Concordia Fills Two Coaching Vacancies

Concordia University has filled two positions on its athletic staff, hiring Joan Hansen Lester as cross-country coach and promoting softball assistant Lynette Privatsky to head coach.

Lester finished eighth in the 3,000 meters in the 1984 Olympics. She was a seven-time All-American at Arizona and set an NCAA record in the 3,000 in 1981. She has previous coaching experience with the U.S. junior national triathlon team, MiraCosta College and UCLA.

Lester replaced David Saltin, who resigned in April.

Privatsky, who has been an assistant since 1994, takes over for Curt Cattau, who stepped down to devote his full attention to his position as the university’s athletic director.

Privatsky has previously coached at Oregon State, where she also played softball.

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Erica Sorgi of the Mission Viejo Nadadores was a triple gold medalist at an international age-group diving meet in Germany last weekend.

Sorgi, 13, of Mission Viejo, won the one- and three-meter springboard and platform events in the girls’ 14-15 division at the meet in Waldkraiburg, Germany. She also received the high-point award for her age group.

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Kevin McLean, an offensive and defensive lineman from Mater Dei, and Tony Grammatico, a defensive lineman from El Toro, have been added to the South team for the 37th Orange County prep all-star football game.

The game is July 12 at Orange Coast College.

The North will hold its first practice from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday at Western High School. The South starts practice 5 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. Wednesday at University High.

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UC Irvine has named Jeff Dow an assistant women’s basketball coach, Coach Colleen Matsuhara announced. Dow, 29, had been an assistant coach at New Mexico State since 1992. New Mexico State went 81-38 during Dow’s tenure and won the Big West regular-season title in 1995.