Dylan Andrews has career day as UCLA advances in Pac-12 Tournament

• March 14, 2024

LAS VEGAS — He yanked the ball between his legs early in the second half, asserting his presence in one simple step-back move, rising for a jumper with a surplus of confidence and without a shred of hesitation.

Dylan Andrews, if you haven’t been able to tell, has arrived.

The UCLA sophomore answered the bell at every turn against a rapidly creeping Oregon State team in the second half, finishing with a career-high 31 points on a lights-out 11-of-15 performance from the field as the fifth-seeded Bruins dispatched the 12th-seeded Beavers 67-57 in the opening round of the Pac-12 Tournament on Wednesday.

UCLA (16-16, 11-10 Pac-12) looked all but dead in the water as recently as last Thursday, dropping their fifth game in a row in a rout by Arizona; suddenly, though, with Andrews’ emergence and a two-game win streak, they’ll carry significant momentum into a quarterfinal matchup with fourth-seeded Oregon (20-11, 12-8 Pac-12) on Thursday.

Andrews ascended to a headlining act all unto himself Wednesday afternoon at T-Mobile Arena in Vegas, single-handedly lifting a UCLA team that’s been in desperate and Mick-Cronin-expressively dire need of a shot-creator in an up-and-down season. The 6-foot-2 guard controlled the pace, a steady hand for a program whose guards have been consistently erratic, spotting up when needed. And he was electric in simply conjuring offense from chaos, putting a Beavers defender on skates on that second-half possession, nailing a jumper in rhythm and jogging back coolly.

When the Beavers’ Tyler Bilodeau hit a 3-pointer to cut UCLA’s lead to seven, Andrews responded with a timeout-prompting triple to push it back to 10.

When Oregon State’s Jordan Pope nailed a three with 10 minutes left to nip the Bruins’ lead to four, Andrews came right back with his fifth triple.

And as Oregon State mounted one final push, it was Andrews who rose with confidence on the wing – pass-faking to the corner – to deliver the dagger, all but ending the Beavers’ season with his seventh 3-pointer to push UCLA’s lead to 14 with 2:19 left.

This was not an isolated explosion, Andrews’ growth coming steady, more aggressive and assertive in averaging 18 points and nearly five assists in his last four games entering Wednesday. He showed composure and leadership in crunch-time, putting his arm around Bona and speaking calmly as the power forward went to the free-throw line in the final two minutes, the energetic Bona having just snared a rebound and slapping the ball repeatedly in emphasis.

And Andrews’ emergence seemed to take offensive pressure off Bona, who struggled with six first-half turnovers but finished with 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting, calmer in his second-half decision-making in the post.

The Bruins’ defense and toughness – their staple through an up-and-down season characterized by some frank Cronin-isms in postgame pressers and a team with precious little shot-creation – thrived in the first half en route to a 34-22 lead at the break. They held Pope, the Beavers’ explosive sparkplug, to just five points on 2-of-7 first-half shooting, and forced two five-second violations on Oregon State, the second immediately followed by Andrews’ third 3-pointer of the half.

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And UCLA forced two Oregon State turnovers in the final minute of the first half, the first a bad pass from Pope that prompted a hearty flex and a grin from Bona, the second a loose ball from Oregon State’s Dexter Akanno that ended up in Andrews’ hands just before the halftime buzzer.

Fitting, really, because Andrews dominated the second half the same as the first, scoring 16 after the intermission. UCLA 6-foot-7 freshman Brandon Williams, who’d had a largely quiet season offensively, provided a nice second-half lift with a turnaround jumper and an and-one.

Pope had 16 points for the Beavers and Bilodeau had 13.

​ Orange County Register 

LA Marathon: Experienced runners advise first-timers, who make up 40% of field

• March 14, 2024

Since distance running is a solitary sport, veteran runners of the LA Marathon, being held on Sunday, March 17, jumped at a rare chance this week to share teacherly tidbits aimed at educating race newbies.

