Irvine Wrestling Tournament Belongs to Troxler--Again

Senior heavyweight Chad Troxler of Simi Valley High improved to 8-0 Saturday by winning the Irvine wrestling tournament for the second consecutive year. Troxler, who won the Southern Section Division II championship last season and placed third in the state, was selected the tournament’s outstanding wrestler.

Troxler also won the Newbury Park tournament two weeks ago.

Simi Valley’s John Lecky (140 pounds) and Mike Lischke (112) placed second at Irvine.

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

Mismatch: Start engraving the Marmonte League championship trophy for Channel Islands’ junior varsity team. It doesn’t appear anyone will challenge the Raiders and All-Ventura County guard Jaline Bradley.

Bradley, a junior who led Oxnard to the Southern Section Division I-AA championship last season, must play this season at the JV level after transferring to Channel Islands. Through three games, she is averaging more than 30 points.

“She’s out there playing her hardest, just like if she were playing varsity,” Raider varsity Coach Pat Bell said.

Ouch: The Buena gym looked like an emergency ward last Saturday during the final day of the Buena tournament.

Chatsworth forward Amanda Pinto was taken from the court by paramedics after apparently hyperventilating. Buena guard Kelly Murray was sidelined with a bloody mouth and two loosened teeth.

Hart point guard Christina Chao was in street clothes with a sprained ankle suffered on Friday night, and shooting guard Emily Reyna was hobbled with leg cramps. Her twin sister, Renee Reyna, was sidelined after undergoing off-season back surgery. She is expected to return for the start of Foothill League play in January.

Forward Aliza Richman was restricted to the Ventura bench following preseason knee surgery. She is not expected to return this season.

SOCCER

Extreme conditions: At Paraclete, the soccer teams are used to playing in all sorts of weather in the Antelope Valley. But on Dec. 3, the girls’ team found itself in field conditions unusual by any standards.

The Spirits traveled to Loyola Marymount for a game against Marymount High. But the field had no goals and was only 54 yards wide by 82 yards long, Paraclete Coach Deana Jacoby said.

The solution: Cones were moved back to lengthen the field and four-foot high flags were stuck in the ground to simulate goalposts. Paraclete won, 1-0.

“It was hysterical,” said Jacoby, whose team is a traditional Southern Section Division IV power. “I thought of asking for the forfeit but we’d driven all that way and we wanted to play.”

Talent factory: The Royal boys’ team, defending Southern Section Division I champion, was thought to have entered a rebuilding phase after graduating seven starters.

But the Highlanders surprised with a second-place showing at the Burroughs tournament. Royal (4-1 entering Friday’s match with Simi Valley) lost, 1-0, in the championship to perennial power Servite and look to be a Marmonte League championship contender.

“They’re like Italy in the World Cup,” Burroughs Coach Mike Kodama said. “Every time a star leaves, a young guy with enormous potential shows up.”

Royal sweeper and senior captain Sean Gesell said even he had the Highlanders pegged for an also-ran in the preseason.

“There’s been a lot of surprises,” said Gesell, one of three returning defenders. “We’re not flashy like last year and we don’t have the superstars but we’re strong all over instead of a couple main guys and others filling in around them.”

Add Royal: Coach Kevin Corley is sporting a clean-shaven upper lip after long wearing a mustache. The look is the result of a challenge by Highlander goalkeeper Josh Montgomery, who dared the coach to shave his head if the team won last season’s Southern Section Division I title.

After the Highlanders claimed the crown, Corley wriggled out of shaving his head but sacrificed the mustache.

“I wasn’t sure if the hair on top of my head would grow back,” he said.