Spring win-fall special

The recent run of playoff success by the Mighty Ducks, on the heels

of the storybook 2002 season by the Angels, has spawned coverage of

Anaheim as a destination for championships.

The city which pinned its early identity on Disneyland, however,

has nothing on Newport-Mesa, especially in the aftermath of an

unprecedented two-day title barrage that produced enough league title

banners to blanket an entire gymnasium wall.

Thursday alone, Newport-Mesa athletes secured no less than eight

team titles, as well as myriad individual championships.

Costa Mesa won titles in boys and girls swimming and girls track

and field, while Estancia won a boys track crown and wrapped up a

co-championship in boys volleyball.

Corona del Mar swept the Pacific Coast League boys and girls track

and field team titles, while Newport capped a co-championship run in

Sea View League boys volleyball.

Also on Thursday, Newport Harbor freshman Robert Khoury (boys

tennis) and Corona del Mar senior Nick Sherman (boys golf) won

individual league championships, to go with dozens of individual

league champions in track and field and swimming.

For good measure, the CdM girls swim team won the PCL championship

Friday and the Sea Kings’ baseball team secured at least a share of a

title Friday that became theirs alone Monday.

Not to be forgotten were previous league championships won this

spring by CdM (boys golf), Estancia (boys golf), and CdM (boys

volleyball).

And now ... the playoffs. We’ll try to keep up.

*

Costa Mesa High senior Hilary Havens, the Golden West League girls

tennis singles champion last fall, has decided to continue her

academic and athletic career, in that order, at Harvard.

A gifted mathematician who has invented two new theories in the

field of number theory -- they involve concepts so foreign to my

consciousness, I am unable to describe them in further detail -- she

settled on Harvard after considering Princeton, Yale, MIT, Cal Tech

and Stanford.

“Harvard probably has the best theoretical math department and I

think I have a shot to make the tennis team there,” Havens said last

week. “My goal is to get a Ph.D., so it really came down to Harvard

or Princeton. I liked the Harvard campus a lot more.”

Havens, not surprisingly, has a 4.4 grade-point average and ranks

No. 1 in her class. And, I hear, her ground strokes aren’t bad,

either.

*

It may be blasphemy to start thinking football with the

embarrasment of riches still competing in the spring sports, but with

spring practice beginning soon, the Corona del Mar offensive

braintrust is making plans to unveil a blast from the past.

Coach Dick Freeman, largely based on input from running backs

coach Tony Naranjo, said the Sea Kings are planning to utilize a

direct snap to a running back after sending the quarterback in

motion. The set, which Freeman likened to the old single wing, will,

he believes, help maximize the abilities of a talented collection of

skill-position players.

*

With a deep and imposing field in the CIF Southern Section

Division I boys volleyball playoffs, Newport Harbor Coach Dan Glenn

is, rightly so, reluctant to forecast an extended run for his

Sailors.

Glenn, however, was quick to point out that CdM, the No. 2 seed in

Division II which his team defeated in four games Friday night, is a

prime candidate to play through the end of May. The Division II title

match is scheduled May 31 at Cypress College.

Glenn said the first-round bye the Sea Kings will receive will

help them rest injured standouts including Stanford-bound senior Eric

Jones.