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Thursday, May 29, 2008 ALUMNI BASEBALL: Godfrey provides LB State Dirtbags with 'backbone' from LB Press-Telegram
Long Beach State goes into the NCAA regional it hosts Friday with a pair of players who fill that requirement, two seniors who represent different vertebra of a team's spine. Brandon Godfrey is the rarest of college baseball players, a fifth-year senior who sets a tone in the dugout and on the practice field with his knowledge and faith in all things Dirtbag. Travis Howell is a senior catcher and resolute last line of defense for the team, and a player whose pitchers have come to depend on as much for his determination to make them better as his play. It's perhaps indicative of their personalities that they are very focused on making sure this isn't their last weekend in Long Beach jerseys. They're holding on to their last moments as a Dirtbag, much as a spine holds up a body. Godfrey (in photo, on left, with Howell), who won the Big West Conference Player of the Week award on Monday, grew up baseball. His father Kelly played at UCLA and in the Minnesota Twins farm system and his brother Ryan played two seasons at Vanderbilt. The former Los Alamitos standout was a redshirt in 2004 when his teammates included Troy Tulowitzki, Jered Weaver, Cesar Ramos, Jason Vargas, Neil Jamison, John Bowker and Mike Hofius. He played two seasons with Tulo, and two with Evan Longoria, and three ... more |
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Wednesday, May 29, 2008 ALUMNI SOFTBALL: Nelson named to ESPN Academic All-American squad
Nelson, the 2008 Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year, owns a 45-3 record on the season with five saves. Her 45 wins set the school record and her five saves equals her own school record. She has a 0.73 ERA and has struck out a school record 337 batters in 316.2 innings. Only 27 of the 176 hits she has given up this season have been for extra bases, and only one a home run. She is holding opponents to a .161 batting average. more |
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Saturday, April 12, 2008 ALUMNI WP: Kilgore helps Fremantle to Australian national club title Former Griffin and San Diego State water polo goalkeeper Sarah Kilgore helped her Fremantle Marlins squad to a dramatic come-from behind win in the Australian National Water Polo League championship game last month.
Sarah was their only goalie for all 25 games Fremantle played this year, and finished it in strong style -- with Fremantle downing Sydney University (with their keeper being Kilgore's long time OC rival Emily Feher out of Foothill) 15-14 in the quarterfinals, then winning the semi-finals 8-7 over the Cronulla Sharks, before downing the Balnmain Tigers 11-9 in overtime on April 12. Kilgore (shown right in a shot taken by her dad, John, on a recent trip to watch her play) made a key save in the game when she blocked a 5-meter penalty shot. More info on the championship game.
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March 5, 2008 ALUMNI VOLLEYBALL: Grgas dives into the middle for Hawaii; Carroll scores career high 18 kills in UC Irvine loss The Honolulu Star-Bulletin ran a long feature article on former Griffin Steven Grgas (LAHS '05) -- an outside hitter forced by circumstances to play middle blocker for the University of Hawaii and who is currently ranked third in the conference in blocks. complete article Kevin Carroll (LAHS '07) had a career best 18 kills for UC Irvine but it was enough as the Anteaters fell to Ohio State in five games last weekend. |
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February 29, 2008
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 caree, 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.
