Votes Are in, Dao Returns to Team

No. 1 singles player Christine Dao has returned to the Granada Hills girls’ tennis team after a 12-3 vote last week by teammates allowed her to return to the team in midseason after she decided to skip the season to concentrate on schoolwork.

Dao, a junior ranked No. 39 in the U.S. Tennis Assn. girls’ 18 division, has played for Granada Hills (11-0, 8-0) in the Highlanders’ last three matches and makes the Highlanders a City Section title contender.

“[The vote] was a pretty strong indication that the team wanted her back,” Coach Ron Wood said. “I had second thoughts myself, but they didn’t. She’s come back, and it’s like she never left.”

Carson, which has two ranked players, and Granada Hills have met in the City Section championship match the last three seasons, with Granada Hills winning in 1999 and Carson winning the last two years, all by 4-3 margins.

“Now we have a real chance,” Wood said. “Without her, we didn’t. With her, we do.”

-- Lauren Peterson

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There were a record number of sub-16-minute clockings by boys and sub-19-minute efforts by girls in the Mount San Antonio College Invitational cross-country meet last week.

One-hundred and thirty-one boys broke 16 minutes and 97 girls dipped under 19 on the 2.91-mile course that has been in use at Mt. SAC since 1999.

The previous high totals of 108 boys and 69 girls were recorded in the 2000 Mt. SAC Invitational.

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Thousand Oaks, The Times’ No. 4-ranked girls’ cross-country team, won the individual sweepstakes title in the Mount San Antonio College Invitational on Saturday, but none of the Lancers’ top runners are expected to compete in the Ventura County championships at Lake Casitas on Friday.

That’s because Coach Robert Radnoti wants to make sure his team is not over-raced heading into the last month of the season.

No. 7 Ventura is now favored to win the Ventura County title with its strongest challenges expected to come from defending champion Simi Valley Royal and Oak Park.

-- John Ortega

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Four Southland high school softball players were selected to the 2002 Junior Women’s National Team that will participate in the Pan American Junior Women’s Softball Championship, Dec. 13-21, in Sonora, Mexico.

The local players selected were Anna Beardman, a junior at Riverside King; Norelle Dickson, a senior at Orange El Modena; Jodie Legaspi, a senior at Garden Grove Pacifica, and Caitlin Lowe, a senior at Santa Ana Foothill.

Also selected were Christina Clark, a graduate of Santa Ana Mater Dei who attends Fresno State; Lauren Lappin, a graduate of Anaheim Loara who attends Stanford, and Mallorie Lenn, a graduate of Garden Grove Pacifica who attends Notre Dame.

-- Bob Rohwer