Prep Rally: Harvard-Westlake's Kiki Iriafen and Alyssa Thompson put on a show

Columnist

May 31, 2021 5:59 AM PT

Hi, and welcome to Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. I had the chance to see two extraordinary athletes, one in person and one watching from the web on Saturday. Both attend Harvard-Westlake. They showed girl power is alive and flourishing.

You go girl

Kiki Iriafen and Alyssa Thompson will one day be household names in basketball and soccer. Right now, they are classmates at Studio City Harvard-Westlake, but they soon will be headed to Stanford.

Iriafen, a 6-foot-3 senior and McDonald’s All-American, began the Open Division basketball playoffs with a 37-point, 24-rebound performance against another McDonald’s All-American, USC-bound Rayah Marshall of Lynwood.

Thompson, a sophomore, scored three goals while leading the 16-0 girls’ soccer team to the Southern Section Division 1 championship. She has 43 goals and also is a leading contender to win the Division 3 100-meter championship in track.

Thompson’s speed on the soccer field is unique. It’s only a matter of time before she becomes a U.S. national soccer team contributor.

Baseball

The Southern Section baseball pairings were announced on Sunday. JSerra was seeded No. 1 in Division 1. All that means is the Lions were judged best team in the regular season. Harvard-Westlake is No. 2 seed despite having beaten JSerra twice. Winning a championship is a whole different task in one of the toughest tournaments for any sport in America.

There are so many good pitchers in Division 1 that you can throw out the seedings. It’s all about matchups and trying to advance. JSerra has four pitchers who are UCLA commits, which makes the Lions the most feared opponent. Beating the ace, Gage Jump, just isn’t going to happen. Harvard-Westlake has two top freshman pitchers in Bryce Rainer and Thomas Bridges.

The big news is that Blair Field in Long Beach and Cal State Fullerton will be the sites for baseball championship games June 18-19. COVID-19 restrictions previously precluded holding multiple games at a single site.

Thousand Oaks won its first 24 games and is seeded No. 1 in Division 2.

Here’s a link to complete pairings.

The City Section will announce its pairings on Tuesday. West Valley League champion Granada Hills is expected to be seeded No. 1.

Big pitching performances

What a week it was for pitching performances.

Mason Molina of Trabuco Hills struck out 15 to help his team win the Sea View League championship. Gage Jump struck out 13 and allowed one hit in 5 2/3 innings to help JSerra stay alive for the Trinity League championship. Freshman Thomas Bridges of Harvard-Westlake threw 5 2/3 shutout innings to help his team win the Mission League championship. Brian Uribe of Camarillo struck out 12 for his fourth consecutive complete-game shutout.

Loving son

Cathedral High School pitcher Geovanny Hernandez, 17, spends a warm moment with his mother Yovanna Guzman, 44.

On the back of her right shoulder, close to the shoulder blade, Yovanna Guzman has a tattoo of a sun and a moon.

There’s no deeper significance to it. Guzman just likes the celestial bodies, particularly the sun. She remembers the days when a fairer-skinned, lighter-haired version of herself would stand outside, basking in its warmth.

On this day, the tattoo is covered up by a long-sleeve gray sweatshirt as she sits in her wheelchair and watches her son Geovanny Hernandez pitch for L.A. Cathedral High in Elysian Park, the surrounding trees swaying gently under a blue sky.

Yovanna is quadriplegic since a traffic accident more than two decades ago, and has been in and out of the hospital for more than half her life with complications. Since he was 5 years old, Geovanny has taken care of her. He brings her food, cleans her room, opens her hand to give her a glass of water. He becomes her arms and legs.

To learn about his commitment to his mother while trying to succeed on and off the field, please read this touching profile.

So you want to be an umpire?

If you ever wondered what it was like to be an umpire, Steve Henson, a longtime baseball writer for The Times and also umpire for high school games, offered a first-hand account.

Here’s a link to his essay. Good read.

Mason Molina

No pitcher has had a better regular season than senior Mason Molina of Trabuco Hills.

The Texas Tech signee has been lights out.

In 61 2/3 innings, he’s 8-1 with 121 strikeouts, an 0.80 ERA and one no-hitter.

Boys’ basketball

Westchester coach Ed Azzam is going for his 16th City title.

Westchester was seeded No. 1 for the City Section Open Division released on Sunday. The Comets went 9-0 in the regular season, and coach Ed Azzam is trying to tie the legendary Willie West of Crenshaw with a 16th City title. The Comets open at home on Friday against El Camino Real.

Birmingham is seeded No. 2, Fairfax No. 3 and Narbonne No. 4. The best opening game is King/Drew at Narbonne on Friday.

