|
|
|
Although high school activity was light, there was still more than enough local happenings to keep us busy.
 The annual Los Alamitos 5k/10k Race at the Base somehow finagled some perfect weather between rainstorms. Among those who enjoyed the run were Alec Celestin (right), a fourth grader at Lee School ,who won the 1K Race. We'll have some photos of the race posted soon at our www.localsports.biz site You can see the results via a link at our site as well.
There is lots of big alumni news to report this week - from the three locals who are trying out for the US Women's National Volleyball team, to the showings at the NFL combine tryouts by ex-Griffins Antoine Cason and Orlando Scandrick... not to mention that four Griffins are on the roster for the Chapman University baseball team which moved up to the No. 1 spot in the Division III baseball rankings. And, as always there is lots of alumni softball action. For the latest alumni action (and even some alumni weddings and engagements) go to our GoLosAl.com alumni page. Los Al Youth Baseball and Seal Beach Pony Baseball have opened their seasons. St. Hedwig Pony Baseball joins them tomorrow and Los Al Girls Softball starts play next Saturday. If any of you parents take any good action photos this season, send them to us.
LOS AL HS HALL OF FAME: E-mails are flying among the teachers at Los Al as they try to come up with nominees for the Los Al HS Hall of Fame. Some great suggestions have been passed along, but, remember -- simple celebrity is not necessarily a qualification for the Hall of Fame. Our readers are also making suggestions. Robert Schwartz (Class of '70), suggested classmate Michael Hamrell who has distinguished himself in the field of Pharmacology as an international industry expert, and also had a very distinguished career with the FDA. Hamrell, who holds a PhD in Pharmacology from USC, actually graduated in Los Al's 1st class (1969) as an early graduate after completing 11 courses per term in his "junior/senior" year at Los Al. (Obviously he didn't use flex scheduling to sneak out and go surfing.) His resume is almost as long and impressive as that of Dr. Laura Cox (LAHS, '77, and sister of Lynne)-- who not only was on the US water polo team, but is a long time coach and a distinguished research doctor in Texas. The nominations are still open -- so if you have potential candidates to offer, let us know. ADVERTISING: We know we've been derelict at getting back to the many requests for advertising rates, but trust us, we will. The good news is that more and more people are viewing not only this newsletter, but also the Local Sports and GoLosAl websites -- and once we actually learn how to do what we're trying to do, the numbers will no doubt get even bigger.
A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO A FORUM: We have just added a forum which we hope will be used by people in the community to discuss issues and ideas and suggestions. All topics are up for grabs -- sports, politics, education, trivia -- with two conditions. The topic has to be of some community benefit or interest, and the comments should further the discussion -- unless the comment is really funny. I know there's always a danger that these things get hijacked by idiots, but I think it's worth the risk, and can be a good communication tool for the community. Since I just put it up, it's pretty bleak right now, but let's see what will happen.
FREE
PLUGS DEPARTMENT: Rossmoor school is having its Las Vegas Knight Life dinner/auction event on March 7. Details here... ...And the Miss Rossmoor pageant finally hits the Rush Park auditorium this Saturday. Doors open at 5 pm, with the pageant starting at 6pm. Tickets ordered
by phone today are $15. Call the Rossmoor Homeowners Association or Susan Rehman at 562.331.6519. Tickets bought at the door
are $20.
Okay, on to the good stuff.
| |
 Champions
Quest · 10712
Reagan Street
· Los
Alamitos, CA
90720 |
 The
Los Al Griffins Boys Soccer team had an apparent game-winning goal waved off and then fell to Newbury Park 1-0 in overtime in a CIF Boys Soccer semi-final match Tuesday on the victors field. The Griffins finished the season with a 23-5-3 record and still have an outside chance of qualifying for the first State soccer championships.
GIRLS SOCCER: Girls come up short against Aliso in quarterfinals
Aliso Niguel made two early wind-aided goals stand up throughout the match and defeated the Los Al girls soccer team 2-1 in their CIF quarterfinal match last Friday afternoon. Los Al got a late goal from junior Lauren Ingram off a Katie Suits cross to make it close but just seemed a step slow for most of the afternoon. The Griffins finished the season with a 20-6-3 record
GIRLS WATER POLO: Griffins get second chance in CIF Masters Tournament
The Los Al Girls Water Polo team, which fell in the Division quarterfinals two weeks ago, gets a chance at redemption when it opens play in the first girls CIF Master Tournament, which begins play at various sites around Southern California.