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February 28, 2008
ALUMNI MARRIAGES: Former Griffins Shara Prettyman and Amber Kuhn announce engagements; Levin, Radaich & Seaborn get married (no, not to each other) Los Al grad ('97) Shara Prettyman -- now living in Indiana -- and Craig Enyeart of Terre Haute, Indiana, will be married in June. Shara is the daughter of former Los Al district music teacher Carol Prettyman and Ron Prettyman, the former athletic director at Cal State Dominguez Hills who now holds the same position at Indiana State University. (more)
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February 26, 2008 SOFTBALL: Coppinger goes 2-3 for Cypress in win
Cypress improves to 9-0 and 3-0 in conference. They move on to Wednesday action where they will host Santiago Canyon which is off to a 14-4 record and tied with Cypress in first in conference at 3-0. The two face off to determine the sole leader in conference Wednesday at 3:00 pm at Cypress. 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 during the practice session, displaying polished footwork and cornerback mechanics. Another former Griffin, Orlando Scandrick ('05), a junior at Boise State this past season, clocked his 40 in the mid 4.3-second area, much faster than scouts had anticipated. |
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February 25, 2008 SOFTBALL: Ex-Griffin Nelson off to 11-0 start for 19-0 Florida; Ex-Griffin Murphy, LIU picked to win Northeast Conference
Nelson (right) struck out 13 last Sunday as the seventh-ranked Florida Gators defeated Notre Dame 5-2 in the championship game of the Aquafina Invitational in Gainesville, Florida. With the win she ran her record to 11-0 (and Florida improved to 19-0) and struck out a career high 13 Irish. Nelson's former LAGSL all-star teammmate, Heather Johnson (Los Alamitos, Mater Dei '06) had single in the sixth inning to drive in two runs, and thwart nelson's shutout bid. (game stats) Earlier in the week, in a 5-0 win over Hofstra, Nelson pitched a school record 39 2/3 consecutive shutout innings, beating her own record of 29 shutout innings set last season from May 5 to May 12. Nelson also tied her career-high with 12 strikeouts on the night, her fourth double-digit strikeout performance of the season. She was selected as the SEC Pitcher of the Week for her work. Nelson and Florida return to action on Wednesday at Long Beach State, the first game in a California swing that will also see them face off against Oregon State, Pacific, No. 23 Cal State Fullerton, Louisville and No. 12 Stanford in the Worth Invitational in Fullerton. All Florida softball games are broadcast on internet radio at www.gatorzone.com
In the pre-season poll, LIU received eight first-place votes in a poll conducted by the league's coaches. The team eight starters, including all-conference player Brittany Murphy (left, LAHS '04), 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.
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February 25, 2008 MEN'S VOLLEYBALL: Metheny impressing for Rutgers-Newark
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 continued to make
believers as he 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. WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL: Rowe earns AA Honorable Mention at MIT; Moss, Urango, Vargas invited to US 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. |
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February 21, 2008 PERFORMING ARTS: Ex-Griffin Susan Egan to star in new version of The Who's "Tommy" 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. |
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February 21, 2008 FOOTBALL: Cason projected as high second round NFL draft pick, wait, make that late first round... or is that third round? A mock NFL draft on The Bleacher Report fan site has ex-Griffin Antoine Cason going as the 28th pick of the first round, to the Dallas Cowboys. If you have too much time on your hands, it's an interesting take by someone with even more time on their hands. But USA Today comes up with a similar scenario. And here's a nice couple paragraphs on a 49ers fan website on Cason and his family background and his efforts to raise money for the American Cancer Society (his grandfather died of leukemia).
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February 20, 2008 FOOTBALL: Ex-Griffin Mike Patterson arrested, charged with marijuana possession
Patterson and his older brother, Tyrone, were arrested on Feb. 16 when Evesham (N.J.) police said they found a vehicle on the side of the road with damage caused by a minor motor vehicle accident around 6 a.m. Police said they smelled burning marijuana coming from inside and found Patterson and the marijuana inside. They said Patterson admitted it was his. 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. Mike Patterson may face disciplinary action from the league, in accordance with the stricter conduct policies instated last year. On the better side of the news, here is a video interview with Patterson where he talks about football. |
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ALUMNI FOOTBALL: Cason receives Thorpe award Former Griffin Antoine Cason (LAHS '04) was officially presented the Jim Thorpe award for the best defensive back in college football at a ceremony in Oklahoma City Tuesday night. Cason, an all-american at the University of Arizona the past few years, got a nice write-up in the International Herald-Tribune.
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February 1, 2008
Riverside - The Press-Enterprise — Cathy Rigby's (LAHS '71) first career is both blessing and curse. No matter that she has been doing musical theater for 30 years and was nominated for a Tony Award for her Broadway role as "Peter Pan," she remains first-and-foremost in many minds an Olympic athlete. She is relaxed about it, though, and laughs when she says there are reviewers who say she sings well for a gymnast. She did pay her dues, studying voice and acting for seven years before being cast in musicals such as "The Wizard of Oz," "Annie Get Your Gun," "South Pacific" and "Paint Your Wagon." (complete article)
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VOLLEYBALL: Grgas haircutting abilities has U.Hawaii buzzing (Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Feb. 13) UCLA downs Hawaii. Gergas gets 8 kills (video from KGMB9 in Hawaii.)
