Prep column: Simply worlds apart

Barry Faulkner

World record-setting backstroker Aaron Peirsol wasn’t the only Back

Bay athlete to display an elite level of talent last week.

Just three days after Peirsol, a Newport Harbor High senior and the

200-meter backstroke Olympic silver medalist in Sydney, shaved nearly a

full second off the world standard in the event at the national

championships in Minneapolis (from 1:55.87 to 1:55.15), Corona del Mar

senior Cameron Ball wowed the onlookers in a big-time singles showdown to

culminate CdM’s National High School All-American Boys Team Tennis

Invitational, Saturday at the Palisades Tennis Club.

“It was one of the best matches I’ve ever seen,” veteran CdM Coach Tim

Mang said of Ball’s 8-7 victory (7-1 in the tie-breaker) over

Stanford-bound James Pade of Menlo School.

“It was two heavyweights playing at the top of their game,” said Mang,

whose Sea Kings won for the first time in the event he initiated three

seasons ago. “They both were making shots that just left everybody with

their mouths open. It was like watching major college or pro players with

the shots they were making. At one point, I thought ‘Wait a minute, is

this a Davis Cup match, or what?’ ”

Mang said the original plan was to play the CdM-Menlo doubles matches

on center court, then contest the singles matches on the club’s more

remote courts. But Menlo Coach Bill Shine suggested singles also be

played on the big stage, so the change was made.

“I think the people in the clubhouse wanted it that way, too,” Mang

said. “They wanted to watch (Ball and Pade).”

The eight-game pro-set format also created the rare opportunity for

Ball to team with younger brother Carsten, a freshman, in doubles

competition.

“Ball squared” defeated opponents from Menlo and Brophy College Prep

from Arizona by identical 8-2 scores in the final and semifinal matches

Saturday.

The Sea Kings, defending CIF Southern Section Division V champions,

host University in the first of two Pacific Coast League showdowns

between the powerhouse programs Thursday at 3 p.m.

CdM, ranked No. 2 in CIF Division V, is scheduled to visit Uni, ranked

No. 1 in CIF Division II, April 23.

Reaction to the CIF Southern Section playoff groupings announced last

week, which received widespread praise within Newport-Mesa circles, has

begun to trickle into the section office.

Several appeals are expected and they are scheduled to be heard April

11 by the playoff groupings committee at the section office in Cerritos.

Among those surprised by the shift of the Golden West League from

Division IV in baseball to Division III -- while the Pacific Coast League

remains in Division IV -- was veteran Ocean View Coach Steve Barrett.

“Division III, that’s a shocker,” Barrett said. “We have a tough

enough time in Division IV, without having to move up to a higher

division. But you never know where the real baseball talent is going to

be from year to year. I thought for sure we’d be Division IV, but we’ll

suck it up and play.”

The Mission League is expected to appeal its placement in Division I

for girls soccer. The Corona del Mar girls program, which has been

eliminated in the CIF Division IV semifinals each of the last three years

by a Mission League school, would watch such an appeal with interest.

Seven Mission League teams have won or shared section titles (either

Division IV or Division III) the last six seasons, including Division IV

winner Harvard-Westlake in 2002.

Mater Dei High sophomore pole vaulter Brian Whalen, a Newport Beach

resident, cleared 13-6 in a dual meet against Santa Margarita earlier

this month.

Whalen’s goal this season is to break the school record of 14-8, set

in 1996 by his older brother, Ted.

Helping Brian Whalen work toward that goal is Mater Dei vaulting coach

Greg Woepse, who held the Monarchs’ record prior to Ted Whalen.