Local foursome shine in Vegas

The FBC Blue team, made up of girls basketball players throughout Southern California, took out its competition at the fourth annual Summertime Invitational last week in Las Vegas, winning all five of its games in front of approximately 100 different college coaches according to Calhisports.com.

FBC Blue got its share of contributions from local junior players, as incoming seniors Cierra Windham, (Norco) and Meghin Williams (Summit), along with incoming juniors Chloe Wells (Miller) and Rhema Gardner (Ayala) all starred at times for the team. Windham, a 6-foot-3 forward, had 14 points and eight rebounds in a semifinal win over Team Xpress Black from San Antonio.

Wells was lauded for her point guard work, especially her 14 points, six assists and five steals in the 68-51 championship game over Las Vegas Elite. The 5-7 guard had 20 assists and 22 steals in the five games.

The 6-2 Williams had her best game in pool play against a team from Calgary, Canada, scoring nine points, while the 6-1 Gardner had five points and four rebounds in a pool play victory over Oregon Elite Navy.

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Local volleyball duo heading to the Netherlands

Los Osos senior Tara Roenicke and Serrano graduate Caitlin Ledoux will be heading out to The Hague, Netherlands Sunday, as they will represent the United States in the Under-19 Beach Volleyball World Championships. The tournament will run from July 30-Aug. 3.

This will be Roenicke’s second go-round representing the United States, as she played in the U-19 Worlds last summer in Poland. This will be her first tournament with Ledoux, who will report to Long Beach State a few days after the tournament concludes next Sunday. However, Roenicke, 16, and Ledoux. 18, were teammates in club volleyball, something that has helped them jell.

“We’ve been practicing a lot over these last three weeks,” Ledoux said. “It’s been hard work, but I feel like we have a good rhythm going right away. I’m just excited to fly over there and get playing.”

The Sun and Bulletin will be running a more in-depth story about the duo in the next couple of days and will also be keeping tabs on how Roenicke and Ledoux do in The Netherlands.

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Brehaut excels at Elite 11

I just got off the phone with Los Osos quarterback Richard Brehaut, who dazzled at the Elite 11 quarterback camp in Mission Viejo over the past four days. Brehaut, who verbally committed to UCLA in May, dazzled an Elite 11 staff that included Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer, Bengals wide receiver and Barstow native T.J. Houshmandzadeh and USC quarterback Mark Sanchez with his accuracy – winning the camp’s Golden Gun Award in a competition between 12 of the best high school senior quarterbacks in the nation.

“It was one of the best experiences of my life,” Brehaut said. “Just meeting all these guys and hanging out with them for a few days was awesome. I’m definitely proud of the way I competed.”

Brehaut set the camp record for accuracy points today with a score of 27, besting the previous-best mark of 24, which he tied Wednesday. Brehaut, the MVP runner-up to Georgia commit Aaron Murray, was also named the quarterback most likely to fit in any college system and the player most likely to start first in college.

Look out for a longer story detailing Brehaut’s week in Friday’s Sun and Daily Bulletin.

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Claremont runner excels in Poland

Incoming Claremont junior Kori Carter, the state champion in the 300-meter hurdles, competed in the 400 hurdles during the 12th annual IAAF Junior World Championships on July 9 in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Carter finished seventh in her heat with a time of 1:01.20 seconds.

Look out for a follow-up this week in the Daily Bulletin, as I attempt to track down Carter and ask her about her Polish adventure.

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California Top 100 released

Rivals.com’s top 100 prospects for California were released on the website today with several local players figuring prominently. In all, 10 prospects from San Bernardino County and the Inland Valley were featured, led by Arroyo Valley offensive lineman Michael Philipp, who clocks in at No. 8.

Here is the list of locals, their state ranking and schools where they’ve committed, if applicable. The entire list can be accessed here.

8. Michael Philipp, OL, Arroyo Valley
15. Richard Brehaut, QB, Los Osos (UCLA)
16. Marlon Pollard, CB, Cajon (Notre Dame)
21. Josh Nunes, QB, Upland (Tennessee)
30. Brandon Sermons, DB, Diamond Ranch
37. Osahon Irabor, CB, Upland (Arizona State)
41. Craig Payne, DE, Colony
86. Nat Berhe, CB, Colton
88. Matt Shinn, OL, Los Osos
92. Jayson Allmond, ATH, Bloomington

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Midseason MLB prediction update

Right before the season started, I sent out a quickie set of predictions for the 2008 baseball season. Needless to say, a lot of my predictions were extremely terrible, and my preseason World Series champion has already unloaded its best pitcher.

The lesson here is to never, ever, ever pick a team from Cleveland to win anything of note. Having lived in the Midwest most of my life, I should have known that.

Well, here they are, in all of their glory. I have the teams in their current order, with my March prediction in parantheses.
Continue reading “Midseason MLB prediction update” »

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Pollard switches commitment

Cajon junior cornerback Marlon Pollard, who has been verbally committed to UCLA since last summer, switched his commitment to Notre Dame this weekend according to Rivals.com.

Pollard, a 6-foot-1, 160-pound corner who moved to San Bernardino this winter from Valencia, visited Notre Dame last month after making a stop at the Offense/Defense Camp being held in Chicago. According to this quote given to Pete Sampson of IrishIllustrated.com, Pollard had a feeling that Notre Dame was a place for him.

“When I stepped on campus I had a feeling I was going to end up there,” Pollard said. “When I walked on campus the people, even the ones not on the football team, were people like me, people like my mom. They were very focused people. It’s a great surrounding there.”

We’ll follow up with an article in Tuesday’s edition of The Sun. The Notre Dame Rivals article can be accessed here with a Rivals.com subscription.

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Philipp receiving Big Ten love

Arroyo Valley tackle Michael Philipp, the No. 1 guard prospect and the No. 37 overall prospect in the nation according to Rivals.com, has received a ton of attention from Pac-10 and schools west of the Rocky Mountains. But an interesting new suitor has possibly emerged.

According to this article from Rivals, the University of Michigan has shown quite a bit of interest in the 6-foot-3, 320-pound Hawk. While this article came out Wednesday while I was on vacation, I’m compelled to show it as a Michigan alum.

For those who care, offensive linemen, especially guards, are a big need area for the Wolverines in this recruiting class. Michigan has received a slew of skill-position commitments – including two four-star quarterbacks well-versed in the spread offense – the offense of new Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez and the attack of choice at Arroyo Valley.

But homer slant aside, an offer from Michigan, or even interest, just shows how in demand the star offensive lineman is.

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Irabor narrows list to 3

As I crawl back into the office from a nine-day vacation in Vegas and Chicago, I saw that Scout.com had an article about Upland cornerback Osahon Irabor narrowing his list of colleges to three. You can read the entire article here.

If you choose not to read the article, Irabor has narrowed his list of 15 schools down to a threesome of Arizona, Arizona State and Nebraska. This fits into a timetable that Irabor has established, as he told me via a phone interview two weeks ago that he wanted to commit to a school by the end of July.

Irabor, a three-star recruit according to Rivals.com and Scout.com, sported offers from Boise State, California, Northwestern, Oregon, Oregon State, UNLV, Washington, Washington State and Wyoming along with the offers from the Wildcats, Sun Devils and Cornhuskers.

Scout.com also has an article about Taj Johnson’s offer from Minnesota, an offer that was reported in this blog two weeks ago. That article is here.

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