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Jan. 28, 2008 ALUMNI NEWS: Cason, Hutten top list of four ex-Griffins who earn All-American honors Four former Griffin athletes -- Antoine Cason, Tim Hutten, Scott Davidson and Rachael Moss -- topped tremendous fall season by earning All-American honors in their sports. Ex-Griffin Antoine Cason (LAHS '04) and a defensive back for the University of Arizona this past season, scored big-time in the annual college football post-season honors races - making All-Pac 10, consensus All-America, and winning the Jim Thorpe award as the nation's top defensive back. Cason Cason was invited to play in the Senior Bowl on January 26 but passed, choosing to relocate to Florida to prepare for the NFL combine down there in February. A good showing - especially in the 40-yard dash could make the difference between being a first or lower round draft choice and millions of dollars in contract. Also earning some All-American love this past
Fall was Tim Hutten who capped a tremendous season at UC Irvine
by being named a first team All-America on the coaches water polo
squad. Hutten, a senior two-meter man led the Anteaters with 75
goals this season and topped the MPSF with an average of 3.75 goals
per UCLA sophomore Scott Davidson (LAHS '05) was named an honorable mention All-American selection. Davidson scored a team-leading 49 goals in 27 matches last season and his 49 goals marked the highest single-season total at UCLA since 2004. The Seal Beach, Calif., native scored in all but four matches and concluded his sophomore season having scored in each of the Bruins' final 14 games (31 goals in that span). Davidson was also recently named to the US Men's National Team "B" Squad. Former Griffin volleyball standout Rachael Moss, now playing for Duke, also earned an honorable mention spot for her play this past season. ALUMNI VB: Ex-Griffin Paul Lotman is National Player of Week after leading Beach to 6-0 mark Led by former Griffin Paul Lotman (LAHS '03) the Long Beach State Mens Volleyball team is sporting a 6-0 record and is currently perched at No 3 in the NCAA Division I rankings. Lotman, an outside hitter, was named the Sports Imports/AVCA Division I National Player of the Week after guiding the 49ers to two victories to open the mens volleyball season in early January. The fourth-ranked 49ers, led by Lotman, defeated then-seventh-ranked UC Irvine, and followed it with a victory against then-No. 4 UCLA. Lotman recorded 42 kills, 13 digs and hit .307 in the two victories. Beach will be at home for its next three matches - Jan 30 against Pepperdine, Feb. 1 against USC and Feb. 8 against UC San Diego. Former Griffin Kevin Carroll, now a freshman at Irvine, led the Anteaters attack in their loss to Beach, recording 15 kills. Carroll had 14 kills in a 3-1 loss to No. 8 Stanford on Jan. 12. UCI coach John Speraw called Carroll, a 6-4 outside hitter out of Los Alamitos High, a player who may be too good to redshirt this season, a fact confirmed by Speraw's decision to move Carroll into the starting lineup in recent games. Speraw said Carroll was one "of the best recruits to ever come here," adding that the former Griffin has an All-American future and could potentially have a future on the national team. ALUMNI BASEBALL: Nen comes up short in Hall of Fame voting, but he and wife Jendy score big at raising money for abused children
Even after retiring to the Coto de Caza area, Jendy Nen has kept Robb busy by helping her raise money for the Child Abuse Prevention center in her role as the chairperson for that organization's annual Casino Night. Former Griffin All-Sunset League pitcher Danny Farris will be playing baseball for Virginia Tech this season. Farris, who played at Pepperdine last season, enrolled at VT this month after a semester at Saddleback JC. The Hokies open their season on February 22. They will also play the New York Yankees in an exhibition game on March 18. The Yankees donated $1,000,000 to the VT Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, established after the tragic campus shootings last April. Mac Sullivan (LAHS '07) has enrolled at USC for the Spring semester and is listed on the Trojans roster. Sullivan earned 2007 Orange County Register all-county second team honors after batting .347 with four home runs and 25 RBI at Los Alamitos High
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Dec. 20, 2007 Former Griffin Robb Nen throws his name into the Hall of Fame ballot
