The Wildcats won the CIF-SS Division II-A title last season and return sophomore outside hitter Krista Vansant, junior setter Johnna Fouch, junior libero Kyla Oropeza, 6-4 middle Tori Brummett, senior middle Casey Tidwell, junior right side Danielle Newcomb and senior outside Monica Gardner. Newcomb is a cousin of former Rim of the World and current Oregon standout Sonja Newcomb. Also, 6-foot-2 freshman Alyssa Mason should help.

REV, which went 33-3 last season was ranked 429th in the nation at the end of the season.

Carlsbad La Costa Canyon is ranked first, followed by San Jose Archbishop Mitty (Kerri Walsh's alma mater).

"I've never seen USC practice before, but that was probably one of the best scrimmages I've been to,' said Philipp to rivals.com. "The one thing I noticed about SC, is that even their second string players are good."

Prior to Philipp's attendance at the Trojan practice, he had been offered a scholarship by every Pacific-10 school except USC.

Philipp is ranked the No. 1 guard in the nation by rivals.

Jean Smith, an administrative secretary in human resources for Claremont Unified, said Jackson was approved at Monday night's board meeting.

Jackson replaces Mike Lee.

Kopp was a Ken Hubbs Award-winner during his prep days.

He played on the U.S. Olympic team in Atlanta in 1996 and in Sydney, Australia in 2000.

He was also the all-time leading scorer and single-season scoring leader at Long Beach State and a three-time All-America and Big West selection.

At 6-foot-8, Kopp originally attended UC-Riverside on a basketball scholarship, but switched to swimming and water polo at Long Beach State, due to stress fractures.

Among the confirmed games are Mater Dei vs. Corona Centennial on Sept. 19 and Chaparral vs. Temescal Canyon on Oct. 31.

Among the tentative games are Los Osos vs. Upland on Oct. 24. The Los Osos-Upland matchup would be a showdown of top quarterbacks Richard Brehaut (Los Osos) and Josh Nunes (Upland).

Last spring it was Pacific High School's Rick Castro who wound up resigning after all the hubbub over there.

Now it is John Abad, who has been fired as coach at Miller after 12 successful years.

"It's a personnel thing and I can't go into it," said Miller athletic director Dwight Berry, who did say that Abad was "removed" as coach. Abad is still a teacher at Miller.

"The job is open and we're flying it," Berry said.

In an overall sense, the bigger story is probably that the person who made the change, principal Tim Sullivan, is no longer at Miller.

Sullivan, who became principal at Miller last spring, has "taken another position" - said acting principal Kimberly MacKinney.

MacKinney said she would check into Abad's removal and get back to me, but she has not called yet.

"There was a new principal (Sullivan) and he made some changes," Abad said. "I really can't say anything more about it."

Pacific's Castro was taken aback by the move.

"They're losing an excellent coach who was always there for the kids," Castro said. "He always had guys move on (in the post-season). Losing him would be a loss for anyone's program."

Abad was a CIF-SS wrestling champion at Pacific. He also wrestled at UCLA.

Concord De La Salle is ranked first and Long Beach Poly second.

Not making the cut was San Jose Bellarmine College Prep, which has four DI prospects in its starting lineup and is coming off a league title.

In the rivals.com national Top 100, Centennial is ranked 25th and Upland 75th.

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Do you have story tips on your team ... a standout foreign-exchange student, an athlete battling some sort of adversity, someone being heavily recruited or committing to a college, a coach about to reach a milestone, a new venue, etc.? Contact John Murphy at berdooman@aol.com or 909-633-4829. Thanks.

"There was no teaching positition there for me (for 2008-2009), so I left," Dort said.

Dort, who coached the Lions for just one season, will teach at Kucera Middle School.

Dort said it was mutually understood that if he did not have a physical education job at Carter - as he did last year - that he would not return as coach.

He was also the coach at Artesia High School for five years in the 1990s.

On Wednesday district spokesperson Syeda Jafri said the program had been dropped due to budgetary concerns, but today she said the district is re-considering its decision and hopes to restore water polo and swimming.

"When students are involved we have to look at all angles," Jafri said. "It's not just the Rialto district that is hurting financially; many are hurting. There was a slight communication issue, but we are going to sit down at the table and do what we can to make it work for our young athletes."

About 10 parents, 25 Carter athletes and some former Lions spoke at the Rialto Unified School District board meeting on Wednesday night. The passion showed by the athletes, former athletes and parents in attendance seemed to sway the board, those present have indicated.

The restoration of the aquatics program is not official yet, but things are looking good for the Lion swimmers and poloists.

This was formerly known as the Cape Cod School Classic.

It is a budgetary move, Jafri said.

Thom Simmons, spokesperson for the CIF-SS, said students from Carter who would like to participate in aquatics may receive a hardship waiver (based on Carter dropping water polo and swimming) and transfer to Eisenhower, which still has aquatics.

"They could transfer with no penalty," Simmons said.

If you're involved in Carter aquatics, what do you think of this decision to drop the program? Contact John Murphy at 909-633-4829.

Duncan (S.C.) Byrnes is first and Ramsey (N.J.) Don Bosco Prep is second. De La Salle and Don Bosco play each other in the non-league season.

Long Beach Poly is the top-ranked SoCal team in the national Top 100, checking in at seventhy. Corona Centennial is ninth, Encino Crespi 22nd and Oceanside 23rd.

Rounding out the Top 50 among Cali schools is San Jose Bellarmine Prep at 47th.

Also, Orange Lutheran ranks 73rd; Jeff Garcia's alma mater, Gilroy, is 81st; Corona Santiago 84th; and Westlake Village Oaks Christian 92nd. .
. .

Oak Hills is a new school in the Hesperia area, set to open in 2009-2010.

Goodman is the second A.D. to be named recently. As previously reported, Dan Williams is the new A.D. at Rialto, replacing Frank Camacho, who is now an assistant principal at Rialto.

Goodman, 39, will move over from Hesperia in 2009-2010. Until then, he will serve double duty, acting as A.D. at both schools (setting up Oak Hills' schedules, ordering equipment, etc).

"A main reason is Mr. (Larry) Porras is moving over to Oak Hills as principal and he asked me to come over too. He's a big supporter of athletics, although the guy getting the principal's job at Hesperia, Bob Schnebeck, also is. It will be interesting to start a program from the ground up."

A native of England, Goodman was reared in San Bernardino and graduated from Cajon High School, Riverside Community College and Idaho State, where he played football.

He was an assistant football coach at Pacific High School under Chuck Pettersen and also coached boys soccer there. At Hesperia, he has been the A.D. as well as the girls soccer coach.

Goodman's father, Robin Goodman, coached soccer at Cajon.

Oak Hills will have a lighted football field with an all-weather track; the venue is almost completed. It will also have a triple-gymnasium, similar to Great Oak and Temecula Valley's.

No mascot or colors have been selected for the school yet and no coaches have been lined up.

What do you think of the decision - is it just?