Palisades is seeded No. 1 in Open Division girls. There were 60 boys teams and 43 girls teams selected for the City tournament.

Here’s the link to complete pairings.

Valedictorian

No teenager should have been put into the predicament experienced by All-City basketball player Jay’len Carter of Manual Arts High.

When the Los Angeles Unified School District finally let high school basketball teams start play this month after being shut down for more than a year because of COVID-19, Manual Arts decided not to field a team.

Carter faced a choice: Transfer to a school that played basketball or stay to fulfill his dream of becoming Manual Arts’ valedictorian. He decided to stay and will deliver a speech at graduation on June 11.

From Down Under

“What?”

That’s been the reaction of Santa Ana Mater Dei coach Gary McKnight as he tries to translate the Australian accent of his star player, 6-foot-10 Harrison Hornery.

“When he talks quickly, I think he must feel I’m getting old. I can’t understand him,” McKnight said.

Four years ago, Hornery arrived from Toowoomba, a city in Australia about a one-hour drive from Brisbane. The population there is 136,000. Living with a host family in Mission Viejo, Hornery soon discovered he was far from home based on traffic alone. He has cherished his journey on and off the court and has loved it so much he signed with USC to continue his West Coast stay.

Here’s a profile of Hornery.

Lesson from dad

Kosisochukwu Akametu, who goes by Kosy at King/Drew High, knew he was about to have an unpleasant conversation with his father, Noel, on the ride home from basketball practice in December 2019.

Kosy’s grade in algebra had slipped to a D, and there’s one stipulation in most homes with Nigerian parents: grades matter.

Kosy’s father stopped the car on the side of the road. During a conversation that lasted more than 20 minutes, Noel made it clear that no matter how good of a basketball player Kosy might be, a D in algebra was unacceptable because his future was tied to education.

“I wasn’t surprised, but I know I had to be held accountable for what I did,” Kosy said. “I knew how my mom and dad would react to the situation.”

The message was delivered swiftly and bluntly: No more basketball.

“You know how I feel about grades,” his father told him. “You can’t play without grades. We’re not a regular family.”

Kosy missed the rest of his junior season. He raised his grade to B and the 6-foot-5 senior has become quite a basketball player.

Here’s a link to a profile of him.

Girls’ basketball

Stanford-bound Kiki Iriafen of Harvard-Westlake has enjoyed many outstanding basketball games in her four-year high school career, but Saturday’s performance in the opening round of the Southern Section Open Division girls’ playoffs will be hard to top.

Playing against a fellow McDonald’s All-American in USC-bound Rayah Marshall of Lynwood, the 6-foot-3 Iriafen responded with 37 points and 24 rebounds in Harvard-Westlake’s 80-54 victory.

“I was fired up because it was playoffs,” she said. “I was excited.”

Asked if it was the best performance she has seen from Iriafen, Harvard-Westlake coach Melissa Hearlihy said, “Best game of the year for sure. She came ready to go.”

Melissa Hearlihy speaks

Melissa Hearlihy has been coaching girls’ basketball in Southern California since the 1980s when she took over at Bishop Alemany. She has been the head coach at Harvard-Westlake since 2000. She has been both a role model and passionate advocate for the sport.

Here’s an interview with Hearlihy from “Friday Night Live.”

Centennial making noise

Corona Centennial girls' basketball team captains Trinity San Antonio, Jayda Curry, and Londynn Jones gather for a photo.

Londynn Jones crashes to the hardwood, a rebound escaping her. She frowns, getting to her feet.

“If you pushin’, then …” she mutters. Her Corona Centennial High teammate repositions herself above the 3-point line, readying herself to chase another rebound in this boxout drill.

Coach Martin Woods puts up another shot, and Jones explodes toward the rim. The junior hip-checks the same teammate, putting a little force into it, coming down with the ball. Satisfied, she jogs back into line.

The Centennial girls’ basketball team does not waste time with offensive drills in practices. Woods lets them play freely on that end. They have sharpshooters in Jones and senior Jayda Curry, who each average more than 20 points a game, and slashers like senior Trinity San Antonio.

For a profile of the No. 1-seeded Huskies, go here.

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Track

Westlake's Paige Sommers wins the pole vault at the Arcadia Invitational. She set a national record last week.

It was a great week and a disappointing week in track and field.

Paige Sommers of Westlake set a national record in the girls’ pole vault by clearing 14 feet, 9 inches at the Marmonte League championship.

But the state’s No. 1 sprinter, Patrick Ize-Iyamu of Chaminade, was forced to scratch from participating at the Mission League finals because of a hamstring injury and has been shut down for the rest of the season, meaning he will miss this coming week’s divisional prelims and the Southern Section finals on June 12.

