Sports Figures

Nina Toleco of Mission Hills really knows how to play with numbers.

The 18-year-old was recently named a semifinalist in the Sports Figures Knowledge for College Challenge, in which students from more than 1,600 high schools nationwide explained how math and physics are critical to sports.

Toleco, a senior at Bishop Alemany High School in Mission Hills, won a $1,000 scholarship and has a chance for a $10,000 scholarship and $5,000 in media equipment for her school.

For the next level, Toleco is waiting to hear from judges on a new sport she’s developed called “bungee ball,” in which players bounce on bungee cords tethered to the ceiling and from springs placed in the floor. The object is to get a rubber ball into a receptacle for points. Assists and passing are crucial because the bungee cords restrict players’ movements, keeping them bouncing in place.

And the math involved?

According to Toleco, “bungee ball” predominately employs Hooke’s law of physics dealing with springs and movement, as well as the concepts of trajectory (throwing the ball) and pendulum (the arc in which players move), acceleration and velocity.

“The amount of math in the game surprised me,” she said of the sport, which took her four days to develop.

Toleco said that practically everything in sports--baseball, basketball, even soccer--involves physics and math.

“I look at sports differently now,” she said. “Before, I just saw sports as a competition.”

The contest is sponsored by Adelphia Communications Corp., a cable television company, and ESPN, the sports cable network.

KUDOS

Environmentally Sound: Students from Reseda High School finished in third place in the regional Envirothon, an academic competition focusing on environmental science.

Nine high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District squared off in the event held recently at the Eaton Canyon Nature Center north of Pasadena.

Students estimated the volume of trees, identified wildlife species and tested the soil for nutrients, among other tasks related to the environment.

Team members from Reseda High are Elen Fenik, Tasya Fenik, Sandy Covarrubias, Irene Hernandez, Giancarlo Mondgragon and Mushfiq Muhammad. The students are enrolled in the school’s environmental science magnet.

The group advances to the state finals next month in Northern California.

Book Markers: Winners in the Glendale Public Library’s annual bookmark contest were: Kamaria Buckley, Kenya Buckley, Esther Chung, Grace Chung, Yessenia Cordero and Nicole Pena from Thomas Jefferson Elementary; Serjik Zolfaghari, Michelle Kim and Arthur Hong from Mark Keppel Elementary; Arpine Oganesyan of Horace Mann Elementary; Brielle Acevedo of John C. Fremont Elementary; Cecille Moreira of Thomas A. Edison Elementary; Michael Park of St. James the Less Elementary; Patrick Torrellas of Holy Redeemer Elementary; Robert Aslanyan of Columbus Elementary; Phillip Hahn of Woodrow Wilson Middle School; and Shirin Doroudgar from Herbert Hoover High School.

Winning bookmark designs were selected from more than 200 entries and will be unveiled April 8 at 2 p.m. at Glendale Public Library, 222 E. Harvard St.

Young Scientists: Seventh-grader Mary Chakmakjian took best of show at this year’s science fair at Mulholland Middle School in Van Nuys with her entry “What is the Effect of Color on Pupil Dilation?”

Jimmy Chappell, a third-grader from Canoga Park’s Capistrano Avenue Elementary, took top prize for the younger age category for his exhibit on electromagnetics.

This was the first time Mulholland has opened the event to elementary-age science enthusiasts since the fair was founded in 1992.

EVENTS

Spring’s Here! Milt McAuley, author and nature enthusiast, will narrate a slide show about wildflowers in the Santa Monica Mountains on April 9 at 2 p.m. at the Sooky Goldman Nature Center, 2600 Franklin Canyon Drive. Call (310) 858-7272 for more information.

END NOTES

Megan Nesmith and Steven Henskey, students at the Antelope Valley’s Littlerock High School, will compete April 1 in a regional round of the national Culinary Cookoff sponsored by the Art Institute of Los Angeles. . . . About 16,000 fifth-graders from nearly 200 Southern California schools will see the American Ballet Theater Studio Company from April 11 to 14 at the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County for the 30th annual Dorothy B. Chandler Children’s Festival.