Locals heat up during summer

Edgar Melik-Stepanyan

Editor’s note: The following is a review of the 2003 summer sports

season.

GLENDALE -- The highlight of an eventful summer that had plenty of

edge-of-your-seat moments was Robert Yim. Everything else fell in

line, as the area tennis phenom took his game to UCLA to Michigan and

then to New York.

And as always, there was time for the youth to shine, as local

Little League and Babe Ruth squads put on their own display of magic

on the field.

All in all, it was a three-plus month period that nobody will soon

forget.

Here’s a summary of the 2003 summer sports season:

TENNIS

Yim, a Glendale resident, made the biggest wave of any local

athlete or team during the summer.

The former Glendale High student not only won the United States

Tennis Assn. Super National Hardcourt Tennis Championship on Aug. 10

-- earning him the distinction as the best junior boys’ tennis player

in the country -- but he also made his U.S. Open Tennis Championship

debut.

The 18-year-old lost to Todd Martin, 6-1, 7-6 (9-7), 6-2 in the

opening round on Louis Armstrong Court in Flushing Meadow, N.Y.

Yim -- who turned pro Aug. 18, giving up a full scholarship to

UCLA -- made his professional debut July 29 in the 77th annual

Mercedes-Benz Cup at UCLA. He lost to South African Wayne Ferreira,

6-4, 6-4, but was up, 4-3, in both sets.

Yim -- whose decision to forgo college drew mixed reviews from

UCLA men’s tennis Coach Billy Martin, who built his entire 2003

recruiting class around the 5-foot-7 talent -- is ranked No. 584 in

the Assn. of Tennis Professionals.

BABE RUTH BASEBALL

The La Crescenta 13- and 14-year-old All-Star teams put the area

on the map on the Babe Ruth stage.

The 14-year-olds traveled to Massachusetts and the 13-year-olds

went to Arkansas to participate in their respective World Series

tournaments.

Coached by Errol Simonitsch, the 14-year-olds won the Southern

California State Tournament behind starting pitcher Micah Dunham’s

two-hitter, which paved the way for a 2-1 win against West Torrance

in the if-necessary title game at Wiest Field in Brawley.

La Crescenta’s next stop was in Murray, Utah for the Pacific

Southwest Regionals. Simonitsch’s group defeated Visalia -- the

Central California representative -- for the second time to claim the

title. Pitcher Cody Klein was the most valuable player of the

tournament, as he batted .455 in four regional games and went 1-0 on

the mound with a save.

La Crescenta’s final destination was in Quincy, Mass. for the

World Series, where it went 4-2 to finish the season at 11-3. It lost

to Willamette Valley, Ore., 3-1, in the semifinals of the

single-elimination tournament, but that didn’t overshadow the efforts

of Chad Nacapoy, Chile Jaco, Evan Simonitsch, Andrew Sember, Joe

DePinto and Chris Johnson, among others. Mychael Barajas, DePinto and

Grant Hardyment were named to the Spikes Defensive Team in the World

Series.

The 13-year-old team -- which had a 9-4 record, with three of its

losses in the World Series -- made waves, as well.

Behind Isamu McGregor, Dustin Emmons, Jared Arce, Garrett Salzman,

Kris Kauppila, Trevor Gee and Nico Moreno, La Crescenta advanced to

the World Series for the first time since 1991, winning the Southern

California State Tournament and the Pacific Southwest Regional along

the way.

LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL

The Crescenta Valley Major team won the Section 2 Tournament in

Rosamond to become the first District 16 squad to accomplish that

feat since 1990.

CV, which won the district crown for the ninth time since 1988,

constantly found ways to win, whether it was by its superb pitching,

reliable defense or strong offense that was provided by Brandt

Bowers, Jake Lehne, Travis Feldman, Andrew Pita, Karsen Reedy, Jacob

Hoogenhuizen, Zack Torres, Ryan Eberhart or Lonnie Kauppila, among

others.

Coach Bill Ashby’s team was eliminated by Vineyard, 3-1, in a

second-chance bracket game at Newmark Little League’s Carl Harper

Field.

Coach Alan Eberhart guided his Junior squad to the Section 2

Tournament after it held the District 16 championship banner for the

third time in four years. It advanced to the second-chance bracket

final behind Charlie Carluccio, Daniel Oh, Eric Eberhart, Brad Shaw

and G.P. Adrian, but lost to Temple City, 5-1, at Granada Hills

Little League Field.

CV provided one of the thrilling contests during the summer when

it won the district title with a 14-13 come-from-behind win against

Tujunga at Dunsmore Park, receiving a game-winning two-run single

from Philip Moses in the bottom of the seventh.

The CV 9- and 10-year-old team won the District 16 title and

featured Troy Mulcahey, Bobbin Coffin, Niko Horwith and Joey Sedano.