The Masters Tournament puts all top-ranked teams in one tournament, regardless of enrollment.
The Griffins, who enter the 16-team tournament as the no. six seed, will take on No. 11 El Toro at 2:30
p.m. at El Toro High. The winner of that matchup will face Dos Pueblos
and Murrieta Valley at 7 p.m., while the losers play at 6 p.m. The Griffin girls hope to duplicate the success of the Los Al Boys who won the first Boys Master Tournament last Fall.
|
| The Los Al Boys Volleyball team opened the spring sports season with a 3-1 win over Redondo on Wednesday evening. Senior outside hitter Dylan Bakker led the Griffins with 13 kills. The Boys next play in the Mater Dei challenge this Saturday.
BOYS GOLF: Griffins fall to Wilson 191-199
The Griffins John Kim shot a 1-over 37 but the Los Al Boys Golf team dropped its season opener to Wilson 191-199 in nonleague match at
Recreation Park GC. Wilson's Boris Stantchev
shot a 1-under par 35 to take honors.
BASEBALL: Griffins No. 3 in CIF pre-season
poll, open season Saturday against Woodbridge
The Los Al Griffins baseball team, ranked No. 3 in the CIF Division
I coaches poll which was released last week, will open the non-league
portion of its season today against Woodbridge in the first
round of the Loara Tournament.
The Griffins return a slew of all leaguers, including Arizona-bound
pitcher Kyle Simon, and UC Irvine -bound Beau Wright, and returning
all-leaguers Travis Garrett, Brian Tripp, Matt Avery and Kirk Singer.
If Los Al beats Woodbridge, they would play the winner of the
Millikan-Sonora match on Saturday. If they lose they
would play the loser of the same game.
And finally, the Los Al boys and girls swim teams open their season with the Sunset League Relays whichy are being held on Saturday at Fountain Valley High School.
|
  |
|
ALUMNI BASKETBALL: Duda becomes 14th Anteater to break 1,000 points
 Former Griffin Stephanie
Duda (LAHS '03) scored 15 points in the final home
game of her career as the UC Irvine Anteaters fell
to Long Beach State 59-53 Thursday night at the Bren Center.
With her points, the UCI senior from Lakewood
now has 1,003 in her career, and becomes the 14th Anteater women's
player to reach the 1,000-point plateau and ranks 13th overall in
the record books. Duda also led all players with 14 rebounds, recording
her league leading 16th double-double of the year.
|
 10554
Humbolt St (off Cerritos bet. Los Al Blvd &
Bloomfield) · (562)
598-CAGE (2243) |
ALUMNI SOFTBALL:
LB State hands ex-Griffin Stacy Nelson, and U. of Florida first loss of season
 A wide throw in the 10th inning gave
Long Beach State a 2-1 victory over previously unbeaten University
of Florida and former Griffin pitcher Stacey
Nelson.
The loss was the first of the season for Nelson
(Rossmoor, LAHS '05) and the No. 5 Gators. The Ex-Griffin (11-1) gave up five hits and struck
out 16 batters.
But Long Beach State pitcher Brooke Turner matched
her all the way, as she broke her own school record for strikeouts
with 16. The 32 combined strikeouts tied for the seventh-most
in NCAA history.
Earlier in the week Nelson (Rossmoor, LAHS '05) earned her second straight
Southeastern
Conference Pitcher of the Week award. It was the first time
in school history a Gator had earned the honor in back-to-back weeks.
Nelson and Florida are in town for this weekend's Worth Softball Classic at Cal State Fullerton. Among the other teams playing are No. 8 Stanford, Big East Champ Louisville, Purdue, St. John and Texas Tech.
The
Long Island University softball team, (with returning all-conference player Brittany
Murphy -- Rossmoor, LAHS '04) is the preseason favorite among
coaches in the Northeast Conference, but got off to a 3-7 start after
dropping
five games at the Palm Springs Invitational this past weekend. LIU returns eight
starters from last season's 34-win
team that advanced to the program's sixth NCAA Tournament.
