NH girls scrapbook: PAYING DIVIDENDS

NEWPORT BEACH - A recently passed bond measure will earmark

millions toward repairing or replacing athletic facilities at Newport

Harbor High. But, when it comes to the four-year foundation she provided,

culminating in the 1999-00 girls athletic year, even a seven-figure

stipend can’t compensate for the loss of senior April Ross.

The USC-bound Ross added to the growing prominence bestowed on the

volleyball program (98-6 since 1997) by earning Gatorade National Player

of the Year laurels while leading the Tars’ defense of CIF State and CIF

Southern Section championships. She also starred in the high jump, long

jump and triple jump and was named Sea View League and Orange County

Athlete of the Year.

Tennis (19-2) and golf (16-0) were unbeaten league champions, while

tennis and swimming were Division I runners-up.

Junior Amber Steen was a section champion (Division II) in cross country

and the 1,600 meters, while Krista Dill (volleyball and track and field),

Natalie Braverman (tennis), Kyndra Cox (water polo) and swimmers Nicole

Mackey, Carly Geehr, Amy Murphy and Hayley Peirsol, who combined to win

the section 400-yard freestyle relay crown, also established themselves

among the elite.

Brenda Waterman (volleyball) as well as Katherine Belden and Ali Taylor

(water polo), were All-CIF, while Kristen Case and Audra Adams (tennis),

Kristen Smith (softball), Valerie Day (track), Jennifer Arrow

(swimming), Kelly Hunt (golf) and Sonya Mechkor (cross country) also

shone.

-- by Barry Faulkner