From dos and don’ts to must-see moments along the 26.2-mile course stretching from Elysian Park to Beverly Hills, their advice ran the gamut from what not to wear on race day, to downing energy bites and power drinks like crazy in order to increase stamina during the exhausting jaunt.

And their wisdom may prove critical, since those who’ve run the LA Marathon before are in the minority this year. About 56% of the more than 26,000 runners are newcomers to this race. And 40% — that’s more than 10,000 runners — will be running their first marathon of any kind, said Dan Cruz, spokesperson for the race.

“That is a lot of new runners,” Cruz said. “Might be due to a post-pandemic time when more people are comfortable coming to big events.”

Do this, don’t do that

Louis Briones has run all 38 LA Marathons. At age 76, he’s prepared to run on Sunday, the 39th annual LA Marathon. So when he dishes up advice, people listen.

Like other veteran runners, Briones stressed that how a runner handles the first six miles is critical in preventing a total body breakdown later in the race. In short, the first lesson is all about pacing.

“When that starter gun goes off you are feeling powerful, so you blast out of the gate and you run too fast. You will end up walking the last half of the marathon,” he said.

Many, including Briones, said there should be a caution label affixed to each entry application: Don’t attempt unless you’ve done at least six months of training. For the couch potato, that means baby steps at first. “Buy a good pair of shoes, put them on, head out your front door and run around the block. Start slow, with short distances, get your legs accustomed to moving,” Briones said.

Michelle Russell, an occupational therapist from Encino, ran her first marathon in the LA Marathon of November 2021. Because of the pandemic, the event was pushed back eight months. She trained for six months, something she said was brutal and time-consuming but necessary for a successful race.

“I would caution people: It is achievable but you have to take care of your body. If you don’t train for it, it is going to be miserable,” said Russell, 32, who is not running this race and said her marathon days are in the past.

One way for newcomers to succeed is to follow a pace group holding flags indicating finish-time goals. “Look for the pacer with the five-hour flag and follow them,” advised Loren Piretra, 34, of Santa Monica, who has run the LA Marathon and will be a time-keeper this year.

Piretra and other experienced runners said participants should run at their training pace and not fret about a finish time.

“I’ve seen so many runners end the race defeated because they didn’t achieve their goal time. I see people distraught. I say, who cares? Be proud of yourself for achieving a massive accomplishment,” Piretra said. The LA Marathon time limit on each runner is 6 hours, 30 minutes.

Those runners interviewed all cautioned runners to stay hydrated. Many do that by taking the water handed out by volunteers during the run. Some bring their own concoctions.

“I carry an electrolyte drink that’s got calories. And I eat gummies with sugar for more energy about every half hour,” said Ashley Daunt, 34, of Los Angeles, who will be running in her sixth marathon on Sunday.

Pamela Price, 37, of Los Angeles has two marathons under her belt. She said if a runner is losing energy, grab the snacks. “Take the Twizzlers and the pretzels. You will need the energy,” she said.

Some runners, like Allison Olvera, 29, a driving school instructor from Santa Ana, doesn’t eat during the race. “I stay away from snacks and stick with electrolytes, Gatorade,” she said. She finished the Huntington Beach Marathon in February but not without some drama.

At Mile 21, her legs started to give out. “I said to myself I am not a quitter; I’m not going to give up” and made it through the next five miles. At the finish line she felt relieved. “I couldn’t feel my legs,” she said. Determined, Olvera will run in the Hoag OC Marathon on May 5 in Newport Beach.

Daunt’s fashion advice to runners is don’t wear anything new on race day. Rather, wear the shorts, shoes, etc. from recent long training runs. “That’s to make sure there are no surprises, like shorts that chafe.”

A collective lift

Price said it’s not all about meeting your time goal but about having a good time and meeting new people.

She described her first LA Marathon as “a tour of the city with world citizens.”

This year’s run will feature participants from all 50 states and 70 countries.

Runners will stop to help someone, Price said. “It sounds cheesy but it’s about lifting each other up. You’ll see somebody who is struggling and people will stop and say: ‘You can do this! You’ve got this!,” she said.