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Dec. 17, 2007 ALUM BASKETBALL: Fields has 23 for Stanford in first game back after long layoff for finals Ex-Griffin Landry Fields scored 23 points coming off the bench as the Stanford Cardinal defeated NAIA school College of Idaho 81-53 on Monday night. Stanford extended its record to 8-1. |
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| Dec. 6, 2007 ALUMNI: Former Griffin Antoine Cason wins Thorpe award for best defensive back in college
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| Dec. 7, 2007
ALUMNI WATER POLO: Ex-Griffin Tim Hutten named MPSF Player of the Year; Scott Davidson earns 2nd team honors UC Irvine senior two-meter man Tim Hutten (Los Alamitos HS, '03) has been selected as 2007 Player of the Year in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and his former Griffin teammate Scott Davidson (LAHS '05, now a sophomore at UCLA) earned second team honors. The awards were announced on November 28. Hutten led UCI with 75 goals this season and tops the nation and MPSF with an average of 3.75 goals per game. He scored at least four goals in 10 of UCI's 25 games, including a school-record nine in an 18-6, non-conference win over UC San Diego Nov. 7. Hutten was named MVP of the MPSF Tournament after scoring 12 goals in three games as the fifth-seeded Anteaters advanced to the championship game for the first time in history. He had three goals in a 10-9, sudden-victory overtime win over UCLA, five in a 13-12 win over top-seeded Cal, and four in the 10-6 loss to top-ranked USC in the final. Davidson, an attacker from Seal Beach, Calif., gained All-MPSF accolades for the first time in his career after leading the Bruins with 49 goals. Davidson ended his sophomore season having scored in each of UCLA's final 14 matches, recording 31 goals in that span. His 49-goal output was the most by a Bruin since Brett Ormsby totaled 70 as a senior in 2004.
December 3, 2007 Alum Headlines:
Borg, Fresno State to play GaTech in Humanitarian Bowl - Bulldogs who finished 8-4 overall and 6-2 in conference play, take on the 7-5 Yellowjackets from the ACC in Boise, Idaho on December 31, at 11am. The game will be bradcast on ESPN2. Chris Kluwe (LAHS
'01) threw
a shovel pass on a fourth and three that went for a 27-yard
gain in Minnesota's 42-10 win over Detroit on Sunday.l Kluwe didn't
actually have to punt until
the 4:03 mark in the fourth quarter.
VOLLEYBALL
Monday, Nov. 26 Ex
Griffin Robb nen becomes eligible for Baseball Hall of Fame.—
Former Griffin was a three-time All-Star with 314 career saves for
the Texas Rangers, Florida Marlins and San Francisco Giants. |
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Nov. 14, 2007
Pepperdine sophomore midfielder Sophia Medina (Downey, Calif./LAHS '06) was named to the All-West Coast Conference womenh's soccer second team. Medina scored three goals and had three assists on the season. |
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Nov. 14, 2007 FOOTBALL: Get to know the real Cason before he's gone Arizona Daily Star does Q&A with Arizona senior star cornerback Antoine Cason who plays his final home game on Thursday. After being lightly recruited as a prep standout at Los Alamitos High School, Cason has started 44 consecutive games since arriving at the UA in 2004. WOMEN'S SOCCER:
Ex-Griffin Medina earns 2nd team All WCC honors - |
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Nov. 13, 2007 FOOTBALL: Kluwe keeps on kicking OC register columnist Marcia Smith writes about the former Griffin, who recently signed for a big payday with the NFL's Minnesota Vikings. But then Kluwe already has 22 kicks this season of at least 50 yards, tying him with Mitch Berger for the team record in a 16-game season. |
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Nov. 12, 2007 FOOTBALL: John Barnes' son, Brian, making name for himself as coach at Tesoro. Former Griffin leads South County school to upset win over Mission Viejo, then gets rewarded with a 1st round CIF playoff match against Mater Dei. The Register's Mark Whicker writes a nice column about him. |
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Nov. 1, 2007 FOOTBALL: Boise State's Jeremy Childs making assault on record books look easy
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Oct. 25,. 2007 FOOTBALL: Vikings Kluwe is rewarded with 6-year contract extension Minneapolis Star-Tribune - Chris Kluwe arrived in Minnesota for what amounted to a one-game tryout at the start of the 2005 season. Two years later, he can finally consider his job secure.