LITTLE LEAGUE SOFTBALL

The locals suffered a summer drought. For the first time since

1993, none of the local teams advanced to the Western Regionals or

World Series.

The Glendale-based Senior team -- which had two former players who

played on the squad that advanced to the World Series in 2002 --

didn’t get out of the Section 2 Tournament in the 15- and 16-year-old

division, splitting four games. It was eliminated by District 17’s

San Marino, 2-1, in the championship game at Michael Nesbit Field in

San Marino. San Marino finished fifth in the World Series.

The Glendale Big League team envisioned a run to the World Series,

but its dreams were dashed in the Division 3 Tournament.

Coach Dave Stauffer’s squad fell to District 24’s Jurupa American,

4-0, at Harvey Field in Riverside in the championship game of the 16-

to 18-year-old division. Jurupa American tied for ninth in the World

Series.

The Foothill-Tujunga Junior team also had its season come to an

end at the hands of a team that reached the World Series.

After capturing the District 16 title for the fourth straight year

with a 6-2 win against CV in the 13- and 14-year-old division,

Foothill-Tujunga, coached by Ron de Lamare and Jim McGivney, lost to

Lancaster Parkview, 1-0, in the if-necessary championship game of the

Section 2 Tournament at Montrose Park.

Lancaster Parkview finished sixth in the World Series.

Jim Mulligan’s CV Major team captured the District 16 and Section

2 crowns in the 11- and 12-year-old division before falling in the

Division 3 Tournament to Temecula Valley North.

The CV 9- and 10-year-old team finished 5-2 and competed in the

Section 2 Tournament, where it lost to Mission Hills, 9-2, in the

second-chance bracket final.

THIRD PAN-ARMENIAN GAMES

The Glendale men’s basketball team -- representing the Homenetmen

Ararat Chapter -- and the L.A. Valley men’s soccer squad each won

gold medals at the Third-Pan Armenian Games in August in Armenia’s

capital, Yerevan.

Riding the shoulders of Hoover graduate Zareh Avedian, Glendale

defeated host Yerevan, 97-92, in overtime at the Karen Demirchyan

Sports-Cultural Center. Avedian finished with 49 points and 20

rebounds in the title game, and averaged 32.5 points per contest.

L.A. Valley -- which was coached by former La Canada girls’ soccer

Coach Phil Hacopians and featured several former Hoover players --

easily defeated Moscow, 4-1, in the final at Vazgen Sargsyan Stadium,

a day after edging tournament favorite Yerevan, 4-3, on penalty

kicks.

The young Glendale women’s basketball team -- which had no player

older than 22 -- shocked the international competition, reaching the

gold-medal game, where it lost to Yerevan, 85-57.

COMINGS AND GOINGS

La Canada appointed former state 3,200-meter champion and owner of

two school distance records Andy Diconti to take over the program for

Tony Haynes.

Diconti -- a 1980 La Canada grad who won the CIF Southern Section

Division 2-A title in the 1,600 (4 minutes 8.5 seconds) and the 3,200

(9:15.68) in his senior year, as well as capturing the Master’s title

in 8:54.29 and the state crown in 8:55.97 in the 3,200 -- was hired

June 6.

Diconti also holds the school records in the 1,600 (4:08.4) and

the 3,200 (8:48.9).

Hoover boys’ basketball and softball Coach Kirt Kohlmeier ended a

24-year run two days before Diconti’s hire by stepping down at both

positions.

Kohlmeier, who coached the boys’ basketball team for 24 years and

the softball program for the past 14, left behind a legacy at Hoover.

He posted a career record 304-294 (.508) in basketball and his

teams won Pacific League titles in 1982, 1984 and 1996.

Kohlmeier had a 223-114 (.662) career record in softball.

The 49-year-old also coached two of the greatest athletes the area

has ever seen in Joe Hillman -- who went on to play for Bobby Knight

at Indiana -- and Nancy Evans, the two-time CIF Co-Player of the Year

in softball.

SAYING GOODBYE

Michael Jae, an instrumental figure in the local sports scene,

passed away June 3 because of complications from pneumonia. He was

49.

Jae was a fixture at local games as the commissioner for the

Connie Mack and Mickey Mantle youth leagues.

Jae was also the News-Press Male Athlete of the Year in 1972 after

garnering All-CIF accolades for Hoover during his senior year. He

pitched under USC Coach Rod Dedeaux from 1973-77, helping the Trojans

win a national title in 1974.

GOLF

Courtney Renfro, a La Crescenta resident, competed in the 103rd

U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship on Aug. 6 at the Philadelphia

Country Club in Gladwyne, Pa.

But the 21-year-old failed to qualify for match play, finishing

the event with a 36-hole score of 162. She was nine strokes off the

cut to qualify for match play.