Looking back on her 2021 LA Marathon run, Russell said she could feel the cheers of onlookers penetrating her weakened body toward the race’s end. “There was no negative energy,” she said. “Everyone was uplifting, telling you ‘you are amazing.’ It’s like people could be good in the world.”

Julie Weiss, of Santa Monica, is about to run in her 117th marathon on Sunday. She’ll run in the LA Marathon on March 17, 2024. (photo by Babak Ardalan)

Julie Weiss, 53, is about to run in her 117th marathon. About 11 years ago, she ran 52 marathons in 52 weeks and wrote a book about it called: “52 Weeks, 52 Marathons: The Miles and Trials of a Marathon Goddess.”

Having losing her father to pancreatic cancer, Weiss runs to support the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research. In the last 10 years, she’s raised more than $1 million in donations from running marathons, she said. “It motivates you to run for something bigger than yourself.”

While running in a recent LA Marathon, she picked up a penny at the Capitol Records Building and thought of her dad, who was a Big Band musician. “I just happened to look down. It was a beautiful moment,” she said.

It’s how you finish

Veteran runners say pacing, keeping hydrated and listening to your breath to keep a good pace will help newer runners have a good marathon experience.

Another way to do that, they say, is to lift up their heads and take in the sites. Many newer runners said they had never been to some of the places in the route, such as Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. “It is a unique chance to see all those places without the traffic,” Daunt said.

Weiss, who has run marathons in Rome, Athens, New York and Boston, favors the one in her hometown, never missing out on the iconic sites, sounds and smells of L.A. “On Hollywood Boulevard you feel like a rock star,” she said. “The LA Marathon gives everyone a place to shine.”

Many marathoners said the finish is just the beginning of the post-marathon effect.

“It does carry over to your professional life,” said Daunt. “I find I can push through when things get hard.”

Olvera, who teaches teenagers how to drive when she’s not training for her next marathon in Orange County, was asked which activity is harder. “It is more stressful teaching. I’d rather run the marathon,” she said.

Long-time marathoners say setting a goal, planning and completing months and months of training, then finishing the actual race sends endorphins to your brain that signal you can accomplish anything. “It is an analogy for everything worth doing in life,” said Briones.

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​ Orange County Register 

16 injuries reported, most minor, after OC Sheriff’s training accident at FBI center in Irvine

• March 14, 2024

IRVINE — Sixteen Orange County sheriff’s SWAT deputies were injured in a training exercise today at an FBI facility in Irvine, but the injuries were all considered relatively minor.

The most serious injury was to the leg of one man who will require surgery but is not in life-threatening condition, authorities said.

Orange County Fire Authority paramedics were dispatched at 12:54 p.m. to the training facility at Irvine Boulevard and Magazine Road, according to OCFA Capt. Sean Doran.

“A training incident that occurred today at the FBI’s training facility in Irvine with law enforcement partners resulted in some injuries and is under investigation,” FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

During the training exercise a device exploded indoors. One deputy suffered a leg injury and another to the back, but they were considered superficial wounds, said Orange County Sheriff’s Sgt. Frank Gonzalez.

Thirteen officers who complained of ringing in the ears and dizziness were taken to an area hospital as a precaution, but most of them were already sent home, Gonzalez said.

Video from the scene showed investigators focusing on a shooting-range-type bunker and examining a pair of bomb squad robots, among other equipment.

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​ Orange County Register 

Los Angeles Marathon training builds life skills for ‘Students Run LA’ youths

• March 14, 2024

You could say that running is in teenager Stacie Mayorga’s DNA – even if it hasn’t been easy.

Both her mother and uncle ran the Los Angeles Marathon in their youth. And this Sunday, March 17, the 16-year-old from North Hollywood is set to complete her second L.A. Marathon.

Mayorga is one of more than 3,000 students from throughout the region – from the San Fernando Valley, coastal communities like San Pedro and inland areas including San Bernardino County – who plans to run the marathon as a member of Students Run LA (SRLA), a nonprofit that offers free marathon training programs and mentorships to students at some 200 public schools.

