Jones, Miller Set for U.S. Amateur Championships

Brandon Jones of Agoura Hills and Michael Miller of Valencia qualified for the U.S. Amateur Golf Championships in Lemont, Ill., later this month by finishing first and second in qualifying tournaments on Thursday.

Jones shot a four-over-par 76 for a two-round total of 144 to win a sectional tournament at Carlton Oaks Country Club in Santee.

Miller fired a par 72 for a two-round total of 143 to place second in a tournament at Desert Island Country Club in Rancho Mirage.

Ross Fulgentis of Westlake Village qualified as an alternate for the U.S. Amateur by finishing fourth at 144.

Correction: Alicia Um of Newbury Park lost, 2-and-1 to Jennifer Patterson of Bethel Park, Penn., Thursday in the second round of match play at the U.S. Girls Junior championship at the Legends of Tennessee course in Franklin, Tenn.

A wire service erroneously reported that Um lost in the first round.

Two earn berths: Rick Garboski, the head professional at North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, parred the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to earn one of the final two spots in the qualifying field at the PGA Club Professional Championship sectional qualifying tournament Thursday at Bear Creek Country Club in Murrieta.

Roger Gunn of Lindero Country Club also qualified. The two will join 25 other qualifiers in regional qualifying at Painted Dunes Golf Course in El Paso, Texas, Oct. 29-Nov. 1.

New location: The site of the Foot Locker national high school cross-country championships has been moved to Lake Buena Vista in Orlando, Fla., after being held at San Diego’s Balboa Park for the previous 14 years.

The national meet, which began in 1979, was held in San Diego for its first two years before being staged in Orlando in 1981 and ’82. Then came the 14-year run at Morley Field in Balboa Park.

“The move is a move for location,” said Adams Zocks, the sports marketing manager for Foot Locker. “It has nothing to with San Diego. They’ve always done a great job with the meet down there. We never had any problems with them.”

Harris stays close: Stacey Harris, the runner-up in the girls’ 400 meters for Cleveland High in the City Section track and field championships in May, has committed to Cal State Los Angeles.

Harris clocked a personal best of 55.92 in the City finals to finish second behind freshman teammate Malinda Malone.

New Mexico State offered Harris a full scholarship, but she decided to attend Cal State L.A. on a partial offer to remain close to home.

Valley final?: Girls’ basketball teams from Crescenta Valley and Simi Valley will set up an all-Valley championship game if they win semifinal games tonight in the Bell-Jeff Summer Hoop Finale.

Crescenta Valley, which played in the Southern Section Division I-A final last season, plays Ayala at 7:30 and Simi Valley meets Palisades at 8:40 p.m.

Other games today will be played at 1 hour, 10 minute intervals beginning at noon.

The championship game is Saturday at 7 p.m. All games are at Bell-Jeff High.

Having a Blast: The Valley United Blast under-19 men’s club team defeated New Jersey’s North Brunswick Rovers, 3-0, Thursday in a semifinal match of the U.S. Youth Soccer Assn. championships in Phoenix.

Royal High graduate Kendall Simmonds, Aaron Wellman and Cal State Northridge’s Mike Preis scored.

The Blast will meet the Clearwater (Fla.) Chargers in the title match Saturday at 9 p.m. That match will be shown by ESPN2 on Wednesday at 1 p.m. PDT.