2007 Los Al grads Jordan
Wheeler and Meghan
Mawn are starting for their new college teams. Wheeler for Northwestern
and Mawn of the University
of Miami (Ohio). And freshman pitcher Anna
Cahn pitched
a complete-game three-hitter to earn her first collegiate victory
and delivered a first-inning, bases-clearing double to assist the
Cal Poly softball team to a 3-1 opening-game victory against California
Friday at the Mustang Classic. Ex-Griffin
Nikki
Coppinger helped Cypress College defeat Orange Coast 9-1 in
five innings. The freshman first baseman went two-for-three with
two runs scored, a stolen base, and an RBI in the win.
|
|
YOUTH SPORTS: St. Hewdig BB teams take parochial titles; Irish are youth lacrosse champs
 The St. Hedwig Girls 7th-8th grader and Boys 5th-6th
grade basketball teams went undefeated en route to winning the Parochial
Athletic League titles.
The 7th & 8th grade boys team finished
second place in league, and the 5th & 6th grade girls team finished
fourth place in league.
All four teams are shown left with the St. Hedwig cheerleading squad. Their agents and entourage are off camera.
 Also earning some glory for the green (albeit somewhat muddy) this past week was the Fighting Irish youth lacrosse team (show right) which captured the Beach Cities Grades 5-6 title. The team finished the season undefeated and never trailed in a game all season. The Irish defeated the Terps in the finals, 11-6.
Members of the team are (front, l-r) Tyler Miller, Patrick Baikie, Jordan Bahn and Cullen Smith; (back row) Jackson Browner, Logan Hamilton, Jackson Stergios, Cody Miller, and Will Brines.
The Los Alamitos NJB season concludes this Sunday with semi-final and championship games in the three boys levels. Games will be played at Los Al High. The Rookie League championships also take place this weekend, so I'm sure some cute photos will be in the next issue.
More Youth sports
|
 |
CLUB SOCCER: Local youth teams continue with tryouts Two
local soccer clubs will be holding their final tryouts this Saturday morning. The Long
Beach Soccer Club, will hold tryouts on Saturday, March 1, at George Allen Field at Long Beach State, while Cypress Futbol Club will be ending a week's worth of tryouts on Saturday February 24.
And The FC Long Beach Boys Under 13 Stallions will also be holding open tryouts on March 11th and 13th from 7:00 - 8:30, at Bancroft Middle School in Long Beach. The Stallions had nine wins as a Bronze team last season and are looking to move up to Silver. More information is available at the FC Long Beach website.
|
ALUMNI FOOTBALL: Cason and Scandrick impress at NFL Combine
Tryouts
Two defensive backs with local connections looked
good at the final day of the NFL Combine Tryouts held on the
RCA Dome turf in Indianapolis. Antoine Cason (LAHS '04), the Jim
Thorpe Award winner from the University of Arizona, surprised scouts
(who had questioned his speed), running his 40s in the high 4.4-second
range. He performed well in all elements of the practice session,
displaying polished footwork and cornerback mechanics.
Another former Griffin, Orlando Scandrick ('05),
a junior at Boise State this past season, clocked the second fastest
time in the 40 with a 4.32, much faster than scouts had anticipated.
Combine
results at NFL.com
Ex-Griffin
Mike Patterson charged with marijuana possession
 In
one of those days when it might have been better to go with Plan
B, former Griffin football star Mike Patterson -- a starting defensive
lineman for the Philadelphia Eagles -- was arrested in a Philadelphia
suburb last week and charged with posession of a small amount of
marijuana.
Patterson was charged with possession of marijuana
under 50 grams and released pending a court appearance, police said.
His older brother, Tyrone, who by some reports had "several
outstanding warrants," was charged with resisting arrest, posted
bail and was released pending a court appearance, police said.
On the better side of the news, here is a video
interview with Patterson where he talks about football.
|
Shameless sales pitch for advertisers
 Call Local Sports (562) 431-7001 or click ad for rates |
ALUMNI VOLLEYBALL: Moss, Urango, Vargas among invitees to national team tryouts
Former Griffins Rachael Moss
(LAHS '06) and Geena Urango ('07) are among the
invitees to the The U.S.
Women's National Volleyball Team Open Tryouts which were
held last week at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
Another local, Nicole Vargas (Seal Beach, St. Joseph
'05) was also invited to the party.
