CdM grades high

Corona del Mar High's baseball, boys' volleyball and girls' water polo teams are winners of the CIF Southern Section Academic Awards after posting the highest cumulative grade-point average in college preparatory courses in the first semester of the 2006-07 school year in their respective sports.

The girls' water polo team, with a 3.82 GPA, boasted the highest GPA out of three CdM teams, followed by boys' volleyball (3.62) and baseball (3.61).

The Sea Kings' teams, which were competing with schools with enrollments below 1,500 students, will be honored in a pregame ceremony before the Detroit Tigers play the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Angels Stadium on April 23. Each team will receive a banner as well as certificates for each player.

The CIF also recognized three local individual senior student-athletes, who qualified after maintaining a minimum 3.5 GPA in college prep courses over the past three years, in addition to earning a letter in at least one varsity sport and participating in extracurricular activities, which could include music, drama, service groups, etc.

In boys, Estancia basketball/baseball player Taylor McClanahan (4.0 GPA) and CdM water polo player Ryan Kent (3.93) were honored, and in girls, CdM cross country and track and field runner Sarah Cummings (4.0), who's headed for Princeton.

Estancia baseball coach C.K. Green said McClanahan is on Harvard's waiting list and has been accepted into UC Berkeley, UC San Diego and Pepperdine.