Sports : GIRLS’ GYMNASTICS

Although high school gymnastics have been victimized by budget cuts in recent years, the Westside area has one of the top girls’ programs.

Fielding its best team in school history, Marlborough won the Southern California championship Thursday at Marlborough High.

The Mustangs finished first with 181.3 points. Brea-Olinda was second at 175.62, followed by Capistrano Valley (167.9) and Peninsula (163.65).

Last season, the Mustangs finished second in the Southern Section. They last won the Southern California title in 1984.

Seniors Elissa Palmer, Eugenia Park and Carolyn Leslie, junior Colette Meyer, sophomore Ashley Chernove and freshman Sarah Gee each averaged 9.0 in their exercises.

“This is the best team we’ve ever had at Marlborough,” said Julie Napoleon, athletic director and assistant gymnastics coach. “They’ve worked extremely hard.”

The victory is a major accomplishment considering Marlborough, an all-girls’ private school with an enrollment of 350 students, is competing against schools 10 times its size.

“The sport has been dropping in popularity over the last 10 seasons,” Napoleon said. “It’s hard to find quality coaches.”

Marlborough, however, has three outstanding coaches in Renee Blake, assistants Napoleon and Erin Stone.

FOOTBALL SCOUTING

About 700 of the state’s top high school football prospects will be tested at the third annual Southern California Reebok Preseason Combine May 20 at El Camino College.

Seniors-to-be will be measured for height and weight and will be evaluated in the 40-yard dash, 20-yard shuttle run, bench-press repetition and standing vertical jump. They also will be involved in position specific one-on-one drills.

The first group begins at 8 a.m. with an orientation meeting.

Scouts from 70 to 80 Division I schools will scout the players.

“You won’t see school colors from UCLA, USC or any other area college because those school coaches do not want to use their one evaluation at the combine,” Student Sports Magazine editor Mark Tennis said. “But they will be represented. You will see scouts wearing colors from Southern Methodist, Northwestern and others who want to do one-stop shopping in Southern California.”

For the first time, Arizona and Nevada players will be among the prospects evaluated.

PREP VOLLEYBALL

University will defend its City Section 4-A boys’ volleyball title Friday night. Fairfax will play for the 3-A championship. But one area school will be conspicuously missing from what use to be an all-Westside event.

Despite holding a two-game edge, Venice could not stop the hitting of Dickie Purcell and Rudy Flores. Bell defeated the Gondoliers, 12-15, 9-15, 15-12, 15-6, 16-14, in the 4-A semifinals Tuesday at Venice.

The Gondoliers, who have two of the best outside hitters in the City, suddenly find themselves with a power shortage.

Flores had 27 kills and Purcell had 22 to lead the Eagles.

Pat Lennon (19 kills) and Jon Gaydowski (11 kills, eight blocks) led the Gondoliers (15-3).

“After the second game, we came out a little flat and Bell turned it up another level offensively,” Venice Coach Allen Hunt said.

BASEBALL

Crossroads has beaten Delphic League baseball teams with veteran coaches and it has beaten opponents with rookie coaches. The Roadrunners, however, discovered they have trouble beating a rookie coach who is a veteran at winning.

David Ravitz, who played shortstop for University High’s 1988 City Section championship team, did the unthinkable last week. Under its first-year coach, Brentwood swept Crossroads for the first time in school history. The Eagles won 15-9 on Tuesday and 14-5 on Friday.

The Eagles (14-6) have an opportunity to win the Delphic League and end Crossroads’ reign. The Roadrunners have either shared or won the title for 11 consecutive seasons.

Brentwood needs to beat Whitney today at Cerritos Regional Park. On Tuesday, the Eagles defeated Whitney, 12-1, at home.

No matter the outcome, Ravitz has received the respect of Athletic Director Pat Brown, who hired him after Norm Greenbaum left to become an assistant at Birmingham of Van Nuys.

“I think David has done a remarkable job stepping into this situation,” Brown said. “I really think the kids enjoy playing for him.”

