Colleges: Around the college scene

Steve Virgen

Taking a look around the college circuit ... Alan Saenz, a former

Newport Harbor High football standout, recently came back home for two

weeks. But, he will soon have to return to reality in Montana, which

means finding a job that will provide enough money for his rent.

Aside from his college life at the University of Montana, Saenz has

intensified his focus on the football field. During spring football,

Saenz impressed his coaches and he’s working to get into the starting

lineup for the Grizzlies, the defending NCAA Division I-AA champions.

“After spring ball, the coaches said they were pretty impressed with

me, that I made the most improvement out of anybody,” said Saenz, an

interior defensive lineman who redshirted last fall. “They bring

everybody in a meeting and tell you about where you’re at. The D-line

coach, Lance Robinson, told me: ‘If we were to play right now, you would

start. You’re definitely getting playing time.’ We have two starters, and

then we have two really good backups who played as redshirt freshmen last

year. So, I have to prove myself again during double days. Either way,

they rotate the players so much, it looks like I’ll play.”

Saenz is excited to get on the playing field after watching last

season. He made the most of the season, displaying his hustle and muscle

on the scout team. Now he’s ready to maintain the winning tradition at

Montana.

“The whole team is (confident) we can do it again,” Saenz said. “The

people who are stepping up are just as good (as those who are gone).”

Saenz enjoyed playing for the national champions. He made the trip to

Chattanooga, Tenn. for the title game and had only one practice. So the

rest of the time he enjoyed himself around town with his scout teammates.

Saenz also reveled in the national championship.

“The biggest highlight (of the school year) was the national

championship,” Saenz said. “After we won, it was just nuts. Everyone was

going crazy. It was one big party.”

Saenz said Johnnie Peeples, a former Orange Coast College standout, is

slated to start next season at cornerback.

“He made a lot of big-time plays,” Saenz said.

Travis Trimble, who made a name for himself as fullback at Newport

Harbor High, is on schedule to make a strong comeback from injury.

Trimble, the starting fullback for Orange Coast College, had knee surgery

Jan. 10, and he says he will be ready for the upcoming season.

He said he is excited to open holes for All-Mission Conference

tailback Niles Mittasch.

Josh Yelsey, a former Corona del Mar High standout distance runner,

has also come home from Yale for the summer. He was at the CIF Southern

Section Track and Field Finals and the Masters Meet, both at Cerritos

College, the past two weeks. He said he experienced a bit of

roller-coaster ride of a season in New Haven. But, he’s on course to

becoming one of the premier runners in the Ivy League.

He injured himself in a freak accident, which created a hematoma in

his hip. But he recovered.

“I still had one of the top seven times (in the mile) in the Ivy

League,” Yelsey said.

Yelsey also said he made the trip back home earlier in the season,

when Yale competed at UC Irvine during Spring Break.

“I was like the unofficial tour guide,” Yelsey said. “It was a lot of

fun. During the whole season, you get to take a lot of cool trips like

that.”

This September, during the cross country season, Yelsey and his Yale

teammates will compete against Georgetown, where they will meet President

George W. Bush, a Yale alumnus.

Trevor Wilson, a former Newport Harbor standout in the hurdles, could

not compete this past season on the UCLA track and field team, the UCLA

sports information department reported. He quit the team because of

chronic shin splints and pain from a stress fracture.

In the upcoming Major League Baseball Draft, June 4 and June 5, four

players from Orange Coast College, two from UC Irvine and one from

Vanguard have viable chances to be selected.

OCC Coach John Altobelli said first-team All-Orange Empire Conference

shortstop Donnie Murphy will be drafted, along with All-OEC pitchers

Justin Azze and Matt Clanton.

Also, Newport Harbor product Scott Beerer could be drafted. He might

also sign with the Texas Rangers, who selected him last year. Beerer

could also opt to play at Texas A&M.;

If the four players are selected, it would be the most OCC players

drafted in Altobelli’s 10 years of coaching the Pirates.

UC Irvine Coach John Savage said, junior catcher Chris Miller and

junior pitcher Sean Tracey, are draft hopefuls, and third baseman Steve

Guthrie, along with outfielders Chris Klemm and Jon Horwitz, are

border-line guys.

Tracey, who recorded seven strikeouts in seven innings in Irvine’s

10-9 season-ending win over Riverside Sunday, finished with an 8-7 record

and 96 strikeouts.

Miller extended Irvine’s single-season home run record to 12 with a

three-run shot Sunday. He also displayed his defensive prowess Saturday,

gunning down two would-be base stealers at second.

Vanguard first baseman and Golden State Athletic Conference Player of

the Year Chad Chop could also be drafted. Chop led the Lions to their

first NAIA Region II championship with his .395 batting average. He also

slugged a team-leading 15 home runs.

Vanguard’s Mike Bair was recently named Lion of the Week for his

efforts in the Lions’ postseason run.

Bair entered the Super Regional with only one error all season.

Vanguard Coach Kevin Kasper refers to center field as “Bair Country,” and

that showed at Azusa Pacific University during the regional when Bair

displayed his defensive talent. Bair also continued his strong play in

the Super Regional, recording 12 putouts and an assist, to end the season

with a .994 fielding percentage, the highest on the team.

Offensively, Bair led the Lions in hits at the Super Regional. He had

a double and one RBI in three games against Albertson.

In game two, with the winning run on third base, Bair delivered a

walk-off single.

The win evened the series at 1-1 and put the Lions into the Super

Regional championship game. He ended the tournament with a .357 batting

average, second highest on the team.