April 2009 Archives
"We're excited about adding Dwight and Jessee to our program," said Wooldridge. "We wanted to add a scoring perimeter player to next year's team, and Dwight is considered one of the better scoring guards in the state of California.
"We also set our sights on bringing in a young big man. Jessee has proven himself to be one of the more talented and versatile bigs in the high school ranks in the state, and comes out of a very successful program. We think both of these players have bright futures ahead of them at UC Riverside."
Gordon is a two-time All-Conference honoree who averaged 21.8 points, 8.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists as a sophomore at Victor Valley. He also connected on 57 percent of his field goal attempts, 36 percent of his three-pointers and 72 percent from the free throw line in earning First-Team All-State honors
In the final game of the 2008-09 season, he poured in 41 points on 14 of 18 shooting including 5 of 6 from three point range. The former Los Osos HS standout also led the Foothills Conference in scoring (21.1), rebounding (8.5), made free throws (187) and free throw attempts (261).
Hazely was a First-Team All-CIF Division III-AA performer as a senior at Santa Margarita High School after averaging a 13-point, 12-rebound double-double and leading the Eagles to the CIF-SS Division III-AA championship game.
The McDonalds All-America nominee averaged 15 points and 10 rebounds as a sophomore at Irvine Northwood High School before transferring to Santa Margarita where he helped the Eagles to a state title his junior year.
With the college baseball season coming to a close in less than two weeks and four teams fighting for first place in the Foothill Conference, it was understandable if things were a bit tense as Chaffey and San Bernardino Valley College squared off on Thursday.
The biggest explosion came in the first inning, but things settled down after that and the Panthers emerged with an 8-3 win over the Wolverines. The two teams meet again Saturday in a doubleheader at Chaffey starting at noon.
"This was big to win the first game," Chaffey coach Jeff Harlow said. "It's easier to lose two than win two, so the first game is huge, especially coming here and winning."
The Panthers (26-11, 16-3) came out of the gates strong, scoring in the first frame when Gerry Hernandez singled home Chris Lemus. But then came the fireworks.
Hernandez rounded first after the hit and was tagged out by SBVC first baseman Chris Sautia. Umpire Bill Barnes originally ruled Hernandez safe, which upset SBVC coach
Bill Mierzwik, who came out to argue. After the umpires conferred, Hernandez was called out, which set off Harlow and led to a heated altercation between the coach and umpire.
Harlow admitted he was surprised he wasn't tossed, but said the umpire bumped him first, and Mierzwik said he had planned to get tossed if the call wasn't changed in his favor.
Chaffey broke the game open, going up 4-2 on a towering home run by Willie Holmes in the seventh inning off starter Kevin Ryan. SBVC (22-15, 13-6) crept back, though, with an unearned run in the seventh to make it 4-3, but the Panthers put the game away with four runs in the eighth, aided by two Wolverine errors.
That was more than enough for Chaffey's Colby Gurney (10-0), who scattered seven hits, struck out eight and gave up three runs before getting relief help in the ninth from Derrick Duran.
Catcher Nick Hartman had three of Chaffey's 11 hits. Holmes and Christopher Haas had two each. SBVC got three hits and two RBIs from sophomore third baseman James Frederick, and Evan Erickson had two hits.
"We have won the games we're supposed to win, but when it comes to playing the better teams, we haven't put all three facets of the game together," Mierzwik said. <NO1>"We have to do that, because they're a good team."
Citrus College swimming Head Coach Tim Kyle and sophomore swimmer Weston Locatell swept the Western State Conference Men's Swimming awards this past weekend. Kyle was named the Men's Coach of the Year, and Locatell was named the swimmer of the year.
Kyle helped lead the Fighting Owls to their best conference championships finish since 1997 this past weekend. Citrus grabbed 2nd place at the WSC Championships, beating 3rd place Cuesta College by a lone point. Kyle also coached Locatell and four relay teams to the State Championships which take place this weekend in Long Beach.
Locatell, who was an All-American last year, just got better this year, winning all three individual events he participated in at the WSC Championships. Locatell won the 200 IM, 100 Fly, and 200 Fly. Locatell also smashed the previous conference record in the 200 Fly, beating the previous record set in 1998 by over a full second. His time of 1:52.07 is also the fastest time in the State this year.
You can catch Locatell and company one final time this weekend as they participate in the 20009 California Community College Athletic Association State Championships held at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in Long Beach. Prelims begin on Thursday April 23rd at 9:30 AM.
a head football coach.
Pat Meech is still with the program but is giving up the head coach responsibilities. In addition to serving as an assistant coach he is on the faculty as a physical education instructor. The change in job status was approved at Thursday's meeting of the Board of Trustees.
The timing makes a bad situation worse. The Wolverines are coming off a 0-10 season. They were the only winless team in Southern California and one of two in the state, the other being Contra Costa. Count the last five games of the 2007 season and SBVC will go into 2009 riding a 15-game losing skid.
Meech said family was the primary reason he decided to take a step back. He and wife Stephanie have two daughters ages 9 and 12.
``It is a combination of things but the biggest thing is my priority
at home. I want to spend time with my daughters and their school activities and it's hard to do that with all the time it takes to be a head coach.''
``Obviously the timing isn't good,'' athletic director Dave Rubio
said. ``I believe Pat has the best interest of the program in mind.''
Despite the change in his title Meech has been handling recruiting. He has tried to be honest with those athletes he is recruiting.
``I have told them that there is some reorganization going on but I have tried to emphasize the reasons why we're a still good option for them,'' he said.
Despite the lateness of the move Rubio is confident the school will still be able to bring in a strong candidate.
``I guess there were rumors out there because I have gotten calls from all over the country asking about the job,'' Rubio said. ``It's hard to say right now how fast we can fill it but we'll do the best we can.''
There is likely to be a lot more shuffling of the coaching staff as
well. Offensive coordinator Ric Lucore left during the offseason to take a job on staff at the University of Redlands. Defensive
coordinator Ted Clarke has also departed. Ernie Madrigal, J.T.
Thomas and Rick Pesquera remain on staff with a couple of others undecided.
The Wolverines went 13-37 in Meech's five years with a 5-5 mark in 2006 the only season in which the team did not finish with a losing record.
Last year the Wolverines weren't close that often. They averaged 19.3 points per game and gave up an average of 45.8 points. The only game decided by a touchdown or less was a 34-28 setback at Mt. San Jacinto. A tough nonconference schedule didn't help.
