Briefly In Sports

Trophy Invitational is Saturday

The Laguna Beach Trophy Invitational track meet returns at 10 a.m. Saturday. .

Laguna Beach High hosted the meet from 1937 to 1982, but it hasn’t happened since then. Coaches Steve Wittkop and Steve Lalim decided to bring it back.

“When Steve and I took over three years ago, we had heard about it,” Wittkop said. “We thought it was crazy that it didn’t continue.”

The meet, for mostly small schools, also features a special track dedication ceremony. The track at the high school has been named Eric Hulst Track, and Hulst’s family and past teammates are expected to be in attendance. The 3,200-meter race at the event will be called the Eric Hulst Memorial 3,200.

Debbie Neev said that the dedication, expected to be held around 4 p.m., will feature a speech by Hulst’s mother, Sharon Sandin.

Hulst was a nationally recognized distance runner for Laguna in the 1970s, who still holds the 1,600 and 3,200-meter records at the school. He died in 1992 at the age of 34 after a yearlong battle with brain cancer.

Wittkop said earlier this week that he is expecting close to 20 teams and 1,200 athletes at the meet.

Parking is expected to be tight at the meet, but Wittkop said shuttles will be running throughout the day. The shuttles will run from the Act V parking lot to downtown, then to the school.

For more information on the track meet, visit www.trophyinvite.com.

“” Matt Szabo

Lewis getting ready for European race

Laguna Beach resident Michael Lewis and his two Eurointernational teammates, Daniil Kyvat and Carlos Sainz Jr., joined fellow Formula BMW Europe drivers at Autodromo Monza in Italy for two days of Collective Team Tests, scheduled for March 9 and 10.

However, the second day of testing was canceled due to extremely cold conditions.

Lewis’ last appearance in a Formula BMW race car was at the Okayama International Circuit for Rounds 13 and 14 of the 2009 Formula BMW Pacific series in November, and he was anxious to jump back into the race car. He quickly adapted to the Monza track on the first day of testing, despite temperatures being in the upper 30s.

“This is a fast track with long straights and Antonio Ferrari and the Eurointernational crew had my car prepared well so all I had to do was concentrate on hitting my marks and build up to speed,” Lewis said in a release.

With only one day on the track, Lewis ran second fastest for a good portion of the morning session, fifth fastest on the time charts during the afternoon and finished the Collective Test sixth fastest overall of 15 drivers.

“Michael adapted to the track very well for being his first time here,” said Antonio Ferrari, Eurointernational team owner, in the release.