Although Mayorga looked up to members of her family, running did not come naturally to her. Now a junior at Polytechnic High School in Sun Valley, Mayorga recalled how difficult it was to run even a mile, when she tried it for the first time in gym class.

But she decided to join Students Run LA nonetheless.

“I love the whole training process. It’s really cool to see my pace and my general well-being improve,” said Mayorga.

Like many other students in the program, Mayorga said there were moments she doubted her ability to complete long races, let alone a marathon. And last year, when she ran her first L.A. Marathon, she struggled once she hit the 18-mile mark. Her mom was there, cheering her on, and Mayorga started crying.

“I started realizing, ‘Wow, I have 8 more miles left,’” she recalled. But she pushed on. “When I crossed that finish line, I was so, so happy because I had been running for over seven hours. … I was so excited to go back home and show my family my medal.”

Evelin Fuentes, Mayorga’s mother, said she never pushed her daughter to join Students Run LA. When Mayorga told Fuentes that she joined because of her mother’s own experiences in the program, Fuentes said she started crying.

Fuentes said she’s proud of how her daughter has pushed to challenge herself.

“Now she knows she can do more – she can do what she wants. She’s more confident,” Fuentes said. “And she’s making a lot of friends. She’s meeting new people” through SRLA.

Students Run LA is intended to provide supports to historically underserved students.

Over 95% of SRLA students who race in the L.A. Marathon complete it, and more than 95% of seniors in the program graduate high school with plans to go to college. Of those, three-quarters are the first in their family to pursue higher education, according to the organization, which has trained more than 75,000 student runners in the past 35 years.

The volunteer coaches are often teachers – who run alongside their students on race day.

While Students Run LA is designed to train students for marathons, its objectives run much deeper.

Alberto Alvarez Estrada, who coaches SRLA students at San Pedro High School in L.A.’s Harbor community, said Students Run LA focuses on teaching life skills like goal-setting and follow-through. They’re less concerned about how long it takes a student to finish a race; more importantly is that they cross the finish line.

“These are not kids who join cross-country normally,” he said. “They’re just regular kids who heard of the program … and are inspired to give it their all. … A lot of them realize later on, ‘Hey, I can do this. I can go to college. I can do anything.’”

San Pedro High senior Damian Mendoza, 18, is getting set for his fourth L.A. Marathon this weekend. He joined SRLA at his mom’s urging because she wanted him to try something new. What’s kept him going, he said, is the challenge of constantly improving himself and forming friendships with students outside his normal social circle.

Besides training for a marathon, Mendoza works about 18 hours a week in part to help support his family, and he also plays on his school’s tennis team. He admits that juggling everything can be stressful, but turns to running as an outlet.

“Running helps with all the stress and especially with trying to balance work and school. It’s helped a lot to keep my mind off worrying too much about everything,” said Mendoza, who is considering vocational school after he graduates to become an auto mechanic.

He credits Students Run LA for helping him set goals in life.

“It helped me as a person to become who I am now and strive for the best and try to achieve,” he said.

Similar stories about learning to persevere are echoed in the Inland Empire.

At Carter High School in Rialto, 16-year-old junior Joanna Ruiz is preparing for her third L.A. Marathon. She got into running after watching her brother, 11 years her senior, participate in SRLA. Today, he helps coach in the school’s Students Run LA program.

Joanna Ruiz said her biggest takeaway is learning to not quit “even when it’s hard and that’s all you want to do – just mentally being strong.”

Her brother, Hector Ruiz, said the program teaches students about commitment since training starts in August or September.

“It builds character. It’s hard. It doesn’t matter how well-prepared you are. You will hit a wall at some point, and it becomes mental,” he said about running a marathon.

Hector Ruiz, who also teaches as a substitute, said the values instilled in a marathon runner are also stressed in school.

“In school, you learn how to get through things when it’s hard,” he said.

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​ Orange County Register 

San Clemente’s delayed sand project set to resume end of April

• March 14, 2024

A major sand replenishment project aimed at bolstering San Clemente’s beaches near the pier area will resume by the end of April, following a pause in operations since mid-January due to rocks being pumped onto shore instead of sand.

