Laguna teams ranked in CIF preseason polls

Four Laguna Beach High teams are ranked in this week’s CIF Southern Section polls.

The Laguna girls’ volleyball team, which started play Thursday, holds down the No. 1-ranking in Division 1-A. The football team, which begins its season Friday at Bolsa Grande, is ranked fourth in the Southern Division.

The boys’ water polo team, the two-time defending Division 3 champion, has moved up to Division 2 and is ranked fourth. The Breakers start their season Sept. 7 at eighth-ranked Villa Park. The girls’ cross-country team, which reached the CIF State Meet last year, is ranked eighth in Division 4.

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Pavlik, Kropp repeat at Manhattan Beach

Whitney Pavlik (Laguna Beach) and Jenny Kropp (Hollyglen) repeated as women’s division champion Sunday at the Manhattan Beach Open. The pair had their second team plaque added to the Manhattan Beach Pier’s “Volleyball Walk of Fame.” The plaques represent the winning beach volleyball teams at Manhattan Beach during the past 52 years.

Pavlik and Kropp, who defeated Jennifer Fopma and Brooke Sweat, 21-17, 21-16, in the women’s final, will compete at the final event of the 2012 Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Series, the Huntington Beach Open, Sept. 21-23.

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Lewis finishes third in the Netherlands

Laguna Beach resident Michael Lewis earned a third-place finish in the Round of 16 on Saturday at a Formula 3 Euro Series event at Circuit Park Zandvoort in the Netherlands. It was the fourth time that Lewis has reached the podium in the current F3 Euro season.

Lewis, driving a PREMA Powerteam Mercedes-powered Dallara F312, started the race on the outside row in the fifth position and passed two cars on the first turn of the 26-lap, 40-minute race.

Lewis will next race Sept. 28-30 in Valencia, Spain.