CIF REALIGNMENT MODELS

With continued pressure from powerful Orange County superintendents to break away from the huge Southern Section and form their own athletic configuration, the California Interscholastic Federation is reviewing models that could lead to the realignment of athletic competition statewide.

One plan unveiled before the CIF Federated Council last month by the state steering committee called for the southern portion of Los Angeles County, including Long Beach-area schools, to join Orange, San Bernardino, San Diego, Riverside and Imperial counties as the Deep South Region, one of four in the state.

Two other models had Orange County as its own section, one of eight or nine statewide. One created a Los Angeles County Section of 284 schools. The other created a 321-school section composed of Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. All three plans would eliminate the city-only sections of Los Angeles, Oakland and San Francisco, which are made up only of teams from those cities’ school districts.

California is now divided into 10 autonomous geographic zones. Each is governed by a commissioner and each holds its own playoffs. The state CIF office, located in La Mirada, acts as an overseer and conducts state championships in five sports.

The CIF Southern Section, with more than 500 schools, is the largest in the state. It includes high schools from all counties south of Bakersfield, except San Diego County.

CIF Commissioner Thomas Byrnes stressed that the models are just the start of discussion on state realignment.

“They could certainly change on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “When we get together again we’ll probably have 10 other models to look at.”

The Federated Council is expected to meet again in February. It is unlikely there would be a realignment before 1996.

It is also unlikely that the Deep South regional model, which affects Long Beach the most, will go over because the groundswell for an all-Orange County section, which would have the second-smallest number of schools (75) in the state, has been rising for some time. Orange County school districts have considerable clout within the state CIF.

“The reason we want our own section in Orange County is that it would benefit the kids,” said Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District Supt. James O. Fleming.

Fleming, who sits on both the steering committee and Federated Council, noted that regardless of what the CIF decides, Orange County administrators still hope to create their own section by 1995.

LONG BEACH ALUMNI

It was a great weekend for athletes from Long Beach.

Former Long Beach State basketball players Lucious Harris and Bryon Russell played against each other in their first National Basketball Assn. regular-season game Friday night, a 102-96 Utah Jazz victory over the Dallas Mavericks. Harris played 18 minutes for Dallas, scoring four points and adding two rebounds and three assists. Russell played one minute and did not score for Utah.

Former football quarterbacks Mike McCoy of Long Beach State and Michael Carter of Poly High School combined to pass for more than 650 yards in Honolulu on Saturday as Hawaii defeated Utah, 41-30.

McCoy completed 33 of 45 passes for 447 yards and one touchdown for Utah. He transferred to Utah when Long Beach State dropped football after the 1991 season. He started half the games that season as a freshman.

Carter, the Hawaii quarterback, rushed for two scores and passed for another. He completed 13 of 19 passes for 205 yards and rushed 11 times for 129 yards. Carter starred at Poly in the late 1980s.

SENIOR OLYMPICS

The fourth Long Beach Senior Olympics concludes Saturday after a 12-day run. A total of 15 events at 12 sites around the city were planned.

The minimum age for participation was 55. The top six winners in each event will qualify for the California State Senior Olympics in San Diego in September.

HURRAH FOR THEM

Four groups of young cheerleaders from the Long Beach Pop Warner Football League excelled at the recent Orange Empire Conference Cheerleading Championships.

The Midgets and Pee Wee teams finished first. The Junior Pee Wee team finished second and the Junior Midgets team was third. All qualified to perform in an exhibition Nov. 21 at Sea World in San Diego.

About 1,500 girls competed in front of 5,000 spectators at Artesia High School. Many of the competitors also serve on cheer squads at local high schools.

“Our football players are groomed to play football at high schools in Long Beach and we groom our cheerleaders to participate in high school as well,” spokesperson Suzann Milkey said.

COLLEGE WATER POLO

The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation water polo tournament will be Saturday and Sunday at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach. Top-ranked Stanford (20-3) is top-seeded, followed by second-ranked USC (14-7) and University of the Pacific (16-5).

Long Beach State (6-15) ranks last. The 49ers open at 9:30 a.m. Saturday against USC.

The first day’s schedule: 7 a.m., UC Irvine vs. UCLA; 8:15, California vs. UC Santa Barbara; 9:30, Long Beach State vs. USC; 11:15, Stanford vs. winner of UCI-UCLA; 1:15 p.m., Pacific vs. Pepperdine; 2:30, loser of UCI-UCLA vs. loser of USC-Long Beach State; 3:45, Stanford vs. winner of California-UC Santa Barbara.

The event continues with seven games Sunday; the championship match is scheduled for 7:15 p.m.