CIF-SS boys lacrosse, March 25

• March 26, 2024

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The CIF-SS boys lacrosse polls, released Monday, March 25

CIF-SS BOYS LACROSSE POLLS

(Selected by the Boys Lacrosse Committee)

DIVISION 1/2

1. St. Margaret’s

2. Loyola

3. Foothill

4. Mater Dei

5. Santa Margarita

6. Westlake

7. JSerra

8. Corona del Mar

9. Crespi

10. Los Alamitos

DIVISION 3

1. El Segundo

2. Notre Dame/Sherman Oaks

3. Oaks Christian

4. Village Christian

5. University

6. Centennial/Corona

7.  El Dorado

8. Orange Lutheran

9. Woodbridge

10. Hart

​ Orange County Register 

CIF-SS girls lacrosse polls, March 25

• March 26, 2024

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The CIF-SS girls lacrosse polls, released Monday, March 25

CIF-SS GIRLS LACROSSE POLLS

(Selected by the Girls Lacrosse Committee)

DIVISION 1/2

1. Foothill/Santa Ana

2. Marlborough

3. Redondo Union

4. Santa Margarita

5. Mira Costa

6. San Clemente

7. Palos Verdes

8. St. Margaret’s

9. Murrieta Mesa

10. Mater Dei

Other: Chaminade, Crescenta Valley, Edison, Huntington Beach, Newbury Park, Oak Park, Santiago/Corona

DIVISION 3

1. El Dorado

2. Glendale

3. Temecula Valley

4. San Marcos/Santa Barbara

5. Orange Lutheran

6. Laguna Beach

7. Murrieta Valley

8. King, Martin Luther

9. Aliso Niguel

10. Saugus

Other: Cate, Great Oak, Northwood, Roosevelt, Thacher

​ Orange County Register 

CIF-SS boys volleyball polls, March 25

• March 26, 2024

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The CIF-SS boys volleyball polls, released Monday, March 25.

CIF-SS BOYS VOLLEYBALL POLLS

(Selected by the Boys Volleyball Committee)

DIVISION 1/2

1T. Loyola

1T. Newport Harbor

3. Mira Costa

4. Corona del Mar

5. Huntington Beach

6. Edison

7. Mater Dei

8. Tesoro

9. Redondo Union

10. Santa Barbara

11. San Marcos/Santa Barbara

12. Beckman

13. Long Beach Wilson

14. Santa Margarita

15. Servite

16. Orange Lutheran

17. Upland

18. Los Alamitos

19. Dos Pueblos

20T. Canyon/Anaheim

20T. St. Francis

DIVISION 3

1. San Clemente

2. Fountain Valley

3. St. Margaret’s

4. JSerra

5. South Torrance

6. Wiseburn da Vinci

7. Cypress

8. Long Beach Poly

9. El Dorado

10. Sunny Hills

Others: Foothill, Mission Viejo, Northwood, Peninsula, Trabuco Hills, University

DIVISION 4

1. San Juan Hills

2. Portola

3. Claremont

4. Santa Monica

5. North Torrance

6. Westlake

7. Newbury Park

8. Valencia/Valencia

9. Paraclete

10. Quartz Hill

Others: Bolsa Grande, Cathedral, Chino Hills, Garden Grove, Murrieta Mesa, Tustin, Yucaipa

DIVISION 5

1. Godinez

2. Rancho Verde

3. San Marino

4. Fullerton

5. Rio Mesa

6. Saugus

7. Canyon/Canyon Country

8. Camarillo

9. Temple City

10. Fontana

Other: Flintridge Prep, Golden Valley/Santa Clarita, Great Oak, La Salle, Ramona, Rancho Alamitos, Valencia/Placentia

