Prep Rally: Harvard-Westlake is the king and queen of high school basketball

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. The high school basketball season ended in Sacramento with 12 state championships earned. Southern California teams turned out pretty well.

Champions

No school had a better time in Sacramento at the state basketball championships than Harvard-Westlake, which won boys and girls state titles thanks to great coaching from David Rebibo and Melissa Hearlihy and players that improved over the course of the season.

Trent Perry came through again for the boys team, ending his high school career with two state titles. Here’s the report.

The Wolverines’ girls team won its first title since 2010 in Division II with three underclassmen leading the way. Here’s the report.

Etiwanda’s girls’ team repeated as Open Division state champions after another marvelous coaching performance from Stan Delus, knocking off unbeaten Mitty. Here’s the report.

Chatsworth sophomore Alijah Arenas turned in the second-greatest individual scoring performance in state history with 44 points in a Division IV loss. Here’s the report.

St. John Bosco won the Division I boys state title. Here’s the report. Bishop Montgomery won the Division I girls’ title, helping the Southern Section go 6-0 in state finals. Here’s the report.

Bishop Alemany won the Division III boys title behind Michael Lindsay. Here’s the report.

City Section teams went 0-3 but that’s the most representatives ever.

Sacramento memories

LiAngelo Ball, center, is flanked by his brothers Lonzo, second from left, and LaMelo, right, during a 2016 game.

(Los Angeles Times)

For those who like history, let me offer my favorite moments from championships of the past in Sacramento, from the Ball brothers of Chino Hills to Josh Shipp, Jeremy Lin, Trevor Ariza and JuJu Watkins.

Here’s to memory lane.

Moving forward with CIF rules

City Section commissioner Vicky Lagos has a policy to visit schools after multiple transfers arrive for a specific sport.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

For those wondering why City Section teams are having a hard time competing against the best in the sports of football and basketball at the highest level, you can blame commissioner Vicky Lagos for enforcing CIF transfer rules that are preventing schools from building the type of all-star teams in the past that got Narbonne, Hawkins and others in trouble.

When the names of nine basketball players showed up on the City Section transfer portal after paperwork was submitted by Palisades High in the fall, it immediately attracted the attention of Lagos.

She and her staff have a policy of visiting schools that receive multiple transfers for a particular sport to review if CIF rules were followed rather than relying on schools to police themselves.

She brings together administrators, coaches and parents in the same room while reviewing the required paperwork. It happened at Palisades, where four players were denied eligibility for violating rules on pre-enrollment contact. (Recommendation: Do not announce a player’s arrival when they aren’t officially enrolled).

It’s time for other sections to start doing the same. Here’s a report why it can work and change perceptions and lead to better results.

CIF to study priorities

CIF executive director Ron Nocetti.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

On the first day of the CIF state basketball championships in Sacramento, executive director Ron Nocetti confirmed Friday that he intends to launch a group of committees this fall with representatives from across the state to study priorities for the future of high school sports in California.

Everything from transfers to competitive equity playoffs will be examined. Nocetti said if there’s “something we need to change,” the CIF is willing to listen.

He envisions as many as 100 participants in the discussions from different constituencies. Each of the 10 sections that govern high school sports will be submitting representatives.

Here’s the report.

Baseball

Orange Lutheran celebrates going to 8-0 after a 4-2 win over Corona at the Prep Baseball California tourney.

(Nick Koza)

The six-team Trinity League baseball competition begins this week. Five of six teams are ranked in The Times’ top 25 rankings. It will be fierce, close games. Only the top three teams are guaranteed playoff berths.

Orange Lutheran (8-0), coming off a Prep Baseball California tournament championship win over Corona 4-2 last week, starts out as the favorite with its pitching depth and top hitters in Derek Curiel and Brady Murrietta. The Lancers start with a three-game series Tuesday against defending Division 1 champion JSerra. Santa Margarita opens with a three-game series against unbeaten St. John Bosco and Servite faces Mater Dei.

Jackson Klein of Santa Monica threw his third consecutive shutout of the season after throwing consecutive no-hitters. Here’s the report.

Birmingham is starting to gain traction in the City Section after opening West Valley League play with a 1-0 win over Granada Hills behind pitcher Michael Figueroa. The Patriots have a huge two-game series with El Camino Real this week.

Westlake continues to batter any and all opponents with a 9-0 start that features strong pitching and power hitting.

