Lonny Carr, who was extremely passionate about teaching, coaching and caring for his student-athletes, has died.
The longtime Bonita High School cross country coach, 60, died Friday morning from complications from melanoma at his home, with his family at his side. He coached the Bearcats for 23 years.
“He was cross country’s and track and field’s Mr. Bonita,” assistant principal and former football coach Eric Podley said. “He was a father figure to a lot of these kids. When it was announced, innumerable kids were in tears and meeting with counselors. Even though they knew he was sick for awhile, the reaction was that he had made a big difference in a lot of people’s lives.”
Carr would talk a mile a minute about his athletes for as long as people would listen. He cared for those athletes much like he cared for his wife, Becky, three children and five grandchildren. He coached his grandson, Dillon Beckum, in high school for the first time this past fall. Beckum advanced to the CIF State cross country meet, turning in the second-fastest freshman time at the meet.
Carr spent his entire teaching career in the Bonita Unified School District. He retired as an elementary school teacher a few years ago, but remained as the boys and girls cross country coach and as the girls track and field coach.

@SGVNSports RIP to the greatest coach of all time. Our cc team at Bonita has his family in our prayers and we hope everyone will do the same

— ™ (@T_Mills008) January 24, 2014

@SGVNSports Running for Coach Carr was always a thrill for my daughter. Our family sends their deepest condolences to the Carr family!

— John Prado (@bruinsphan) January 24, 2014

TODAY’S BOYS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
BASELINE LEAGUE
Glendora at Etiwanda, 6:30 p.m.
HACIENDA LEAGUE
Walnut at Diamond Ranch, 6:45 p.m.
Rowland at Diamond Bar, 6:45 p.m.
Los Altos at Bonita, 6:45 p.m.
MISSION VALLEY LEAGUE
Gabrielino at El Monte, 6 p.m.
Mountain View at Rosemead, 6 p.m.
Arroyo at South El Monte, 6 p.m.
MONTVIEW LEAGUE
Workman at Sierra Vista, 6 p.m.
Bassett at Azusa, 6 p.m.
Ganesha at Duarte, 6 p.m.
Gladstone at La Puente, 6 p.m.
SIERRA LEAGUE
Damien at South Hills, 6:30 p.m.
Chino Hills at Claremont, 6:30 p.m.
Ayala at Charter Oak, 6:30 p.m.
VALLE VISTA LEAGUE
Baldwin Park at Wilson, 6:30 p.m.
Northview at Nogales, 6:30 p.m.
Pomona at San Dimas, 6:30 p.m.

TOUT VIDEO: Keith Lair, Steve Ramirez, Aram Tolegian, David Felton and I will post 45 second video interviews, highlight clips and whatever during the prep season. You can view them all on this widget by simply watching and scrolling down. Most recent video’s appear first.

SIERRA LEAGUE SOCCER RESULTS
BOYS
Damien 5, South Hills 0
Ayala 2, Charter Oak 1
Claremont 2, Chino Hills 1
GIRLS
South Hills 1, St. Lucy’s 1
Ayala 1, Charter Oak 0
Claremont 2, Chino Hills 1

BOYS SOCCER, STANDINGS, SCHEDULES, LEADERS
Baseline League
Del Rey League
Hacienda League
Mission Valley League
Montview League
Sierra League
Valle Vista League

GIRLS SOCCER STANDINGS, SCHEDULES, LEADERS
Baseline League
Del Rey League
Hacienda League
Mission Valley League
Montview League
Sierra League
Valle Vista League

STAFF PHOTO BY KEITH BIRMINGHAM

By Stephen Ramirez
@SteveRRamirez on Twitter

WEST COVINA — South Hills High School was hoping to use rival Charter Oak Thursday as a stepping stone toward the Sierra League wrestling crown.
The visiting Chargers had other ideas.
Jack Castorena scored an 11-7 decision and Daniel Garcia won by fall as Charter Oak won seven of the final nine bouts to rally for a 39-33 victory over the host Huskies in a league dual match.
Charter Oak, which won eight of the 14 matches, including five by fall, improved to 2-1 in league play. South Hills, which won four of the first five, all by fall, slipped to 2-1.
The key bouts came back-to-back at 120 and 126. Castorena, after South Hills took a 27-24 lead on an 8-5 victory by Christian Flores (113) over Luke Knight, fought back from an early deficit against Jacob Andrade to go up 8-5 with a near-fall at 1:12 in the third period before getting a takedown with 30 seconds left for the 11-7 win.
Garcia then overcame an early deficit to score a win by fall over Ivan Martinez in 2:23. Joe Alexander clinched it, giving Charter Oak a 39-27 lead with a win by fall in 3:36.

Charter Oak coach Tom Cote: “I told our guys down 24-6 that we had to make our comeback and that’s what we did. They are a really strong team, with some really good wrestlers. We didn’t get a possible matchup at 132 (between Charter Oak’s Joe Alexander and South Hills’ Kevin Kelly) and that worked out in our favor.”
South Hills coach Robb Froh: “We knew we had to get out to a big lead. We knew their upper weights were pretty tough, so we knew we would need that lead to build some momentum. We just didn’t come through in some of the lighter weights like we thought we would. There were a lot of matches that were pivotal. We just didn’t come out and perform like we needed to.”

Charter Oak’s Daniel Garcia: “We just have a lot of heart. When you see that score, it just time to turn it up and bring (our) score higher.”