113 athletes participated in the training sessions
-- hoping to earn a spot on the U.S. Women's National and
Olympic Teams, along with the Senior A2 Team. The USA A2 Team, which
will tentatively be two teams of 10 members each, will train and
compete in the USA Open Championships in Atlanta between May 18-28.The
tryouts continue through Sunday.
Metheny impressing for Rutgers-Newark
 Freshman
outside hitter Grant
Metheny (LAHS '07) had nine kills, hit .571 with nine
kills and added five digs and two assisted blocks but Rutgers-Newark
fell to Princeton 3-0 (30-19, 30-28, 30-28) on Feb. 19.
Metheny, who earned a scholarship to Rutgers-Newark
after his performance at last summer's national Junior Olympic tournament,
also had some good
highlight video footage in Rutgers 3-0
win over East Stroudsburg on Feb. 16
Paul Lotman turned in strong back-to-back performances for Long
Beach State in wins
over Ohio State this past weekend. Lotman dominated the weekend's
matches, scoring 57.5 total points. His command Friday gave him
a career-high 32 kills. He also had eight blocks and 10 digs for
the weekend.
Lotman had a season-high 28 kills helping lift third-ranked Long
Beach State to a 30-24, 31-33, 30-22, 39-37 win at USC the week
before.
Ex-Griffin Katie Rowe earns Hon. Mention AA honors at MIT
Looking
at the somehow we overlooked this department... former Griffin Katie
Rowe (LAHS '06) had a great sophomore season at MIT,
earning Honorable Mention All-American honors, as well as all-New
England Conference and being named MVP at two tournaments, and making
the all-tourney team at three during the season. En route to this
Katie led her team in points, and kills, and set a school single
season record in blocks. She also finished 20th in the nation in
hitting percentage, and was her Conference Player of the Week for
September 16, 2007.
|
ALUMNI - PERFORMING ARTS: Ex-Griffin Susan Egan to star
in new version of The Who's "Tommy" in June
 Former
Los Al (LAHS '89, left) Susan Egan , who can currently be seen in
the independent film "The
Meet Market" will take a turn in a "radical new"
stage version of The Who's
"Tommy" to debut in LA in June.
Egan, who will play Mrs. Walker, starred on Broadway
in Cabaret, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Cabaret and was has been
the voice in a number of Disney vehicles. She will co-star with
Haylie Duff (Broadway's "Hairspray" and the movie "Napoleon
Dynamite") and Nona Hendryx (an R&B singer an R&B singer,
best known as part of the group LaBelle). The production will run
June 18-29 at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre in Hollywood.
For more information, call 323-230-9819.
|
COMMUNITY: LAFCO report says Rossmoor can be self-sustaining city
An official report generated by LAFCO -
the Local Agency formation Committee - says that cityhood
for the unincorporated community of Rossmoor is fiscally feasible
if residents are willing to pay a utility tax of seven per cent - or roughly $192 per year for gas, water and electricity.
LAFCO has scheduled an Incorporation Workshop in Rossmoor on Wednesday,
March 12, 2008, starting at 6:00 PM at Rush Park Auditorium (3021 Blume
Drive).
LOS ALAMITOS
St. Isidore Open House gives new life to
an old church
Nearly
100 parishioners and community residents gathered last Sunday at St. Isidore's
Church in Los Alamitos to celebrate an agreement with the
Diocese of Orange that lets them lease the property and raise
money to buy it - church included.
Last July, the group struck a six-year agreement
with the diocese to lease the three buildings on the property
- the first of which was renovated and re-opened Sunday
- and raise $1.2 million to buy the lot. (more
from OC Register)
SEAL BEACH
Seal Beach Pier is open
again -- LB Press-Telegram -- The Seal Beach Pier reopened
Tuesday morning after repair crews removed two broken pilings pummeled by
powerful waves from the weekend's heavy.
Students
spend day in someone else's shoes -- (OCRegister, Feb. 25, 2008) - McGaugh school program teaches empathy through emulating disabilities.
|
|
See you on the fields (or the courts, the pitch, etc.)
Sincerely,
Larry & Nancy Strawther
Big Kahuna & Boss Kahuna, Local Sports
Phone: (562) 431-7001
Fax: (562) 431-7001
|
|
|