DIVISION 6

1. Malibu

2. Summit

3. Knight, Pete

4. Lancaster

5. Gabrielino

6. Samueli Academy

7. Ganesha

8. Lakewood

9. Wildwood

10. St. Anthony

Others: Basset, Loma Linda Academy, Moreno Valley, Riverside Poly, Tahquitz

DIVISION 7

1. Ontario Christian

2. Calvary Chapel/Downey

3. Avalon

4. Palmdale Aerospace Academy

5. Orangewood Academy

6.Vasquez

7. Nuview Bridge

8. CAMS

9. Western

10. Savanna

Others: Buena Park, Carpinteria, Lynwood, Pioneer, San Luis Obispo, Shalhevet, St. Jeanne de Lestonnac, St. Paul, Workman

​ Orange County Register 

Swanson: Not the start to Shohei Ohtani era that Dodgers expected

• March 26, 2024

LOS ANGELES — Well, glad that’s all cleared up.

On Monday, the world’s greatest baseball player told a room full of reporters what his lawyers already stated on his behalf: Ippei Mizuhara has been stealing and lying and Shohei Ohtani – who, himself, never bet on sports – didn’t know anything about his former interpreter and friend’s alleged betting on sports through an illegal bookmaker.

“I’m looking forward to focusing on the season,” Ohtani said, via the Dodgers’ interpreter Will Ireton, before a preseason game at Dodger Stadium against the Angels, his former team. “I’m glad that we had this opportunity to talk.”

Sure, good talk, Shohei. Don’t know what we learned from it definitively, except that this man really is one cool customer.

Calm at the plate or on the mound in the clutch – and behind a mic in the face of a whole new sort of scrutiny.

Ohtani sat calmly for nearly 12 minutes and delivered semi-prepared remarks to a crowd of close to 100 reporters without taking questions, leaving us unable to do much more than channel Larry David when he goes all lie detector, the comedian using the stare-down as means of determining the veracity of people’s claims.

Are you sure I’m not adopted? That I didn’t tip you twice? That you didn’t take the dog? That you didn’t know about $4.5 million wired from your bank account to an illegal bookie? Are you sure???

Stare.

Stare.

Ohtani stared right back at us. Didn’t fidget or stutter or stumble. Didn’t blink.

So, yeah. OK.

What can you do but shrug, nod and let the investigations – Major League Baseball’s and law enforcement’s – go on.

Nod, wait and watch as the Dodgers try to take back the narrative of what was to be a monumental season of delicious, high-stakes, on-field villainy before last week’s allegations served to curb enthusiasm so dramatically.

All the ways this Dodgers season could go – good, bad, ugly or sideways, upside down – betcha didn’t have this particular loop on your bingo card.

This is not what anyone envisioned when the Dodgers won the Ohtani sweepstakes, signing him to a historic $700 million, 10-year contract – and bringing aboard Mizuhara with him, the two a package deal.

The Dodgers expected the Japanese sensation, a unicorn for his rare combination of elite pitching and hitting exploits, would help propel them toward the World Series championship they’re so desperate for – while bolstering their global brand.

Instead, they’ve got a scandal that was, until last week, unthinkable for the famously private superstar.

His dog’s name (Dekopin, or Decoy) was, for weeks, a mystery. His marriage came as a total surprise. He wouldn’t divulge any details about his Tommy John surgery.

So it was jarring to hear him speak on the record Monday about how “very saddened and shocked” he was, how hurt he was that someone who’d been a trusted confidante was allegedly stealing from him and lying about him.

It wasn’t nearly as shocking that he didn’t take questions. Ohtani could be the main witness in a criminal case, his lawyers wouldn’t want him trying to explain to us how it could have gone unnoticed that he’d allegedly had millions of his dollars wired out? Or how Mizuhara allegedly could have arranged it? How long he allegedly could have been getting away with it? Why Mizuhara’s story evolved so much and so rapidly?

They wouldn’t want him to say more about this: “Ippei has been telling everybody around that Ippei has been communicating with Shoehei on all of this account, to my representative, to the team, and that hasn’t been true.”

