FALL SPORTS NOTEBOOK : Birmingham Runners Watching and Waiting

Pat Connelly, the cross-country coach at Birmingham High, has the horses ready.

“Our guys are biting at the bit and want to get out and race,” Connelly said. “We’ve got a very talented group and I’m confident we’re going to win the Mid-Valley League and place in the top five in City.”

Connelly has good reason to be optimistic. The Braves have yet to compete in a dual meet or invitational, but Connelly said that time trials indicate his runners are stronger than Birmingham’s 1984 league championship team.

Sven Haug is Birmingham’s top runner and one of four juniors in the team’s top six. Haug moved to Encino from West Germany last January and ran a 4:32 mile during track season.

“Sven had some early training in West Germany and he’s got a tremendous desire to win and excel,” Connelly said. “Most kids moan and groan when a workout or race includes some hills. Sven eats them up.”

Southern Section powers such as Saugus and Simi Valley already have four or five races under their shoes. Connelly says he has a good reason for keeping his team from competition until its first meet next Thursday against El Camino Real and Reseda.

“As a coach, I point my teams to peaking for the league meets, City prelims and City finals, which are in December,” Connelly said. “I don’t like my kids to run early meets because no one remembers who won a dual meet in September. They remember who won in the finals.”

Nick Ro scored a season-high eight goals as the Crespi water polo team beat Mater Dei, 19-7, in the Celts’ Del Rey League opener Tuesday.

Ro, a senior driver for the Celts, has scored 43 goals this season.

“Nick plays heads up, so he gets a lot of steals,” Crespi Coach Jeff Thornton said. “When he was a sophomore, he was a real aggressive defender. The past couple years, he’s transferred that aggressiveness into his offensive game and he’s become a great scorer.”

The Celts (7-6), who tied for the league championship last season, have played 10 teams that qualified for the Southern Section playoffs last season.

“We play tough schools at the beginning so we’ll be ready for league,” Thornton said.

On Friday, the Celts take on league rival Notre Dame at 3:15 at Valley College.

The Simi Valley boys cross-country team continued to stride toward a Southern Section title with an impressive win in last Saturday’s Bellarmine Cross-Country Invitational at Griffith Park.

The Pioneers, ranked first in 4-A, won the large-schools division with 50 points. Hart was second with 62 and Thousand Oaks placed third with 82.

Simi Valley was paced by two team members who placed in the top five finishers. Jim Zimmer took second overall in 15 minutes, 4.6 seconds. Chris Pressman took fourth in 15:15.1.

“Everyone is running well us for right now and everything is positive,” Simi Valley Coach Jim McCullough said. “The highlight of the meet for us was the performance by Neff McGhie.”

McGhie, recovering from injuries suffered Sept. 21 in a pileup at the start of the Sonora Invitational, recovered to run 15:38.0.

The Pioneers’ next test will come Saturday when they take on the 4-A’s second-ranked team, Villa Park, at the Aztec Invitational at Yorba Regional Park in Anaheim.

Briefly

St. Genevieve’s Hector Ruiz won the small-schools race at the Bellarmine Invitational with a time of 15.50.3. In the large-school division, Canyon’s Dan Rattary ran 15:17.7 to place third. Hart’s Bobby Bans was fifth in 15:17.7. Westlake won the girls’ large schools division. Holly Briggs of Simi Valley was second individually in 17:46.4. Hart’s Lisa Rizzo was third in 17:52.5 and Christy Farrell of Thousand Oaks was fourth in 18:01.4. Bell-Jeff won the Small Schools title. . . . Campbell Hall’s Jessica Ackroyd was named most valuable player at the Buckley Invitational volleyball tournament last Saturday in Sherman Oaks. Campbell Hall won the tournament. . . . The Birmingham boys team may be favored to win the Mid-Valley League cross-country championship, but the girls championship is likely to go to Kennedy, which features sophomores Sheri Lawson and Kim Crongeyer.