Ravitz acknowledges the team needed a wake-up call before league started.

“We had a little lull where we lost five of nine games after a 6-0 start,” Ravitz said. “We struggled, but we learned to win the tough games.”

PREP SOFTBALL

Westchester’s Lisa Ikeda pitched a four-hitter and struck out eight to lead the Comets to a 10-6 win over visiting Fremont in a City 3-A first-round playoff game.

Fourth-seeded Westchester, which plays host to South Gate this afternoon at 2:30, scored six runs in a fourth inning that was highlighted by Laura Casillas’ two-run triple and five Fremont errors.

Catcher Jesenia Masud’s solo home run in the sixth helped increase the Comets’ lead to 10-3, which was enough to withstand a late Fremont rally in the seventh. The win helped Ikeda improve her record to 14-3.

In other first-round games involving Westside schools, Venice shut out Crenshaw, 14-0, Palisades humbled Poly, 18-1, and Garfield whipped University, 15-1.

PREP SWIMMING

Santa Monica will be one of the favorites when the boys’ and girls’ Southern Section Division II swimming championship begins today at the Belmont Plaza pool in Long Beach.

All diving competition will be staged at the Heritage Park Aquatics Complex in Irvine.

The Vikings are led by juniors John Mitchell, Tariq Bruno and David Mason, who expected to finish among the top five in their events. Mitchell qualified with a time of 1 minute, 57.67 seconds in the 200-yard intermediate and 54.57 in the 100 backstroke.

Bruno, who transferred from Loyola, has been a standout in the 100 butterfly (53.11) and the 100 breast stroke (59.47). Mason is one of the area’s top freestyle sprinters with times of 22.42 in the 50 and 48.85 in the 100.

“We can finish anywhere between first and fifth,” Santa Monica assistant Dave Kastigar said. “We have the talent, but it all depends on our performance.”

The girls’ team is led by sophomore Diana Follette, who has swam 1:02.96 in the 100 butterfly and 1:02.46 in the backstroke.

TRACK

Santa Monica College sophomore Vanitta Kinard had the top qualifying marks in the women’s long jump and triple jump during Saturday’s Southern California prelims at Cerritos College.

Kinard had a long jump of 19 feet 3/4 inches and a triple jump of 40-2 1/2.

Kinard, who was the runner-up in the triple jump in the 1993 state championships while attending Woodland Hills El Camino Real High, will compete in the Southern California championships at Bakersfield College Saturday. Kinard placed third in the triple jump and eighth in the long jump in last year’s Southern California meet.

COLLEGE TENNIS

Pepperdine University will play host to the 14th annual NCAA women’s tennis championships Friday through May 21 at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.

Georgia, the defending national champion and top-ranked team, Texas, Florida, UCLA and Arizona are among the schools competing in the team competition, which concludes Tuesday. Pepperdine, Arizona State, California and Stanford are the top West Coast teams.

Individual finals for singles and doubles begin Saturday and conclude May 21.

“The popularity of the event has grown significantly, and we are excited about hosting the tournament,” Pepperdine Coach Gualberto Escudero said.

COLLEGE SOCCER

Former UCLA and Olympian Paul Krumpe has been named an assistant to men’s soccer coach Sigi Schmid. He replaces Todd Saldafia, who became the men’s and women’s soccer coach at Cal Poly Pomona.

Krumpe was the team co-captain of the Bruins’ 1985 NCAA championship team and a two-time All-Far West selection. He holds the school single-season record for assists by a defender with 10.

A U.S. National team member, Krumpe played in the 1987 Pan American games, 1988 Olympics and the 1990 World Cup. He played professionally with the Chicago Sting of the Major Indoor Soccer League, and for the Real Santa Barbara and the Colorado Foxes of the American Professional Soccer League.

Krumpe coached at West Torrance High from 1991-95 and led the Warriors to the Southern Section playoffs each year. In 1989, Krumpe was an assistant women’s coach at Cal State Dominguez Hills and helped guide the Toros to the NCAA Division II final four for the first time in school history.