Or about his assertion that the first time he learned of these allegations was while Mizuhara addressed the team in the clubhouse after the Dodgers’ first game in South Korea last week – in English.

“So during the team meeting, obviously Ippei was speaking in English, and I didn’t have a translator on my side – but even with that, I kind of understood what was going on and started to feel that there was something amiss,” Ohtani said.

So Ohtani was basically the last to know? Are we sure?

The only thing we’re actually sure of: This isn’t how the Dodgers’ season was supposed to start.

​ Orange County Register 

CIF-SS baseball polls, March 25

• March 26, 2024

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The CIF-SS baseball polls, released Monday, March 25

CIF-SS BASEBALL POLLS

(Selected by the Baseball Committee)

DIVISION 1

1. Corona

2. Harvard-Westlake

3. Santa Margarita

4. Orange Lutheran

5. Huntington Beach

6. JSerra

7. San Dimas

8. La Mirada

9. South Hills

10. Bishop Amat

Others: Aquinas, Cypress, Gahr, Foothill, Mater Dei, Notre Dame/Sherman Oaks, Pacifica/Garden Grove, West Ranch

DIVISION 2

1. Westlake

2. Arlington

3. Maranatha

4. Paloma Valley

5. Hart

6. Arcadia

7. Aliso Niguel

8. Quartz Hill

9. Great Oak

10. Servite

Others: Temecula Valley

DIVISION 3

1. Centennial/Corona

2. Tahquitz

3. Summit

4. La Habra

5. St. John Bosco

6. El Modena

7. Los Alamitos

8. Chaminade

9. La Salle

10. Santa Barbara

Others: Beckman, El Segundo

DIVISION 4

1. San Juan Hills

2. Murrieta Valley

3. Camarillo

4. Burroughs/Burbank

5. Culver City

6. Sultana

7. Estancia

8. Moreno Valley

9. Upland

10. Cerritos

Others: Los Osos, Oak Hills, San Marino

DIVISION 5

1. Santa Monica

2. Murrieta Mesa

3. Riverside Prep

4. Trinity Classical Academy

5. Lakeside

6. Chino Hills

7. Bloomington

8. Ramona

9. Monrovia

10. Ventura

Others: Adelanto, Claremont, Kennedy, Liberty

DIVISION 6

1. Century

2. Costa Mesa

3. Savanna

4. Grand Terrace

5. Rancho Mirage

6. Orange Vista

7. Xavier Prep

8. Alhambra

9. Colony

10. Portola

Others: Arroyo, Mayfair

DIVISION 7

1. Buena Park

2. Western Christian

3. Thacher

4. Leuzinger

5. South El Monte

6. Desert Christian/Lancaster

7. Cornerstone Chr./Wildomar

8. Montclair

9. Chaffey

10. Cantwell Sacred Heart

Others: Banning, Jordan, St. Bernard

DIVISION 8

1. Pacifica Christian/Orange County

2. San Bernardino

3. Webb

4. Azusa

5. Redlands Adventist

6. Bell Gardens

7. Rolling Hills Prep

8. San Jacinto Valley Academy

9. Pioneer

10. Don Bosco Tech

Others: Arroyo Valley, Cate, Glenn, Rancho Alamitos

​ Orange County Register 

Rain forces NHRA to move Winternationals finals to Phoenix

• March 26, 2024

The NHRA announced that the Winternationals finals, rained out on Sunday at In-N-Out Pomona Dragstrip, will be run on Saturday, April 6, at the Arizona Nationals in Phoenix.

Mid-afternoon heavy rain, along with lightning and a hailstorm, made it impossible to complete the final round of the Winternationals in Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock. The Pomona champions will be determined by races run at the end of Saturday qualifying in each class at Firebird Motorsports Park.

Justin Ashley and Tony Schumacher will square off for the Top Fuel title. It will be Matt Hagan versus John Force in Funny Car, and Erica Enders and Dallas Glenn will vie for the Pro Stock crown.

