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Fryer examines CIF decisions, other hot topics
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Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
• That was a wise, courageous and productive move the Century League made at the CIF-Southern Section Council meeting Thursday when it withdrew its proposal that would have split the section's private and public schools into separate playoff divisions. It was wise because passage of the proposal would have created a litigious war, courageous because the withdrawal took some swallowing of pride and productive because it created an opportunity for representatives of both sides to have a summit meeting at which differences can be discussed and repaired. (Click here to read more on the meeting)
• The elimination of the association rule at the Council meeting Thursday might have been the death blow to the multisport athlete. The elimination of the rule means that, beginning July 1, high school coaches can work unrestricted with their school's athletes outside of the season of sport (except for the two-week summer dead period). If, say, a junior who wants to participate in track and field in the spring knows that during the lengthier spring football practices March and April his competition for a starting slot on the football team is in those football practices securing that starting slot, that multisport athlete might opt for the football program instead of the track program in early spring.
• The elimination of the association rule might most benefit the larger private schools. The larger private schools probably are better suited to finding the money to create an on-campus position for that coach who now can work unlimited hours with a school team during the offseason during the school year, thus turning a walk-on into a fulltime faculty member.
• One proposal that was squashed quickly with a voice vote was one that, when two teams meet in any round of the playoffs, the home team would be the highest-seeded of those two teams in every round. Here is a less-drastic way to reward that team that earned a high-seed: give the top four seeded teams the option of playing an away game in the first-round so that a second-round home game would be guaranteed. Usually, that second-round opponent is better than the first-round opponent.
• Dana Hills got contributions from several track and field athletes, and not just from the teams' biggest stars, in winning the boys and girls team titles at the Orange County Championships (click here to read competition roundup)this past Saturday at Mission Viejo. For the boys, Kellen Foley finished sixth in the 200 and seventh in the long jump and was on both relay teams, and Stephen Ferguson was fourth in the 400 and anchored the 1,600 relay team that finished second (he was clocked at 49.1 for his leg). For the girls, Grace Essigner produced 26.5 points by finishing first in the 100 hurdles, second in the 200, and third in the 100, and sophomore Kimmie Connor stood out in four events by finishing second in the triple jump (with a school-record 36-23/4), third in the 100 hurdles, sixth in the 300 hurdles, and eighth in the high jump.
• Paul Castillo is retiring as a CIF-SS assistant commissioner at the end of this school year, his eighth in the position. Castillo's best work perhaps came in smoothly adapting CIF-SS basketball playoff bracketing to whatever format changes were made by section member schools – enrollment-based playoffs one year, then competitive-equity playoffs the next – and at the state level. And if you asked Castillo a question to which he was not confident he could give the correct answer, instead of bluffing his way through it he would say, "I don't know, but I'll find out for you."
• The Power Lifting Contest for high school male and female athletes will be held for the 30th year in a row on Saturday at San Clemente High's gym, with weigh-in beginning at 8 a.m. and competition starting at 9:30 a.m. The event has 10 weight classes, with trophies awarded to the winners. For information, call 949-292-1124.
• Cypress' baseball team (click here to see record) has gotten hot at the right time of the season to do so, with five Empire League victories in a row including a 2-1 home triumph over Valencia on Wednesday in nine innings. Jordan Whitman drove in the wining run in the ninth, after pitching the first eight innings while giving up one unearned run.
• Servite's Josh White (click here to see record) pitched a complete game Saturday when the Friars beat top-ranked Orange Lutheran, 11-0. It was Lutheran's first Trinity League loss.
• The Kiwanis/PlyoCity Orange County All-Star Games event is Saturday at Ocean View High. There are four games, each for seniors: small-school girls at 3 p.m.; small-school boys at 4:45 p.m.; large-school girls at 6:30 p.m.; large-school boys at 8:15 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students and children. (Click here to read more about game)
• The large-school boys game has plenty of good players, including county player of the year Jerime Anderson of Canyon on the North and runne-rup county player of the year, and state Division III player of the year, Klay Thompson of Santa Margarita on the South.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
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