The $14 million, US Army Corps of Engineers-led project more than two decades in the making is expected to add 251,000 cubic yards of sand between T-Street south of the pier and Linda Lane beach to the north, one of several ways the beach town is attempting to keep its eroding beaches intact.

Mason Construction kicked off the project in December, but was met with troubles after the dredge site off Oceanside produced more rocks and shells than expected, instead of fluffy sand. The city sent a letter asking the operator and Army Corps of Engineers to halt the project until a better sand source could be found.

Instead of using the original Oceanside borrow site, the dredger will now pull sand from offshore of Surfside Beach, where another mega US Army Corps of Engineers replenishment project is  underway. That $23 million project is expected to add 1.1 million cubic yards of sand to the north end of the county’s coastline.

Following its departure from San Clemente in mid-January, the Mason dredger went further south to San Diego to work on other projects already on its schedule.

Its work is just wrapping up for a replenishment project off Solana Beach and crews will now head to Encinitas for a project before coming back to San Clemente, San Clemente Mayor Victor Cabral said Wednesday, March 13, during a regional update meeting addressing chronic sand troubles in south Orange County.

“It’s important we get it done,” he said.

The project will operate 24 hours a day for 30 to 60 days, said Leslea Meyerhoff, San Clemente’s coastal administrator.

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Getting the dredger to complete the job while it is still in the area is crucial because bringing it back to Southern California from the Pacific Northwest, where it is based, would have cost millions of dollars and possibly years of delays, officials said.

“It could have been a year, or two, or more,” Cabral said. “It’s exciting. The staff, city, state and federal governments have done everything in their power to get permitting done expeditiously. We’re all excited about the project happening before the summer season.”

The operator left a subline installed off the beach to hook up with a pipe that will pump the sand onto the shore when the project resumes, Meyerhoff said.

The project’s completion is critical to San Clemente’s residents and tourism economy, and for protecting local infrastructure, including a key rail corridor that runs along the coast in town that is vulnerable to the ocean’s waves without a sand buffer in place, officials said.

While the northern Surfside sand replenishment has been performed periodically since the 1960s, San Clemente’s project is being done for the first time. It is expected to be repeated every five years, for the next 50 years, though each round will need to secure federal funding approvals – a hitch that delayed the regular replenishments further north in recent years.

But more needs to be done to fix the area’s chronic sand erosion troubles outside of that project area, with decision-makers and concerned citizens gathering Wednesday for a South Orange County Coastal Resilience Strategic Plan stakeholder meeting.

“We have to do more to maintain our beaches. We maintain our parks, we maintain our roads, we fill our potholes, we make sure our buildings are upgraded,” said Fifth District Supervisor Katrina Foley, who spearheaded the county-led meeting. “We need to start doing the same for our beaches.”

The strategic plan aims at forming a regional collaborative of agencies to build coastal resilience spanning 10 miles from Dana Point Harbor to San Clemente.

“It’s not just about a plan that sits on a shelf, we have to take that plan and implement it,” Foley said. “This plan we hope will be the foundation to advance a regional climate resilience to set goals, to be able to achieve those goals in a coordinated manner.”

The regional group will explore funding ideas – such as cost sharing, grants, mitigation fees or taxes – and developing criteria for projects, giving potential areas a ranking priority based on beach conditions, regional benefits and project readiness, said Meyerhoff, who served as a regional representative and presenter at the meeting.

The next steps are to form a regional collaborative, define a near-term regional beach nourishment program, obtain funding, implement priority projects and then develop mid- and long-term regional goals and projects.

​ Orange County Register 

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers lose to Mariners in Cactus League finale

• March 14, 2024

THE GAME: Five of the Dodgers’ eight hits went for extra bases but it didn’t translate to much on the scoreboard and Yoshinobu Yamamoto made his final spring training start in an 8-1 Cactus League loss to the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday afternoon at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz.