​ Orange County Register 

CIF-SS softball polls, March 25

• March 26, 2024

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The CIF-SS softball polls, released Monday, March 25

CIF-SS SOFTBALL POLLS

(Selected by the Softball Committee)

DIVISION 1

1. Pacifica/Garden Grove

2. Orange Lutheran

3. Murrieta Mesa

4. Norco

5. Huntington Beach

6. Riverside Poly

7. Los Alamitos

8. La Mirada

9. Oaks Christian

10. Marina

11. JSerra

12. Great Oak

13. Torrance

14. Canyon/Anaheim

15. Roosevelt

16. Esperanza

DIVISION 2

NOT REPORTED

1. Valencia

2. California

3. El Modena

4. Beaumont

5. Mater Dei

6. Ayala

7. Rosary

8. Temescal Canyon

9. Tesoro

10. Bonita

Other: Aliso Niguel, El Toro, Gahr, Rio Mesa, Whittier Christian

DIVISION 3

1. West Torrance

2. Etiwanda

3. Burroughs/Burbank

4. Notre Dame/Sherman Oaks

5. Aquinas

6. Los Altos

7. Upland

8. Charter Oak

9. Northview

10. Redondo Union

11. Bishop Amat

12. King, Martin Luther

13. La Habra

14. Agoura

15. Cerritos

16. Fullerton

DIVISION 4

1. Oxnard

2. Schurr

3. Newbury Park

4. Paraclete

5. Downey

6. Long Beach Wilson

7. Hemet

8. Northwood

9. Sultana

10. Mira Costa

Others: Don Lugo, Mary Star of the Sea, Norwalk, Oak Hills, San Dimas, San Marcos

DIVISION 5

1. Providence

2. Valley Christian/Cerritos

3. Palos Verdes

4. St. Bonaventure

5. Liberty/Winchester

6. Grace

7. Linfield Christian

8. St. Anthony

9. Quartz Hill

10. Patriot

Others: Arroyo, Carter, Duarte, Mark Keppel, Shadow Hills, West Ranch

DIVISION 6

1. Ganesha

2. Indio

3. University Prep

4. Tahquitz

5. Canyon Springs

6. Viewpoint

7. St. Joseph/Lakewood

8. Santa Rosa Academy

9. Granite Hills

10. Mayfield

11. Lancaster

12. Sierra Vista

13. Colton

14. Capistrano Valley Christian

15. Eisenhower

16. Rio Hondo Prep

Others:  Moreno Valley, Pioneer

DIVISION 7

1. Oxford Academy

2. Eastside

3. Burroughs/Ridgecrest

4. Pasadena Poly

5. Muir

6. Cathedral City

7. University

8. Faith Baptist

9. Miller, A.B.

10. Orangewood Academy

11. Bishop Conaty-Loretta

12. Leuzinger

13. Hawthorne Math & Sciences

14. Western

15. Academy for Academic Excellence

16. Loma Linda Academy

Others: Castaic, Lennox Academy

DIVISION 8

1. Calvary Baptist

2. Santa Ana Valley

3. Mesa Grande

4. Lucerne Valley

5. The Archer School for Girls

6. United Christian Academy

7. Orange

8. Hesperia Christian

9. Jurupa Valley

10. Excelsior Charter

Others: None

​ Orange County Register 

Environmentalists sue Metro in effort to stop gondola ride to Dodger Stadium

• March 26, 2024

Environmental advocates on Monday, March 25, delivered on their promise to sue Metro for approving planning documents for a proposed gondola project that would provide access to Dodger Stadium.

The Los Angeles Parks Alliance, a group of public space advocates, announced their lawsuit against the transit agency under California’s environmental laws. It urged the court to throw out what they describe as the gondola’s “fatally flawed” final environmental impact report. Metro previously certified the EIR report in February, which represented a significant step forward for the project.

