
      If anybody else has the names of locals (non entertaining performers) who have had their fifteen minutes of fame, let us know.

      Seal Beach’s Beth Hibbard finished 7th place at the Triathlon at Pacific Grove up Monterey Bay way.Hibbard completed the 1.5k swim/ 40k bike ride/10k run course in a time of 2:14:15. The winning time was 2:06.17. Hibbard is a serious triathlete who has competed in the New York and Boston triathlons over the past year.

      On the subject on endurance athletes, former long distance swimmer (or open water swimmer as they often say nowadays) Lynn Cox of Los Alamitos has new book out. “Grayson” is an account of her encounter with baby whale while she was in training off Seal Beach. Here's another article written during her recent book-promotion tour.

      Cox is no longer the only person with a local connection to swim the English Channel. Dave and Richard Barnes who grew up in Seal Beach but now both live in Utah, have now both swam the 26 mile trench.

      Sacred Heart University in Connecticut is home to a colony of former locals, including Kristina Dolan and Caitlin Carroll of Rossmoor. Here’s a blurb on their former St. Hedwig classmate, Kelly Linskey of Seal Beach.

      Personal Sandbox. Old Man’s Volleyball Court in Seal Beach has been going strong for 17 years. (OC Register)

Sophomore Jennifer Schefski posted the third fastest time for a sophomore at the the Long Beach Invitational Cross Country meet September 9th, finishing the 3 mile course in 19:27. In the large schools senior race, In the large schools senior race, Jorge Torres of Downey edged Kyle Frost of Los Alamitos for a 15:59 to 16:02 win. Click here for results for Woodbridge Invitational on Sept. 16. (Lots of local participants).

      Incoming Los Al freshman Tricia Mar of Seal Beach capped her summer by winning the championship in the double Girls 14 division at the Long Beach Junior Tennis Open which finished on August 28.
      Riley and Tanner Smith lost in the doubles 12-14 quarterfinals. Hope Farrell and Sean Golden reached the quarterfinals in the Girls 10 and Boys 16 divisions at the Long Beach Junior Tennis Open.