Shots of Galaxy Longshot Karapetyan Finally Going In
Van Nuys resident Harut Karapetyan beat the odds to make the Los Angeles Galaxy earlier this year. And last Sunday at the Rose Bowl, the 24-year-old left wing earned a moment in the spotlight, scoring his first two goals for the undefeated Galaxy in a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Crew.
“I felt great because I’ve been trying to score the last couple of games but I’ve had bad luck, bad bounces or the goalie has been doing magic,” said Karapetyan, who scored a goal in the first half to tie the score, 1-1, and in the second to give Los Angeles a 2-1 lead.
“After the first goal I knew I was going to score again because I had so much confidence.”
Karapetyan’s heroics touched off a chaotic night for his family, which emigrated from Armenia in 1989.
“We got nearly 100 phone calls,” Karapetyan said. “Friends, relatives, old friends we hadn’t heard from in a long time. It was crazy.”
Good things, small package: With an enrollment of only 530 students in preschool through 12th grade, Cornerstone Christian in Camarillo is a tiny school.
And the talent pool for the high school sports teams is even smaller.
With only 90 students in the ninth through 12th grades, the athletes don’t change much with the seasons.
On Cornerstone Christian’s softball team that went to the Southern Section semifinals before being eliminated by Linfield on Tuesday were seven members of the Eagles’ Southern Section-finalist girls’ basketball team.
Julie Siefert, Karri Becker, Karen Breshears and Julia Tamai filled the top four positions in the Eagles’ batting order this spring and made up four-fifths of their starting lineup in winter.
Looking forward: A slightly torn right quadriceps will keep Palmdale High sophomore Kadrina Coffee from running on the Falcons’ 400-meter relay team in the State championships, but Coach Steve Wilson doesn’t expect the injury to keep her out of the USA Track & Field Junior championships in Delaware, Ohio, on June 28-28.
“We didn’t want to take any chances this week, but she should be fine by juniors,” Wilson said.
Coffee ran 53.96 seconds to place second in the 400 in the junior meet last year and later won a bronze medal in the Pan American Junior Games in September.
“We’ve been training for the juniors all year,” Wilson said. “The high school season is not as important to us as the junior meet.”
Honors
Baseball America selected Cleveland High outfielder Junior Brignac the 55th-best prospect in the nation for the amateur draft, which begins Tuesday. He also was selected second-best athlete among high school players in the top 100.
Quotebook
“The Mariners already said we can’t have Alex Rodriguez.”
--JetHawk Manager Dave Brundage, while wondering who would replace his injured shortstop, Luis Molina. Rodriguez, 20, is hitting better than .350 as the Seattle Mariners’ starting shortstop.
“I just drive him to the meets, point him in the right direction and let him go.”
-- Newbury Park High track Coach Mike Stewart, on the rapid improvement of Panther senior DaJuan Hawkins, who began competing in track last season.
Stats
Cal State Northridge Coach Janet Sherman doesn’t expect to find a replacement for All-American slugger Scia Maumausolo, who is one of a kind.
Maumausolo concluded her career tied for third on the NCAA home run chart with 46 and 10th on the runs batted in list with 163.
“There will never be another Scia,” Sherman said. “And that’s in heart and commitment and dedication to the program. The records will always be there.”
Cal State Northridge’s signing of Long Beach Wilson High distance runner Jesse Barragan is looking better all the time. Barragan lowered his personal best by more than seven seconds in the 1,600 meters last Friday when he ran 4 minutes 14.81 seconds to place second in the Southern Section Masters Meet.
Things to Do
The 22nd Antelope Valley High School all-star baseball game will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Hangar in Lancaster. Admission is $3.
Contributing: Jeff Fletcher, Paige A. Leech, John Ortega, Lauren Peterson, Tris Wykes.
