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With regular seasons now over, Los Al winter sports teams await the CIF Playoff pairings and schedules to be announced this weekend. Leading the way for Los Al are two league champions -- Boys Basketball and Girls Soccer. Basketball turned in a school-best-ever regular season record of 26-1 (10-0 in league). Girls soccer provided a little more anxiety for their fans, but they secured their Sunset League title Thursday evening, finishing with an 8-1-1 mark.
Boys Soccer and Girls Water Polo both came in second place and wrestling finished third -- and all advance as well.
While its not an official sport (but probably the most expensive and time intensive as well), the Girls Song team returned from their national competition in Florida with a third place finish in jazz and a fifth in pom. The squad had won the state championship earlier in the school year.
The Griffins are now on Facebook. With so many Griffin graduating classes and other groups had different sites, we've set up an account - Los Al Griffin - where they can all be seen at one site. Hey it's a work in progress, but if you want to get in touch with your former Griffin friends -- students, faculty, parents -- sign up. Read more details below.
STATE
OF LATV: Los Al City Council will be holding
a workshop on the future of LATV on Tuesday. I
happen to think that in a community like ours (three
separate cities, no one single newspaper with a large
degree of coverage) LATV can be a effective mode of
communication -- and not just re: high school sports.
I think it should be run by a non-profit (for many reasons),
and forge far stronger relationships with Rossmoor and
the school district. There are definite upsides
for all parties if they do. Unfortunately, LATV
was the victim of the convergence of a lot of different
factors and to move forward we all have assume that
although many city actions had unintended consequences,
that everybody involved with LATV acted with the best
of intentions. (In fact, I just told the OC Register
that a few minutes ago, so we'll see if that comes across
in their article). Anyway the meeting is at 5pm
on Tuesday. Hopefully, it will be civil and productive...
Speaking of TV, CBS' latest "Amazing Race" starts
at the JFTB Base this Sunday.
 IN THE HOUSEKEEPING FILE: When Griffin senior Madeline Caddell was named the 2009 Queen of Courts, we didn't have a group photo available of Maddy and her court. So here it is. Click it (or click here) to go to a larger photo. Shown left are (l-r) Katrina Metoyer,
Bethley Honma, Jessa Yukihiro, Queen Maddy Caddell, Kelly Holford,
and Francine Crowell.
RETRO ROCKIN': Longtime
Rossmoor figure Kevin Lamp is hosting a 70's retro party at Frisco's on Los Coyotes in
Long Beach on March 14 -- aimed at all the former Los Al-Rossmoor"party
animals" who attended (or even taught at) St.Hedwig, Rush School, Oak
Jr. High and Los Al High School. (Why he's having a "Los Al-Rossmoor party animal" event in Long Beach is interesting, but nonetheless, the event is even open to non-qualifying
friends -- no need to scrounge up a fake student body card). Sounds like the
perfect opportunity for those who have been wondering what to do with
their white Saturday Night Fever suit (and all those Deney Terio dance moves you've memorized), or in need of a Black Oak
Arkansas fix. For more info, contact Kevin Lamp.
FREE PLUGS DEPARTMENT:
The Los Al Band's Drumline Corps is hosting a cow chip bingo fundraiser on Feb. 28, 2009. Tickets on sale until Feb. 14. Their blog has the details. (www.lahscowchipbingo.blogspot.com)... Los Al Pop Warner wants to go all out to put on a first rate cheer and song program this year. If interested, call Rob Blank at (562) 743-7657. (By the way, their song team team did a great routine at halftime of the Los Al -Edison game. I think it will be shown on the LATV Broadcast that Mark Broersma and I humbly announce.)The Los Alamitos Jazz Band Class Notes fundraising concert wil be held March 7. Two shows at 6 pm and 8pm. Ticket info can be seen here. The event, usually a sell-out, features Wayne Bergeron's big band. Bergeron, a highly sought studio trumpet player, earned a 2004 Grammy nomination for his solo work on "You
Call This A Living?" .Los Al High tennis mom and Seal Beach resident, Donna Wares, has started a blog -- the Seal Beach Daily -- to cover events in the SB, Los Al, Rossmoor area. Hmmm, competition... but if it helps the community, we're all for it.
