Pomona

COSTA MESA — Things didn't look too good early on for the third- and fourth-grade girls from Pomona Elementary School. Coach Juan Hernandez had big concerns about his Pomona team Wednesday. Six minutes into the girls' silver division game at the Daily Pilot Cup, Pomona trailed Kaiser by one goal. Hernandez needed someone to respond. Ashley Avalos did twice. Avalos recorded each of Pomona's goals to lift it to a 2-1 victory at Costa Mesa High. Avalos scored the game-winner in the 39th minute.

CLAREMONT — The UC Irvine men’s and women’s cross country teams each won the titles at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational Saturday. UCI’s men had five runners finish in the top nine spots, led by sophomore Rex Nelson, a former Newport Harbor High standout who won the 8,000-meter race in 25 minutes, 32.37 seconds. Brett Matejka was fourth (25:45.49), Sam Hyams fifth (25:59.33), Victor Bonilla seventh (26:06.53) and Barrett Tilley ninth (26:09.69) in the 110-runner field.

Submitted by Erin Kinder & Jennifer Miller St. Joachim school had a phenomenal day today with two wins for the 1st place title. The first win 5-3 was against Pomona elementary. Cole Schattinger started the streak with the first goal; Cole McFetter assisted. Then Pomona came on strong and the defense, Carter Chapman, Cole Kinder, Sam Miller, and Michael Lehman had to work hard to defend the goal. Pomona tied up the game with a penalty kick. The teams continued to fight for the ball, but Pomona scored again.

Corona del Mar High senior Danielle Kaiden recently signed a national letter of intent to play tennis for Cal Poly Pomona. Kaiden, a four-year varsity letterwinner, primarily playing doubles, compiled a 197-27 record competing with various doubles partners. She helped the Sea Kings to a CIF Southern Section Division I title in 2006, when they were undefeated. She was also a part of CdM teams that reached the CIF Division I title match the past two seasons. Kaiden, along with Lindsay Zotovich, reached the title match of the Pacific Coast League finals and advanced to the CIF Individuals this past season.

Two university representatives will visit OCC this spring to lure students to their respective campuses. Cal Poly Pomona representatives will visit OCC eight times on Wednesdays from February to May, while Vanguard University officials will stop five times, twice in February and once in March, April and May. Vanguard has an enrollment of about 2,000 students, while Cal Poly Pomona has a student population of more than 20,000. OCC ranked No. 2 in the number of students transferred to California State Universities.

Less than two minutes into the second half, the Vanguard University men’s basketball team trailed by 11 to visiting Cal Poly Pomona Tuesday night. Lions Coach Fred Litzenberger said he just kept telling his team, “Don’t stop playing.” The simple words meant he did not want his players to stop giving their best effort, or to give up. They didn’t and their second-half performance resulted in a 64-60 nonconference victory. Dennis Heenan, a Newport Harbor High product, led the Lions (2-1)

Newport-Mesa Unified schools showed improvement across the board, according to state standards and federal benchmarks released Friday. “We’re quite pleased and very encouraged with the results,” said Peggy Anatol, district assessment director, referring to the state’s Academic Performance Index (API) and the federal 2007 Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) results. The Academic Performance Index is a culmination of the results of state standardized tests and graduation rates.

Parents from Kaiser Elementary School petitioned the Newport-Mesa school board Tuesday to cancel its decision to transfer their principal, but the board voted nevertheless to make the change. At the board's regular meeting, five Kaiser parents took the microphone to protest the district's decision to move Principal Stacy Holmes, who has served at Kaiser for four years, to struggling Pomona Elementary School. Parent-faculty organization President Susie Gastineau submitted a petition to the board bearing the names of 13 staff members and more than 60 parents.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District plans to hold a meeting Tuesday to present the final reports on three schools facing federal sanctions under the No Child Left Behind Act. Beginning at 6 p.m., the trustees will present and discuss the reports on Pomona Elementary School, Wilson Elementary School and TeWinkle Middle School, each of which is on year three of the federal Program Improvement list. A seven-member hearing panel, including Newport-Mesa teachers, parents, administrators and others, visited the schools last fall.