The junior won the Arcadia Invitational 100-meter dash.

“At least I got that,” he said.

Track prelims will be held Saturday at Trabuco Hills (Division 1), Moorpark (Division 2), Estancia (Division 3) and Carpinteria (Division 4). The same schools will host the finals on June 12.

Michael Norman gets ready

There’s no one who produces more excitement in Southern California among track and field fans and athletes than former Vista Murrieta and USC star Michael Norman.

He’s gearing up for the Tokyo Olympics and came through with the fastest 400 performance in the world this past week, running 44.27 in Doha.

Max Thomas speed

Max Thomas of Servite is the fastest soccer player in the state. He’s closing in on becoming the fastest, period.

The junior won the Trinity League 100 meters in 10.76 seconds, beating football standout Domani Jackson of Mater Dei. Jackson ran 10.79.

Thomas won the 200 at the Arcadia Invitational.

Lacrosse

El Camino Real only started its girls’ lacrosse program four years ago. Now the Conquistadores are City Section champions after an 11-9 win over Palisades.

Palisades won the City Section boys title with a 21-1 win over El Camino Real.

Football

Transfer season has begun in football, particularly at the quarterback position.

Jaxon Potter has left JSerra for Santa Margarita. Darius Curry has left St. Bernard for Long Beach Poly. Paul Kessler is going from Bishop Alemany to Venice.

And it’s only beginning.

Former Manual Arts and Washington State standout Steve Broussard is the new head coach at St. Bernard.

Ian Duarte, a standout sophomore receiver at Chaminade and top baseball player, is moving to Idaho. He’ll attend Eagle High School.

Stars come out

The Steve Clarkson quarterback retreat this past weekend in Santa Monica brought out a who’s who of college and high school stars from around the country.

It was fun seeing all the former local high school standouts serving as college counselors. There was Bryce Young, DJ Uiagalelei, Matt Corral, Chase and Ethan Garbers, among others.

Soccer

It’s time to see which team is best in Southern California soccer.

Birmingham’s boys’ team, the City Section Division I champion, believes it’s No. 1 and is ready to take on Southern Section Division 1 champion Mira Costa in the Southern California regionals that begin on Tuesday. Birmingham was given the No. 1 seed and Mira Costa No. 2. Birmingham will have to get past Godinez in its opener, then perhaps Loyola. Mira Costa will have to beat El Camino Real in its opener.

Birmingham came through with a victory over El Camino Real in the City final decided by penalty kicks. There was so much drama and excitement. Here’s the story.

For girls, Harvard-Westlake is seeded No. 1 in the regional but there still needs to be a decision whether several key players will play soccer or participate in track prelims this week.

Here are the regional pairings.

Softball

The Southern Section softball pairings were released on Saturday, and Norco is seeded No. 1 in Division 1.

Primary challenges should come from Huntington Beach and South Torrance.

Here are the softball pairings.

Swimming

What a day for the Santa Margarita swim program. The Eagles hosted the Southern Section championships, and the Santa Margarita boys and girls teams each won titles.

The girls ran away from the competition with 457 points. The boys team title was as close as it gets. Santa Margarita had 322.50 points and Loyola had 321. Santa Margarita’s 16 points in diving proved critical.

The City Section held its swimming championships in Santa Clarita. There were no team titles but lots of impressive individual winners.

Volleyball

It will be Mira Costa taking on Newport Harbor in the Southern Section Division 1 volleyball championship on Saturday. Mira Costa defeated Corona del Mar in the semifinals and Newport Harbor knocked off top-seeded Loyola.

In Division 2, Huntington Beach defeated Servite in the semifinals despite 36 kills from football standout Tetairoa McMillan. The Oilers will face Santa Barbara.

In Division 3, St. Francis defeated Long Beach Poly and will face Long Beach Wilson in the championship match.

Here are the complete semifinal results.

From the archives: Stevie Thompson

Crenshaw’s basketball program has produced many great players through the years, and one of the best was Stevie Thompson, the 6-foot-3 guard who could leap so high he made dunks look easy.

In 1984-85, he averaged 28 points and helped Crenshaw win City Section and state championships. In 1985-86, he averaged 34 points and Crenshaw won City Section and state championships. He’d go on to Syracuse, then the NBA. He became head basketball coach at Cal State Los Angeles, then an assistant at Oregon State, where his two sons, Stephen and Ethan, became Beaver standouts.

Besides his great play, Thompson’s values are reflected in the respect others have for his sons and the way they have played the game.

He ranks among the top five players in Crenshaw’s basketball greatness.

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Until next time...

Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at [email protected], and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.

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Prep Rally: Harvard-Westlake’s Kiki Iriafen and Alyssa Thompson put on a show