HISTORY BUFF ALERT! We're involved with putting together a History of Los Alamitos and Rossmoor. If you have any old photos showing Los Al or Rossmoor history (real, cultural or sports), please contact us.
HOLD THE DATE: Two golf tournaments are on the fundraising calendar. The Los Al Boys football boosters annual tournament and silent auction at Old Ranch in late March this year. Details should be available on their web site fairly soon.
Also, the Los Al Chamber of Commerce is holding their annual golf tournament on April 20th -- also at Old Ranch. The Chamber is letting the Los Al track boosters host the silent auction and all monies from that will go to the team's all-weather track fund. On to the good stuff...
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LAHS BOYS BASKETBALL: Los Al thumps Marina & Edison, wins 10th Sunset title in 11 years
The Los Alamitos Griffins survived a rough start and finally outran Edison 68-37 to finish the Sunset league with a 10-0 record, and extend their school-record winning streak to 24 games.
Junior James Walker led all scorers with 19 points, despite not entering the game until midway through the first quarter as it was senior night -- the final regular season game for 11 Los Al seniors -- team captain Nathan Berger, Jacob Cheek, Joseph Coromelas, Clark Evans, Jeff Given, Brandon Harris, Ahntwan Harris, Arthur Mogilevsky, Sean Norum, Tony Ramirez, and Eric Zickefoose.
Los Al finishes the regular season with mark of 26-1, besting the previous school best of 25-1 posted by the 1969-70 Griffin squad which eventually went 27-2 overall and reached the CIF 3-A quarterfinals.
Despite their record the Griffins will go into the playoffs as a unknown commodity. They have only played against two top-rankled teams, falling to No. 3 ML King of Riverside in the Cerritos-Gahr tournament semi-finals, and downing No. 5 Etiwanda on Martin Luther King birthday showcase.
As a first place team they should draw a third place team in the first round, but it's highly possible that team could come out of the tough Moore League - which would set up a Los Al-Wilson match.
The CIF changed their playoff format criteria this year, going back to enrollment based breakdowns, so Los Al (with over 3,000 students) will play in Division I-AA, while Edison and Marina (both with much less than that) will play in Division I-A.ts.
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LAHS GIRLS SOCCER: Girls soccer downs Edison to claim Sunset league title
 Junior Ari Carillo (left)scored two goals and freshman Callie Taylor added a third as the Los Alamitos Griffins girls soccer team defeated Edison 3-1 Thursday to finally lock up the Sunset League championship.
Carillo finished the regular season as the team's leading scorer with 8 goals and two assists.
The Griffins started the league season 8-0 but made things interesting for fans, parents and coaches by losing to Esperanza 3-1 last week and then getting tied by Marina 2-2 on Tuesday, making the league finale against Edison a must-win.
The CIF brackets will be posted Monday morning. Los Al was ranked No. 5 in this week's latest rankings.
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LAHS GIRLS WATER POLO: Griffins fall to Newport Harbor, finish 2nd in Sunset League
In their third meeting this year, the Newport Harbor Sailors
(20-6, 5-0) took a 9-5 decision in their home pool to beat the Los Al Griffins
(22-5, 4-1) and win the league title.
Newport finished the season with a 20-6, 5-0 record). Los Al will take a 22-5, 4-1 mark into the CIF playoffs which begin next week.
PRESS-TELEGRAM: Los Alamitos takes 2nd; Newport Harbor wins Sunset League, but CIF rematch possible
OC REGISTER story:
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LAHS BOYS SOCCER: Griffins down Marina 2-0 in finale, take 2nd place in Sunset League
The Los Al Boys Soccer team downed Marina 2-0 on Wednesday and secured second place in the Sunset league all to themselves. The Griffins finished the league season with a 6-3-1 record. Esperanza was first with a 7-2-1 mark.
The CIF soccer playoff schedule will be announced on Monday.
