Maryland to Land Carson’s Ibekwe

Ekene Ibekwe, a 6-foot-9 forward from Carson who averaged 19.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.2 blocks last season, is expected to announce Monday that he will commit to defending NCAA champion Maryland.

The All-City player narrowed his college choices to USC and Maryland entering the weekend, but sources close to Ibekwe said he will choose Maryland. He will announce his decision at 12:15 p.m. Monday at Carson.

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Hesperia Sultana defeated Murrieta Valley, 27-32, for the girls’ sweepstakes title in the Inland Empire Challenge cross-country meet at Cucamonga-Guasti Regional Park in Ontario on Saturday.

Sultana, No. 2 in The Times’ rankings, was paced by the 2-3-4 finish of Kelsey Delagardelle, Danielle Varela and Stacy Tabuena.

Junior Liza Pasciuto of No. 3 Murrieta Valley won her second consecutive Inland Empire title with a course-record time of 17 minutes 31.5 seconds over the three-mile layout. Pasciuto set the previous course record of 17:56.1 last year.

Murrieta Valley defeated Chino Don Lugo, 77-105, for the boys’ sweepstakes title. Erick Maldonado of Don Lugo, the defending state Division I champion, won the individual championship with a course-record time of 15:03.7.

John Ortega

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The Long Beach Poly boys and the Canyon Country Canyon girls won their respective championship division races Saturday in the Clovis Invitational cross-country meet at Woodward Park in Fresno.

Poly, led by the 14th- and 15th-place finishes of junior Ulices Pina and senior Kevin Brulois, totaled 93 points to defeat runner-up Canyon by 70 points.

The Canyon girls, paced by the sixth-and eighth-place finishes of freshman Brenda Cohen and senior Brenda Stevens, totaled 79 points. Dana Hills was second with 132 points and Long Beach Wilson was third with 158.

Junior Mohamed Trafeh of Duarte and senior Phillip Reid of Oxnard Rio Mesa finished second and third, respectively, in the boys’ championship race with identical 15:15 clockings over the 5,000-meter course. Senior Laura Meyers of Sierra Madre Maranatha placed second in the girls’ race with a time of 18:39.

John Ortega