HITTING REPORT: James Outman went 2 for 2 with a double and scored the Dodgers’ only run in the fourth inning when he singled and then came home on Austin Barnes’ two-out double to left, which Mariners left fielder Taylor Trammell appeared to lose in the sun. … Mookie Betts (1 for 3) and Chris Taylor (1 for 3) also had doubles and Jason Heyward (1 for 3) had a triple. … Betts was picked off second base after doubling in the third, then reached on a fielder’s choice in the fifth but was thrown out trying to steal second base. … Shohei Ohtani was 0 for 3 with two strikeouts but still hit .500 in Cactus League play. … The Dodgers went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.

PITCHING REPORT: Yamamoto looked like a $325 million pitcher when he struck out J.P. Crawford, Julio Rodríguez and Jorge Polanco in the first inning, but he allowed four runs on eight hits in 4⅔ innings in his final tuneup before he starts the second game of the season against the San Diego Padres in Seoul. Yamamoto struck out seven with one walk in his 73 pitches. All eight of the hits he allowed came after the first time through the Seattle lineup. … Left-hander Alex Vesia allowed a pair of singles but struck out the side in a scoreless eighth inning. … Right-hander J.P. Feyereisen pitched a scoreless ninth, while right-hander Dilson Lamet, left-hander T.J. McFarland and right-hander Nabil Crismatt also made appearances.

DEFENSE REPORT: McFarland had a throwing error on a comebacker from Tai Peete in the seventh inning that gave the Mariners runners at first and second. The next batter, prospect Lazaro Montes, delivered a two-run triple into the right field corner.

UP NEXT: The Dodgers head to South Korea, where they will play a pair of exhibition games against Korean teams before their two-game regular-season series against the San Diego Padres in Seoul next week.

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​ Orange County Register 

Palm Springs home, rebuilt without a front door, seeks $4.2 million

• March 14, 2024

Just a stone’s throw from Downtown Palm Springs, a walled-in house reimagined from the ground up is on the market for $4.188 million.

This 3,321-square-foot retreat on a quarter-acre lot in Deepwell Estates has four bedrooms, six bathrooms and all the amenities expected of a luxury desert property, except one thing is missing — the front door.

Records show real estate developer Teddy Lee bought the house through an LLC in March 2021 for $1.35 million. His build-design company, TED Construction, tackled the down-to-the-studs remodel of the house originally by modernist architect Howard Lapham, who designed homes for the rich and famous. Completed in 1970, it belonged to Edgar L. McCoubrey, who served as the 10th mayor of Palm Springs from April 1966 to April 1968.

As part of the renovation project, the living space was reconfigured, the kitchen was relocated and the roof was raised.

Over 3,000 square feet of decking wraps the exterior and resort-style pool with tanning shelves.

There’s an all-season lanai and outdoor kitchen.

Lee also replaced the front entry point with a pocketing glass wall like the ones found at the rear of the house. Despite the intentional omission, it “embodies the quintessential Palm Springs lifestyle — seamless indoor-outdoor living, organic materials and understated elegance,” said James Gault of Compass, the co-listing agent.

A wall surrounds the house for privacy.

Scott Ehrens of Compass shares the listing.

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​ Orange County Register 

2024 LA Marathon: Here’s the route map for Sunday’s race

• March 14, 2024

The 39th annual Los Angeles Marathon takes place on Sunday, March 17, starting at Dodger Stadium, running through the streets of Los Angeles and the cities of West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, and on to the finish line in Century City.

The finish line for the 26.2 mile race “Stadium to the Stars” ends on Santa Monica Boulevard at Avenue of the Stars in a Los Angeles business district and neighborhood that was once the backlot of film studio 20th Century Studios.

One trivia tidbit: for the first time since 2020, there are no changes to the Los Angeles Marathon course.

The “Stadium to the Stars” route was inaugurated on Nov. 7, 2021, having been delayed from March 2021 due to COVID-19 concerns that year.

By the way, the finish line for “Stadium to the Sea” for the previous 10 years was on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica.

For more details, click on the “Distances & Courses” tab here: www.mccourtfoundation.org/event/los-angeles-marathon/

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​ Orange County Register