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PREP WRESTLING: Griffins finish 3rd in Sunset championships; Masterson wins Trinity title
Los Al wrestlers Nick Periera and Clayton Peters each finished in first place in the 140 and 152 pound divisions, respectively, at the Sunset League wrestling championships held last Saturday at the Los Al gym, to lead a group of 12 Griffin wrestlers who qualified for the CIF Individual Championships first round which will be held Feb 20-21 at Los Osos High School in Rancho Cucamonga.
Overall the Griffins finished in third place with 127 points at the meet, behind Fountain Valley (150 points), and Edison (142.5).
This Saturday, Los Al will host the first round of CIF-SS Division I Dual Meet playoffs.
The complete group of Griffins who will advance are: 2nd Place:
Anthony Leonard (103); 3rd Place-Rene Sandoval (112); Zach Sturm (125); Dave Urbina (135); Bryan Polomik (160); Edwin Bang (171); Larry Opkins (215).
 Rossmoor resident Scott Masterson (left), now attending Servite High School, won the Trinity League's 140-pound division this past weekend. Masterson, who previously attended St. Hedwig school, will compete with his Friar teammates in the CIF Dual Meet competition tihs weeked at Alta Loma High School. |
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LAHS
SPORTS: Gaggle of Griffins sign letters of intent
to play college sports next season
Six Los Al athletes officially signed Letters of intent
last Wednesday at a National Letter of Intent signing
ceremony at Los Al HS. Pictured above with their
parents are (l-r) Kylie Bay (women's soccer, Humboldt
State), Francine Crowell (lacrosse, Notre Dame), Kelly
Holford (volleyball, Washington), Clark Evans (football,
Colorado), Jessa Yukihiro (soccer, Southern Utah) and
Katie Peterson (soccer, Long Beach State). Other
sports had signing dates in November.
Below is an updated but probably
still incomplete list of Los Al athletes who have committed
to play college athletics next season.
- Francie
Crowell (womens lacrosse, Notre Dame)
- Kelly
Holford (womens volleyball, Washington)
- Jessica
Dunn (women's water polo, UC Davis)
- Katrina
Metoyer (softball, Western Kentucky)
- Brittany
and Channelle Spalding (softball, Tennessee
Tech)
- Beau
Wright (baseball, UC Irvine)
- Alex Cours (women's crew, Stanford)
- Heather Hargreaves (women's crew, UC Berkeley)
- Meguire Broersma (women's crew, UCLA)
- Katie Peterson (women's soccer, Long Beach State)
- Jessa
Yukihiro (women's soccer, Southern Utah)
- Kylie Bay (women's soccer, Humboldt State)
- Clark
Evans (football, Colorado)
- Paul
Richardson (junior, football, UCLA)
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LAHS ALUMNI: Join the Griffins on Facebook
I've had a Facebook account for a few years but stayed
away because I felt like I was eavesdropping on my kids
-- which can be interesting, but well, we won't go there.
Anyway, a recent perusal of FB made me realize that
seemingly half of all Los Al HS alumni probably have
accounts on Facebook - and have probably posted half
their old class photos online as well -- especially
the former Rush Road Runners (who have their own group
-- and that is Mrs. Shier's 1979-80 3rd-4th grade class
shown above. (I wonder if there's a Weaver Beaver
group -- yes, that was their nickname before they went
politically correct. But I digress.) Anyway,
being involved in helping set up a Los Al HS Alumni
group, and seeing how many were already on Facebook,
I thought why try to re-invent the wheel? So I have
set up an account -- Los
Al Griffin - where all the individual Los Al HS
alumni reunion groups on FB can be seen at one site.
It's a work in progress, but if you want to get in touch
with your former Griffin friends -- students, faculty,
parents -- sign up. If you want to view the larger
version of the above photo, but you don't want to sign
up for Facebook, click
here.
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ALUMNI SOFTBALL: Nelson ready for another trip to NCAAs; shares UF top honor with Tebow 
Former Griffin Stacey Nelson (LAHS '05) who led Florida to a NCAA record 7-0 wins last season won two of her first three games this season and is ready to help Florida make a run for their second trip to the College Softball World Series. Nelson gets the full profile treatment in an ESPN.com story. She also shared with Tim Tebow the honor of being Florida's top athlete last season. Another former standout Griffin pitcher, Anna Cahn (LAHS '07) is off to a 2-0 start for Cal Poly SLO. Cahn defeated Indiana 6-0 and San Diego State 7-3 in her first two outings.
