Briefs: Meyer lands teaching job at CdM

Scott Meyer is not only going to lead his Corona del Mar High football players on the field. He will guide them in the classroom as well.

Meyer said he began teaching at CdM on April 18, 19 days after he took over as the Sea Kings’ new football coach. Meyer, who was a social studies teacher at Long Beach Jordan High, is teaching four economic classes and one government class at CdM.

The teaching position opened up quickly and Meyer is glad it did. Duncan McCulloch, the assistant principal at CdM, said no one from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District applied for the teaching job.

“Getting to meet the staff, the teachers, and be around the kids all day long. [I] don’t have to fluctuate from another place and commute down [from Long Beach] in the afternoon,” Meyer said, detailing the benefits of being an on-campus coach. “It’s nice to be here and get all the new stuff out of the way before the fall starts and the season.”

Spring ball is right around the corner. Meyer expects 50 to 60 players to participate during spring from May 23 through June 16.

“The numbers are good,” said Meyer, who replaced Jason Hitchens after Hitchens stepped down in January after leading the Sea Kings to an outright Pacific Coast League title, the program’s first since 1988, and to the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Southern Division playoffs for the second time in three seasons at the helm. “Baseball is still going and [we] have a few kids going in some other sports. A bunch of kids from lacrosse are coming out, so it’s going to be good.

“Last year, they had a real good group of freshmen. I think they had about 60 on the [frosh/soph] team. If we can come close to that number again, those are great numbers for a school of this size.”

Now that Meyer is at CdM as a teacher, will he move into the area?

“I’m going to get settled down here first,” said a smiling Meyer, who has coached mostly in the Long Beach area, as an assistant at Long Beach Wilson last season, and before that as the head coach at Long Beach Jordan for six seasons.

“I live in Long Beach. It’s a 30-minute drive [to CdM]. I come down the coast. It’s a great drive. It’s an easy 30 minutes.”

— David Carrillo Peñaloza

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Strong showing for CdM and Newport

The Corona del Mar High sailing team finished fifth and Newport Harbor was sixth at the Interscholastic Sailing Assn. High School National Championship on Lake Travis near Austin, Texas on Sunday.

CdM and Newport Harbor competed against the top high school sailing teams in the nation and were among the 20 schools that participated.

The Sea Kings and the Newport Harbor Sailors competed in 19 races in two divisions over three days. The teams were vying for the Mallory Trophy, awarded to the top high school sailing team. Antilles of the Virgin Islands won the Mallory Trophy by a 20-point margin over Coronado. Point Loma was third and Severn was fourth.

— From staff reports