Members of the alliance claim the gondola would significantly impact the land and airspace of Los Angeles State Historic Park, destroy more than 250 trees, displace wildlife and permanently ruin its vistas.

“L.A. Metro’s decision to certify this deeply flawed EIR has left us with no other choice than to plead our case to the court,” Jon Christensen, adjunct assistant professor at UCLA Institute of the Environmental and Sustainability and founder of the alliance, said in a statement.

“The board’s action ignores 20 years of community advocacy that went into building a park in a neighborhood in dire need of green space and recreational opportunities and essentially gifts the public’s land and air rights to a billionaire for an illegal commercial exploitation.”

Metro did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Zero Emissions Transit, the non-profit owner of the gondola project known as Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transport, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Metro took on the role as the lead agency overseeing California Environmental Quality Act requirements as required by the Public Utilities Code to review for approval all plans proposed for the design, construction, and implementation of public mass transit projects — regardless of whether the transit agency is the project sponsor.

As part of their approval, Metro’s Board of Directors also signed off on a community benefits agreement, placing about 30 conditions on the project. If those conditions are not met, Metro will have the ability to revoke permissions and use of its land.

Highlights of the agreement include calls for an ongoing Chinatown revitalization revolving loan fund to offer low- and no-interest loans, and forgivable loans to local small businesses, entrepreneurs and street vendors. It also establishes requirements for tree replacement parking, local job creation, workforce development, sustainable and affordable housing.

The project will also require further consideration from the city of Los Angeles, Caltrans, the California State Department of Parks and Recreation, and the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health before it comes back to the transit agency at a future date for construction approval.

Former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt proposed the $300 million privately-funded project, which would establish a 1.2-mile aerial gondola, connecting Union Station with Dodger Stadium.

The project would include a station at the southernmost entrance of Los Angeles State Historic Park, as well as pedestrian and landscape improvements. The project would run above Chinatown, Mission Junction, Elysian Park and Solano Canyon.

Though the project was initially estimated at $300 million, updated financial documents show the gondola closer to $500 million.

In 2023, McCourt gifted the project to a new entity, Zero Emission Transit, which is now handling potential building, financing and operation of the gondola.

Metro had stated it would not be providing funding for the project, and assured taxpayer money would not be used. ZET also reiterated it was a privately-funded venture, but opponents say there are no guarantees public dollars won’t be spent.

ZET has billed the project as environmentally friendly and aid in reducing traffic on streets around the stadium and freeways heading there by removing as many as 3,000 cars, leading to a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Last week, Executive Director of ZET David Grannis attended a Los Angeles City Council meeting to discuss the project. He said the project would “reduce car trips, alleviate congestion and improve accessibility to the most visited venue of Major League Baseball.”

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He also described the agreement with Metro as setting a “new standard” for community investments by a transit project.

The alliance, in their lawsuit, contends McCourt has plans for Dodger Stadium parking lots, which he owns, likely to build a retail and entertainment complex similar to that of L.A. Live. McCourt has filed plans with the L.A. City Planning Department for some housing projects around the stadium.

The alliance argues the EIR does not study the impacts of those foreseeable plans, undercutting the claimed benefit of traffic and greenhouse gas reduction. Additionally, the group criticizes the EIR for failing to recognize the use of land and airspace of L.A. State Historic Park.

“This project clearly violates CEQA, but more importantly is being forced on a neighborhood that has had to endure more than its share of projects that don’t benefit the community,” John Given, legal counsel to LAPA, said in a statement. “I believe the court will recognize what our elected representatives on Metro’s Board have not, and correct this egregious abuse of discretion.”

The L.A. City Council approved a motion last week to halt approvals for the gondola project until further studies can be conducted on its potential impacts. Council members voted 11-2 in support of the motion introduced by Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez, who represents the First District, where the gondola would be located. As part of the action, council members approved $500,000 for the Los Angeles Department of Transportation to hire a consultant to conduct assessments.

​ Orange County Register