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ALUMNI BASEBALL: Chapman opens season at No. 2, and is now 5-2
The Chapman University baseball team, which opened the season, ranked No. 2 in the NCAA
Division III preseason poll by Collegiate Baseball, dropped two of its first three games, but with the help of some ex-Griffins is now 5-2.
Freshman rightfielder Eric Robbins (LAHS '08) drove in a pair of runs and stole a base in the Panthers' season opening win. He is hitting .350 on the season, while another ex-Griff, junior leadoff hitter Ryan Prechtl (LAHS '06), is hitting .310.
Last season the
Panthers clinched their fourth straight West Region title finishing
40-5 and No. 6 in the nation.
One year after finishing the regular season as co-Big West Champions,
Long Beach State was picked to finish fourth in the conference in 2009.
Former Griffin Brandon Godfrey has graduated, but the Dirtbags will still have two Griffins on the roster -- outfielder Matt Avery and infielder Kirk Singer (both LAHS '08). Although The Big West Preseason Poll was released by the conference office
today, with Long Beach State picking up one first-place vote.
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ALUMNI BASKETBALL: Jones averaging 18 points a game over last month for NAU
Cameron Jones (LAHS '07), who has been average over 18 points a game in Northern Arizona University's last six outings, gets a nice write up in the school's online paper.
Landry Fields (LAHS '06) scored a career high 22 points but it wasn't enough as Stanford fell to No. 22 Washington.
ALUMNI FOOTBALL: Childs declares for NFL draft
 Former Griffin Jeremy Childs (LAHS '05), who is the No. 2 all-time receiver at Boise State, will forgo an opportunity to lay claim to the No. 1 spit and has declared for the NFL draft.
Childs, who was originally not invited to the NFL combine received an invite late last month for the event which indicates the NFL Scouts think he has a chance to be a draft pick if he can show them he has NFL level speed. The Combine will be held next week (Feb 18-24) in Indianapolis. To prepare he is currently working out in Los Angeles.
Childs is the all-time leading Los Al receiver for number of receptions (203) and most touchdowns (39). Both are also Orange County records.
 Anthony Giambona (LAHS '06), a 2006 All-Sunset League Linebacker for Los Alamitos HS has received a scholarship to play football at Ottawa University in Kansas. Anthony was a free safety and punter for the Golden West College Rustlers this past season. He is already enrolled at Ottawa U. to participate in their spring football program. Time permitting, Anthony (shown left with his mother, Martie Kubiak) plans on running the 400meter on the track team as well for Ottawa.
ALUMNI WATER POLO: Miller making impact for UC Davis Aggie polo-ists
Former Griffin Kaylee Miller, now a freshman at UC Davis, is already making an impact with that program. She was the team's co-leading scorer at the recent NorCal Cup.
Danielle Pelke (LAHS '06) is a co-captain for No. 5 ranked San Diego State, which won four games this past weekend, beating three nationally ranked teams in the top 15, improved its record
to 6-0 and repeated as champions of the UCSD Triton Invitational. SDSU's pre-season preview can be seen here.
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YOUTH SOCCER: Beach Soccer announces open tryout schedule - begins this weekend
Beach Soccer will be holding open tryouts for its younger (U14 and below) the next coming weeks, beginning this weekend, February 14 and 15. Times, locations and more details are available at the club's website at www.beachfutbolclub.com.
Five Beach teams won league championships last season - the GU10 team (Bronze West), GU12 (Silver Elite North), BU14 (Bronze Omega) and the GU19 team which won Silver Elite South. |
LOS ALAMITOS REC DEPARTMENT
Online Scores & Results
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Shameless sales pitch for advertisers
 Call Local Sports (562) 431-7001 or click ad for rates |
EDUCATION:
Los Al Unified looks to trim $5.2 million from budget (OC Register, Tuesday, February 10, 2009)
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That's all for this issue.
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
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