One Gymnastics Co-Champion Winds Up a Loser

You know things have to be changed when . . .

Torrey Pines, Mt. Carmel and San Dieguito tied for first place in the Palomar League gymnastics standings, but the way the San Diego Section finals are set up, only the top two teams from each league advance to the finals.

So they flipped a coin. The odd team in the flip, Mt. Carmel (tails) won the second seed from the league and the other two schools played off at a neutral site to determine the top seed. Torrey Pines won, earning the trip to the finals.

The Falcons also won the section’s team title for the third consecutive year and Mt. Carmel finished second. But if San Dieguito had been the odd team, then the eventual first- or second-place team in the county wouldn’t even have been competing in the finals.

“We’re trying to get it changed so that one team from each league plus four at-large teams make the finals,� Torrey Pines Coach Gail Scoggins said.

The victory for Torrey Pines was also a bit of a surprise. The Falcons lost by 2 1/2 points three times during the season to Mt. Carmel, but were buoyed by the effort of Lisa Spievak and Lauren Gist, a couple of compulsory gymnasts. Spievak won the all-around title in compulsories, Gist the vault title.

“That (Spievak victory) was a surprise because she has had a dreadful fear of tumbling and by the last meet of her year, she threw all her fears behind her,� Scoggins said.

Spievak even set a school record on the bars.

“(But) that coin toss was probably the biggest thing of the whole season,� Scoggins said.

Trivia time: Who was the San Diego Section’s boys soccer player of the year in 1981?

A helping hand: What do Del Mar and Imperial County have in common?

Shauna Duggins.

The only gymnast at Imperial High--58 miles from the Arizona border--needed a program to work out with and she found one at Torrey Pines. She and her principal, Dan Eddins, looked to the Grossmont League since those schools were I-8 close.

“They wouldn’t have her because of insurance,� Scoggins said. “So they called the San Dieguito School District and it was OK with our administrators.�

So Scoggins sent Duggins a schedule. Duggins and her mother/coach, Kathy, made the two-hour, 15-minute, 115-mile one-way drive as many as three times a week for Falcon matches. The closest meet was a Torrey road trip to Yuma.

“I got a lot of competition so that improved my skills, and I got to know a lot of those girls really well,� Duggins said. “They kind of took me under their wing, so it was really nice.

“They’re kind of like my second school.�

Duggins is a junior with a 4.0 grade point average. She has been elected Imperial’s student body president for next year. And she hopes to return to Torrey Pines.

“I already know (those girls),� Duggins said. “They had secret sisters, where they buy each other presents on the day of the meet, and a couple of meets they did that for me. It was really nice that they were thinking about me, too.�

Duggins competed as an independent and qualified for the San Diego Section finals in each event. She took third place on the vault (9.1) and finished 12th overall because of a fall on the balance beam.

Wearing different colors: C.R. Doss couldn’t split his allegiance down the middle this year. He had to split it three ways.

Doss, a walk-on coach in the South Bay, is the coach of the girls’ junior varsity volleyball team at Castle Park (three years), girls’ varsity soccer at Chula Vista (five years) and boys’ volleyball at Hilltop (two years).

When pressed, he confesses he’s a Spartan.

“That’s the place where I’ve coached varsity the longest,� he said. “Chula Vista will always be kind of special. My wife (Sharon) works there, my oldest daughter (Danielle) played soccer and softball there, and my youngest daughter (Gretchen) is a cheerleader.�

What, prior to 1945? Mission Bay baseball Coach Dennis Pugh doesn’t just publish a program, he publishes an actual media guide, replete with rosters, records, draft picks and hall of fame stuff. Impressive. But one must wonder about the section titled, “Modern hitting records.�

Modern compared to what?

“Modern from my standpoint,� Pugh said.

Calling it quits: Two baseball coaches ended their careers on an upbeat note last week. One is Chula Vista’s Dick Barcus, whose team was 14-12. the other is Valhalla’s Terry Love, who led the Norsemen to a 16-11 record this season.

Barcus had a 146-111 record since 1982, when he replaced Bobby Kennedy. Barcus is in need of a hip replacement and will teach three more years.

“I’ve been in the business 35 years,� Barcus said. “I couldn’t swing a bat or help much anymore, so it was time to give it to a younger guy.�

He has been at Chula Vista since 1968.

Love resigned after three years and a 41-41-2 record, saying he needed time with his family. He has two daughters, one who will be a high school junior next year, another who will be in eighth grade. Completing his 22nd year coaching, he inherited a program that had been under .500 a year before he got it. Valhalla reached the 2-A section quarterfinals this season, losing to eventual champion Grossmont.

Survey says: The results weren’t conclusive, but the total number of ejections have been totaled for the winter sports season. It was compiled from a survey in which 54 of 76 schools participated. In case you’re wondering:

--There were 92 players and six coaches ejected from boys’ and girls’ soccer matches. At the varsity level, 77 players and four coaches were ejected. There were 11 appeals to the commissioner and seven were ejections were upheld.

--There were 15 players and one coach ejected from boys’ and girls’ basketball games. At the varsity level, 11 players and one coach were tossed. There were two appeals, both upheld.

--Two varsity wrestlers were ejected. There was one appeal, but the ejection was upheld.

Trivia answer: Point Loma’s Waad Hirmez, now of the San Diego Sockers.