San Dimas made a move with an impressive 9-0 road win over Corona Centennial. Here’s the report.

Beckman has started 7-0 and Bishop Amat is surging with wins over La Salle and Servite.

Junior Dominic Cadiz of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame is showing off some early season power with two home runs and 11 RBIs.

Softball

Garden Grove Pacifica is 10-0 and thriving behind pitcher Brynne Nally.

Granada Hills is 8-0, with all eight wins coming against Southern Section opponents. The Highlanders don’t start league play until April and look like the overwhelming favorite to win a City Section championship and compete in the Southern California regionals if enough players agree to hold off on their club seasons, which is for another day to discuss.

Here’s last week’s top 20 softball teams in Southern California.

Track

Sprinters are starting to create excitement with some impressive early season performances.

Valencia sophomore running back Brian Bonner ran the 100 meters in 10.65 seconds at Redondo Union. But the real star was Long Beach Poly freshman Benjamin Harris going 10.44 in a wind legal performance.

Then there was Canyon of Canyon Country’s Mikaela Warr setting a meet record with a wind legal 11.56 in the 100.

Volleyball

Top nonleague matches have started to take place.

Loyola knocked off Corona del Mar in three sets.

Newport Harbor and Mira Costa needed five sets to decide their match, with Mira Costa winning the fifth set 15-8. It was a terrific individual battle between Newport Harbor’s Riggs Guy and Mira Costa’s Victor Loiola. Both had more than 20 kills each.

Then Mira Costa beat Newport Harbor again to win the championship of the Best of the West tournament for a record fourth. The big surprise was Loyola losing to Mater Dei.

Mira Costa is off to a strong start under first-year coach Greg Snyder.

Named to the All-Tournament team from Mira Costa was Tournament MVP, Loiola, a senior committed to Long Beach State, as well as Johnny Dykstra, a senior committed to USC, and Alex Heins, a junior.

Notes . . .

Travis Clark has gone from head football coach at Lawndale to head coach at Long Beach Wilson. . . .

Junior volleyball player Lauren Farris of Santa Margarita has committed to Columbia. Her father, Kris, was a star offensive lineman at UCLA. . . .

The Edison summer seven on seven passing tournament will take place July 13. . . .

William Middlebrooks is stepping down after 12 years as basketball coach at Cathedral. . . .

Former Southern Section commissioner Ray Plutko has died. He was 85. Plutko was commissioner from 1980-86 and served for 30 years as director of the Southern Section basketball tournament. He opened Riverside King as its principal in 1998. . . .

Former Monrovia coach Chris Williams is expected to become head coach at Diamond Ranch. . . .

Narbonne is expected to add the Robinson brothers from San Juan Hills, Jaydn and Skylar, to their football team. Both are receivers and would give the Gauchos a huge upgrade considering quarterback Jaden O’Neal, a transfer from Newport Harbor, has already joined the City Section team. They have checked out of San Juan Hills and are in the process of finalizing enrollment. Here’s the latest from the transfer portal. . . .

Former Newbury Park star Nico Young of Northern Arizona won his first NCAA championship, winning the 5,000 meters at the NCAA indoor championships. . . .

Ventura’s Sadie Engelhardt, one of the nation’s top junior track and field and cross-country prospects, has committed to North Carolina State. . . .

Brandon Benjamin has returned to Anaheim Canyon after spending last season playing basketball for Santa Ana Mater Dei, coach Nate Harrison said. He was a two-year standout for Canyon before going to Mater Dei and plans to make a residential move to be eligible immediately. . . .

One of the top eighth-grade golfers in the nation, Jaden Soong, has made his high school decision. He will enroll at St. Francis in the fall. Here’s his backstory.

From the archives: Tiare Jennings

Tiare Jennings was the Gatorade state player of the year in softball at St. Anthony.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

One of the nation’s top collegiate softball players is Oklahoma’s Tiare Jennings from St. Anthony. She was the Gatorade state player of the year in her senior year.

Now in her senior year at Oklahoma, Jennings continues to be one of the nation’s best hitters. She’s batting .379 with six home runs this season. She hit 21 home runs in 2021, 29 in 2022 and 17 in 2023 as part of a program that won 71 consecutive games.

Here’s from 2020 when Jennings’ senior season was halted by the pandemic.

Recommendations

From the Newhall Signal, a story on the firing of the Castaic basketball coach.

From the Palm Beach Post, a proposal in Florida for coaching stipends to reach $22,500.

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