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Oct. 17, 2007 ALUMNI SOCCER: Big West notebook: Ingrassia took the right turn Orange County Register, CA - Oct 17, 2007
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LONG
BEACH - Every baseball team needs pitchers, hitters, speed, glove
men and leadership. They also need a little backbone, which one
doesn't necessarily find as easily on recruiting trips.
University
of Florida junior pitcher Stacey Nelson (Los Alamitos,
Calif.) is part of the 2008 ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America
first team, the College Sports Information Directors of America
(CoSIDA) announced Wednesday. She is the fourth Gator softball player
named an Academic All-American and the first to earn first team
honors. Nelson is majoring in philosophy with a 3.61 grade point
average.
ALUMNI
BASKETBALL: Duda becomes 14th Anteater to break 1,000 points
Amber
Rose Kuhn (LAHS '2001), daughter of Del and Vicky of Rossmoor,
is engaged to Robbie Maurer. Kuhn will graduate in June from Cal
State Long Beach and will attend Argosy University for advanced
studies in clinical psychology. The groom, a 2000 grad of Pacifica
High School, is currently employed as an assistant golf pro at the
Newport Beach Country Club.
In
the not-quite-kinda recently married department, former Griffins
Jennifer Levin and Steve Radaich
were married last Sept. 15, 2007 in San Juan Capistrano. After honeymooning
in Mexico, they now live in Long Beach. Both Jennifer and Steve
graduated from Los Al where Jennifer was a member of the CIF championship
girls soccer team in 1997. We don't know what Steve did at Los Al
(but we're sure somebody will write us and we can fix this before
too many people read it.) but he went on to UCSB and now works for
Charles King Company. Jennifer attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo,
then graduated from Chapman School of Law in May 2007, and has since
passed the bar and become an attorney, and is no doubt fielding
phone calls from former teammates who need free legal help. She
is the daughter of Jeff and Joanne Levin of Seal Beach and Steve
is the son of Susan Salsido of Sunset Beach and Tony Radaich of
Santa Ynez.
And
we don't want to overlook the marriage of 1993 grad Jason
Seaborn of Rossmoor to Jowell Ortega of Hercules, CA (about
30 northeast of San Francisco, just pass the Carquinez Straits near
Richmond -- there, didn't that help you) . The couple was married
in St. Helena in the Napa Valley and his 6-year old daughter Isabella
was a flower girl. Jason and Jowell The couple have relocated to
the north shore of Oahu in Hawaii, where Jason works as a copy editor
for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Jowell is a physician assistant
in a medical clinic. Jason's parents, True and Gaye Seaborn, reside
in Rossmoor.
Ex-Griffin
The
Long Island University softball team, the preseason favorite 
Freshman
outside hitter 
Looking
at the somehow we overlooked this department... former Griffin 
Former
Los Al (LAHS '89, left) Susan Egan , who can currently be seen in
the independent film "
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.
February
12, 2008
Cathy
Rigby has fun in 'Li'l Abner'
Too
many shoulder surgeries ended his baseball career in 2002 but ex-Griffin
Robb Nen and his wife Jendy (formerly Saurenman, LAHS ' 89) have
still been in the news lately. After sitting out the mandatory five
year period, Robb, a former all-star relief pitcher for the Texas
Rangers, Florida Marlins and San Francisco Giants, was a nominee
for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, the injuries which
shortened his career also put a crimp on the number of baseball
writers who voted for him. (Not that that means anything - I sat
in those press boxes in my younger days, and trust me, most baseball
writers don't know a third as much as they think they do).
Dominant
closer eligible for Cooperstown for first time. 
Former
Los A High standout Antoine was named the 
Cason
repeats 1st team All-Pac 10 honors 
Duke
Falls To Cal To End Season
ALUMNI
SOCCER: 
The
former Griffin is on pace for the greatest receiving season in Boise
State football history with 56 catches, 761 yards and eight touchdowns
— giving him 33 percent of the Broncos' catches, 35 percent
of their receiving yards and 40 percent of their touchdown catches.
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