Walnut’s Richard Rycraw, right, blocks a shot by Los Altos’ Jayson Jones in the Mustangs’ 65-55 victory on Wednesday.
— Staff photo by Keith Birmingham

WALNUT 65, LOS ALTOS 55
By Steve Ramirez
@SteveRRamirez on Twitter
WALNUT — Walnut High School maintained its first-place lead in the race for the Hacienda League boys basketball title Wednesday. But just barely.
Senior Rob Harrelson scored a game-high 20 points, including a key 3-pointer down the stretch and area No. 3 Walnut withstood a fourth-quarter blitz from visiting Los Altos to score a 65-55 victory at home in a league game.

Fellow seniors Lawrence Besong and Richard Rycraw had 19 and 12 points, respectively, for the Mustangs, who improved to 14-5 overall and 4-0 in the Hacienda League. Freshman post player Jayson Jones had 17 points and 19 rebounds to lead area No. 4 Los Altos, which slipped to 13-5 and 2-2.
Walnut led 51-36 with just under five minutes left before Los Altos, keyed by 5 points from Jones, used a 17-5 blitz to pull within 56-53 with 2:23 left. Harrelson then followed two free throws by Zuri Williams with a 3-pointer with 1:03 left to all but clinch it.

Walnut coach Josh Cameron: “You always get concerned. But I was very proud of them. I told them (after) that when you play good teams, they’re never going to give up. Los Altos came at us. We had to earn this win. It’s a good lesson for us to learn.”
Los Altos coach Jeff Lucas: “We’ve been resilient all year. We have a good group of guys. We didn’t shoot the ball well tonight, but you can credit Walnut with that. It was a great effort by the guys coming back, but against a good team, it’s hard to comeback from that far. That run cut it to three, but had we played better earlier and been closer, than it would have given us the lead.”
Walnut’s Rob Harrelson: “We were calm. We just had to run our offense. It was tight, but at the end of the game we were able to hit our free throws and our shots.”

EL MONTE 41, SOUTH EL MONTE 29
By John Honell
Correspondent
EL MONTE — El Monte hasn’t hung a Mission Valley League girls basketball championship banner in its gym since 1991.
The school isn’t ready to hoist the banner quite yet but, its 41-29 win Wednesday night over South El Monte has put the Lions in sole possession of first place.
The Lions defense was the key to the win as it held high scoring Dorothy Tuala to eight points, all of them in the first half.
Sophomore Emmy Pham led the Lions (10-6, 3-0) in scoring with 16 points but her real contribution came on the defensive end where she fronted Tuala and helped hold her scoreless in the second half.
The Eagles (11-6, 2-1) used a 12-3 run to close the second quarter taking a two-point lead into the locker room at the break.
El Monte coach Christine Butler: “We were going to front her (Tuala) and get good weak side help. If they were going to try and pound it in to her we were going to have two people on her and force their outside girls to look for some shots.”
South El Monte coach Jose Herrera: “Our offense goes through Dorothy. (Pham) did a phenomenal job on Dorothy, credit to her, but I’m proud of the way our kids fought back. The school has only won one game in the last four years and the all-time school record for wins in a season is 12, so we’re in uncharted waters.”

AREA TOP 10 BASKETBALL RANKINGS
BOYS
1. Damien (16-3)
Pointing toward Chino Hills showdown
2. Glendora (15-5)
Counting days it leaves Baseline
3. Walnut (13-5)
Won 9 of 11
4. Los Altos (13-4)
Enjoying return to area elite
5. Wilson (13-7)
Will ‘Cats lose in VVL?
6. Diamond Ranch (10-8)
Contending in Hacienda
7. Bonita (12-5)
Downward spiral continues
8. Rowland (9-9)
In league title mix
9. Workman (12-5)
Nothing changes in Montview
10. Gladstone (13-2)
Lost showdown with Workman
LEADERS
Scoring
1. Isaih Mendoza, Mountain View, 24.1
2. Jeremy Hemsley, Damien, 22.2
3. John Paul Rodriguez, Workman, 21.5
4. Mathew Arguello, La Puente, 18.2
5. Ernest Ugoagu, Diamond Ranch, 18.0
6. Rob Harrelson, Walnut, 15.7
7. Andrew Bullock, Nogales, 14.6
8. Jonah Mendoza, West Covina, 14.4
9. Jesus Hernandez, Rowland, 14.4
10. Eduardo Hernandez, South El Monte, 14.2
11. Malik Fitts, Damien, 13.9
12. Eddie Howard, Duarte, 13.2
13. Edvin Peraza, La Puente, 12.6
14. Enrique Ramirez, La Puente, 12.6
15. Joshua Andarza, Bishop Amat 12.4

GIRLS
1. Bonita (16-2)
Toyed with Walnut
2. Bishop Amat (16-5)
Held its own vs. Serra
3. Diamond Ranch (13-4)
Gets its shot at Bonita next week
4. Walnut (9-7)
Looked good vs. Bonita
5. South Hills (12-6)
Swept in Sierra last week
6. Covina (11-9)
Team to beat in VVL
7. Diamond Bar (8-10)
Seeking top 4 finish in league
8. Wilson (11-8)
Lost to showdown vs. Covina
9. South El Monte (11-6)
Rounding into form
10. Workman (9-8)
Rebounded from poor start
LEADERS
SCORING
1. Kaelyn Kawamoto, Wilson, 14.7
2. Jessica Rosas, Gladstone, 14.7
3. Dymond Mitchell, San Dimas, 14.1
4. Dominique Thesus, Covina, 12.7
5. Tiyana Watkins, El Monte, 11.3
6. Mackenzie Barnes, Duarte, 10.8
7. Jordan Veal, San Dimas, 10.7
8. Katie Taylor, Northview, 10.6
9. Kathy McKiernan, Duarte, 9.8
10. Bridget Phu, Rosemead, 8.9