CdM cruises to win

The Corona del Mar High girls water polo team picked up right where

it left off last season with a convincing 14-4 nonleague victory over

visiting Arlington in both teams’ season opener Wednesday.

Junior Camille Hewko and senior Jordan Anae each scored four goals

to lead the Sea Kings, who have won three straight CIF Southern

Section championships -- two straight in Division II, including last

season’s 13-3 triumph over Peninsula, and one in Division IV.

Katlin Kubas scored twice while Katie Indvik, Chelsea Lyman,

Ashley Chandler and Cari Levine each tallied one goal for the

winners, who outscored Arlington, 6-1, in the second half.

CdM senior goalkeeper Brittany Fullen, the reigning Division II

Player of the Year, made seven saves.

*--*

Nonleague

Corona del Mar 14, Arlington 4

Score by Quarters

Arlington 1 2 0 1 -- 4

CdM 3 5 3 3 -- 14

CdM -- Hewko 4, Anae 4, Kubas 2, Indvik 1, Lyman

1, Chandler 1, Levine 1. Saves -- Fullen 7.

*--*

Stanford’s Vargas named Coach of Year

* WATER POLO: Three UC Irvine men’s water polo players, along with

former Corona del Mar High coach John Vargas and two former

Newport-Mesa standouts, were named to the All-Mountain Pacific Sports

Federation teams Tuesday by the conference’s coaches.

Vargas, in his third season guiding the Stanford men’s team, was

voted the conference Coach of the Year by his colleagues while UCI

senior driver Rick Merlo, who scored 62 goals this season, represents

the Anteaters on the first team. Merlo scored 132 goals in his UCI

career and was an All-MPSF second-team selection last season.

Teammates Dreason Barry, a junior driver who led the ‘Eaters

(16-14) in scoring with 65 goals, and senior two-meter defender Dan

Noon, were chosen for the second team. UCI finished fourth in the

MPSF tournament at Stanford last weekend.

Former CdM standouts John Mann, a sophomore center at Cal, and

Michael March, a UCLA junior defender, were selected to the first and

second teams, respectively.

Vargas, a former Olympian and UCI All-American who led Sea King

boys teams to seven CIF Southern Section titles in his 19 years at

the helm, has led the Cardinal (22-4) to the top-ranking as they

prepare for the NCAA championships scheduled Saturday and Sunday.

Stanford senior driver Tony Azevedo was named the conference

Player of the Year for the fourth straight season.

Sea King doubles team plays today in CIF

* TENNIS: Corona del Mar High’s doubles team of Jill Damion and

Alexandra Walters will attempt to extend their unbeaten streak this

season when they begin their round of 16 match in the CIF Southern

Section individual girls tennis championships at 11:30 a.m. today at

SeaCliff Country Club in Huntington Beach.

Damion and Walters have won all 10 sets they have played this

season after teaming together for the Pacific Coast League finals,

which they won.

If Damion and Walters win their first match today, they would play

in the quarterfinals later in the afternoon.

Semifinals are scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. Friday, followed

by the final later that afternoon.

Damion, a sophomore, and Walters, a freshman, helped lead the Sea

Kings to the CIF Division I semifinals, where they fell to

second-seeded Calabasas, 11-7.

-- Bryce Alderton

CdM’s Lohrman commits to Niagara

* SOFTBALL: Heather Lohrman, who will enter her senior season for

the Corona del Mar High softball team next spring, has verbally

committed to continue her playing career at Niagara University in New

York, her mother, Jeannette Lohrman, confirmed Wednesday.

Lohrman, an outfielder who finished with team-highs in batting

average (.342) and steals (three) in helping the Sea Kings win their

first CIF Southern Section playoff game last spring, received a full

scholarship from the NCAA Division I school.

The Purple Eagles compete in the Metro Atlantic Athletic

Conference and won 20 games for the first time in four years last

spring.

Lohrman, a second-team All-Pacific Coast League selection as a

junior, received recruiting interest from Michigan State, Boston

College, UC Davis and Fresno State, Jeannette Lohrman said.

Heather Lohrman will major in journalism.

-- Bryce Alderton