Ross named finalist for collegiate honor

April Ross, a three-time women’s volleyball All-American at USC and a

former multisport star at Newport Harbor High, is among five

finalists for the prestigious Honda-Broderick Award.

The honor is awarded annually to the Collegiate Woman Athlete of

the Year and the 2003-04 winner will be announced Monday.

Ross led the Women of Troy to a 35-0 record and a second-straight

NCAA title in the fall.

The remaining finalists are Stanford swimmer Tara Kirk, North

Carolina soccer player Catherine Reddick, Connecticut basketball

player Diana Taurasi and Florida State softball player Jessica van

der Linden.

The Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year balloting involves all

NCAA-member institutions, with nominees selected from among 12 women

chosen as the most outstanding in their sports during the school

year.

Paulson six off Open lead

* GOLF: Former Costa Mesa High golfer Dennis Paulson shot a

2-over-par 72 and is within six strokes of the lead after the first

round of the U.S. Open championship Thursday at Shinnecock Hills Golf

Club in Southampton, N.Y.

Paulson, making his third appearance in the championship, shot an

even-par 35 on the back nine, with two birdies and two bogeys.

He is among 21 golfers at 2-over. That list includes Tiger Woods,

Jim Furyk and Lee Janzen, past champions of the event, along with

Sergio Garcia.

Jay Haas and Shigeki Maruyama each shot 66 after the first 18

holes and share the lead with Angel Cabrera, who needs to finish the

final six holes of his first round today.

Father-son event to begin

* TENNIS: The Newport Beach Tennis Club will host the 10th annual

United States Tennis Association National Father and Son doubles

tennis championship starting today at 9 a.m.

The top seeds in the senior division, in which the fathers can be

no younger than 60, are Jeff Loehr and his son James.

Four-time senior champions Gordon and Scott Davis will not

participate this year because Scott, who is the director of tennis

for the NBTC, will be coaching doubles partners Mark Knowles and Dan

Nestor at Wimbledon. Gordon will play with his other son, Gordon Jr.

“If [Gordon Sr. and Scott] were playing, they would be the top

seeds because they won [the tournament] the last four years in a

row,” tournament director Norma Veal said.

Last year’s runners-up, Joseph and Joe Zerboni, are the No. 2

seed, followed by Ernest and Chris Schoop and Benjamin and Thomas

Brunkow. Newport Beach resident Kim Vieira will play with his father,

Don, at 9 a.m. today against Donald and Brad Pierce.

Larry and John Huebner from Northern California are three-time

winners of the super 70 division, in which the father can be no

younger than 70. The top seeded Huebner tandem is joined by Ron and

David Tonidandel, who were last year’s runners-up, and the 2001

runners-up, Tom and Matthew Willson.

Also participating are Eric and Stanley Quade, who have finished

third several years. Eric is a Newport Beach resident, one of three

area players entered in the super 70 division.

John Peterson, from Newport Beach, will play with his son Eric,

and Costa Mesa’s Tom Farinola-Paul will team up with his son Jerry

Paul.

The top three teams will win a gold, silver or bronze ball, as

well as a trophy.

Hogan All-American

* SAILING: Newport Harbor High product Scott Hogan became the

second four-time All-American in the history of the Dartmouth College

sailing program, after being named to the Intercollegiate Sailing

Association of North America’s 2003-04 All-American team.

Hogan, an All-American skipper for the Big Green, was also among

three finalists for the Everett B. Morris Trophy, presented annually

to the College Sailor of the Year.

Hogan helped Dartmouth finish No. 4 in the Sailing World men’s

college rankings in 2003-04, behind, in descending order of finish,

St. Mary’s, Harvard and Hawaii.

Dartmouth was second in the race for the Fowle trophy, which goes

to the top school over six events, culminating in the nationals in

May.

UCI athletes lauded

* HONORS: The 2004 Big West Conference Academic All-Conference

team for spring sports includes 22 UC Irvine athletes.

UCI’s honorees include baseball player Gregg Wallis, track and

field athletes Erin Curtis, Janelle Del Soldato, Kim Harper, Jenna

Keith, Angela Lotito, Kim Rameriz, Annmarie Turpin, Kelli Vanderburg,

Mike Beerer, Michael Cao, Curtis Lehmann, John Stein, Jon Stewart and

Jeremy Torres, as well as tennis players Jon Endrikat, Peter Surapol,

Wkwesi Williams, Anna Bentzer, Tiffany Chang, Veronica Fermin and

Christie Posner.

A total of 203 student-athletes from 10 member institutions were

honored. To be eligible for the All-Academic team, student-athletes

have to maintain a 3.2 cumulative grade-point average, completed one

full academic year at the member institution prior to the season for

which the award is being received (at least a sophomore academically)

and competed in at least half of their team’s contests.

Lightning tennis laurels

* TENNIS: Eight Sage Hill School boys tennis players have been

selected to the All-Academy League team.

Senior Ian Livingston and his doubles partner, junior Dan Chin,

were first-team honorees, as were the sophomore combination of

Michael Garrison and Michael Cassel. Tristan Cordier, the Lightning

No. 1 singles player, also made the first team.

Sophomore Ara Demerjian, the No. 2 singles player, and sophomore

Conrad Whitaker and his partner, freshman Tyler Ross, all made the

second team.

Cordier was a first-team selection in 2003.

Sage quartet all-league

* GOLF: Sage Hill School sophomore Josh Chen has been selected to

the first-team All-Academy League boys golf team by the league’s

coaches. Chen is one of four Lightning to receive all-league honors

in golf after leading the team to a 6-4 league record.

Junior Rob Greenfield and freshman Geoffrey Grant earned

second-team laurels and senior Alex Cochran received honorable

mention.

Chen was a second-team selection and Cochran receivedhonorable

mention in 2003.