Spurred on no doubt by Local Sports intimidating exhortations to get your keesters in gear, local parents hit the internet in record numbers to sign up their progeny (and possible prodigies) for the 2006-07 National Junior Basketball season.
      When the online spigot was turned off last Sunday night, just under 500 youths had been registered to play ball this season. While the record number will cause some scheduling problems in a community short of gym space -- all agree it is a good problem to have.
      City Director Mark Broersma and his crack staff are already seeking additional venues to host games.
      Even though a very large group of 8th graders graduated out of NJB after last season, their numbers were more than amply replaced by the addition of 182 new players who signed up this year. Those newcomers must show up this weekend for tryout/evaluations to be held at Oak Middle School. Times for the tryouts are on the NJB website.
      Also encouraging for the program is that 97 girls have registered to play -- showing continued growth for a program that had only 5 girls teams five years ago.
      The rookie and girls teams will be selected the week of October 18, while the Boys Divisions I-3 will be be made the following week after the usual rounds of sand-bagging, and desperate requests and rationalizations for co-coaches (whose child just happens to be a top-line player).
      The league also announced that Russ May, coach of the CIF-champion Los Al High Griffins basketball team, will once again host a skills clinic, to be held Sunday, November 5, 2006 at Los Alamitos High School. Cost is $25 (sign up for the clinic when you register). May and his coaching staff will conduct the clinic in two phases: Grades 1-4 will go from 2-4pm, while Grades 5-8 will work out from 4:30-6:30pm

      Los Al softball senior standout Jordan Wheeler has committed to play at Northwestern next season. Besides playing outfield on the Griffins softball team, Wheeler also plays on the Worth Firecrackers travel ball team which reached the finals of the ASA 18-gold (i.e., the best) division this past summer. Worth, which plays out of Huntington Beach, fell to the OC Batbusters in the championship game.
      On a tangential note – my specialty -- the Batbusters defeated the California Cruisers (of La Palma) in their semi-final game – meaning that three of the top four teams in the country hailed from Orange County. (Once we’re all done patting ourselves on the back, we can move on.)

      Wheeler is just one of many other Los Al female senior athletes who have been able to simplify their senior years and the chaotic college application process by committing to schools already, thanks to their success in sports.
      Griffin volleyballers have at least three who have committed to Div I schools. Geena Urango, a member of the US Junior National team, has committed to play next year at USC, while teammate Riley Cropper is a UC Irvine recruit and opposite hitter Bethany Keisner, will play for UC Berkeley next year. Keisner was named all-tournament at the top-notch Las Vegas Tournament-Durango a few weeks ago and was a recent OC Register Player of the Week.
     

      Not to be outdone the Griffins girls soccer team (which already has 10 players playing at Division I schools) will add five more next year as the following seniors have committed to DivI colleges: Lauren Bennett (Arizona), Taylor Cole (Cal Poly SLO), Casey Bay (Pepperdine), Tori Rocke (Northern Arizona), and Ginger Sossaman (Boise State). Katie Suits has also committed -- to UC Berkeley -- but she's a junior -- and that's a long way off.

      And I know I’ve probably overlooked somebody so please send those in, so I can sleep at night.

      The St. Hedwig girls 7th-8th grade volleyball team takes a 20-0 record into the start of league play this Thursday when they play St. Bonaventure.
      The Celts have captured both tournaments they’ve participated in, winning all nine game at the TCA Middle School Tournament held at Los Caballeros Sports Club in Fountain Valley on September 17, then taking the Brethren Christian Warrior Tournament on September 23, after winning all 11 games there.
      The Celtic 5th-6th grade teams have met with success as well, with the A team winning the younger division of the TCA tournament and the B team finishing in third place.

      Dan Rowlands – all 290 pounds of him – returned to the starting line-up for Washington State in their close but no cigar 28-22 loss to USC last Saturday. Rowlands (LAHS, '03) missed the previous week against Stanford with a knee strain.
      The Cougars (3-2) take on Oregon State this week, which is coached by former Seal Beach resident Mike Riley. Riley lived in these parts when he was an assistant coach with USC in the mid '90s.

      Former Griffin Nick Coromelas, now kicking for Cal Poly SLO, is 4-8 on FGs and 11 on PATs this season. Coromelas (LAHS '02) was a star defender on the Griffins 2002 CIF championship soccer team.
      Another ex-Griffin starting for the Mustangs is Kevin Van Gorder, (LAHS '01) who plays on special teams and does the long snapping.

      In an attempt to turn things around after two straight conference losses, Arizona Wildcat players (including ex-Griffin Antoine Cason '04) held a players-only meeting to talk things out. The 'Cats lost to Washington 21-10 last Saturday, with Cason getting burned on a couple long passes, one of the first times all season that has happened.
      Cason—one of Arizona’s more engaging players has begun a self-imposed ban on talking to the media to help focus on thiis weekend's upcoming game against UCLA. Arizona is now 2-3 on the season

      Jimmy Barnes (LAHS '05) has taken six snaps at Alabama but has not yet attempted any passes. Most of Barnes action came in mop-up action in Bama’s 41-7 romp over over Louisiana-Monroe.

      Local Danny Suits (LAHS '06) saw some national TV prime time action last night as his UCLA Bruins mens soccer team downed UC Santa Barbara 3-1 in a match televised live on the Fox Soccer Channel.
      With UCLA sporting a precarious 2-1 lead, Suits came in for the last ten minutes of the match to provide some additional possession skill in the inside midfield.
      Last week, Suits started the second half in the Bruins 2-1 OT win over No. 4 Washington last week and played a good chunk of minutes in the match which the Bruins won with 18 seconds left in the second overtime.
      The Bruins take on San Diego State on Sunday.

      Sammy Montemer (LAHS ’05) put Westmont College ahead with a goal in the 74th minute, but The Masters College managed to tie up the match and put a serious dent in Westmont College’s playoff hopes. Westmont is now 5-4-2 overall but 0-1-2 in league play. They host San Diego Christian this Saturday.