SGV/Whittier Prep Sports Zone: Area Notebook, May 17th, 2023

Lori Huckler retires as coach at Walnut; major rules changes from the NFHS for Winter sports. and much more.

(Walnut Athletics)

Walnut High School announced late Tuesday night, on its Twitter account, that longtime girls basketball coach Lori Huckler announced her retirement as girls basketball coach.

The announcement puts a cap one of the more remarkable coaching careers for anyone in the San Gabriel Valley. She was the girls basketball coach from 1992 until this concluded season and won a staggering 321 games.

She was also the softball coach from 1988 until 2009. When you break it down, she coached 50 teams at Walnut and won 27 league titles. For the past several seasons, Walnut and Los Altos were considered the class of the Hacienda League in girls hoops.

It's not the only girls basketball coaching position open in the area. Kenneth Fisher has stepped down as coach at Mayfield HS in Pasadena. In his four years as coach at Mayfield, Fisher compiled a 23-62 record.

Another coach that has decided to step down is Nogales girls basketball coach Lydia Lei. Lei had a successful year in 2023 as she led the Nobles to a 16-9 record and a 9-1 mark in the Montview League as league champions. Nogales lost in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Div. 5A playoffs with a 66-27 home loss to West Valley.

Anyone interested in applying for these positions is urged to log onto the CIFSS website for more information.

SOUTH HILLS BASEBALL PLAYS ON SATURDAY

The CIF Southern Section announced that South Hills’ Division 2 baseball championship game against Crespi will be played at Blair FIeld on Saturday at 1.p.m.

South Hills advanced to the finals with a 5-1 win over Calabasas on Tuesday.

MAJOR CHANGES COMING TO WINTER SPORTS

BASKETBALL

The National Federations of High School Associations announced a modification to the free-throw rules for the upcoming 2023-2024 season. "Beginning next year, high school basketball teams will shoot two free throws for common fouls when in the "bonus." This change to Rule 4-8-1 eliminates the one-and-one scenario and sets new foul limits each quarter for awarding the bonus free throw," the NFHS said in a press release.

'"The rules committee studied data that showed higher injury rates on rebounding situations and saw this as an opportunity to reduce opportunities for rough play during rebounds," said Lindsey Atkinson, NFHS Director of Sports and liaison to the Basketball Rules Committee. "Additionally, resetting the fouls each quarter will improve game flow and allow teams to adjust their play by not carrying foul totals to quarters two and four."' the NFHS explained in the press release.

This is a major change from the previous rule where teams had six fouls to use before going into "the bonus" with a one-and-one free throw situation. If a team committed 10 fouls in the half, the opposing team would be in the "double bonus" situation.

In other approved rules changes:

Rule 2-1-3 establishes the official placement of a shot clock operator at the scorer's table for those states utilizing the shot clock.

Rule 3-4-5 clarifies that multiple styles of uniform bottoms may be worn by teammates, but they must all be like-colored and adhere to uniform rules outlined in Rule 3-6-2 regarding logos and trademarks.

Rule 3-5-6 addresses undershirts and allows teams to wear a single solid color or solid black for visiting teams with dark jerseys. This provides an opportunity for schools with hard-to-find colors to have all players wear a black undershirt.

Rule 9-3-3 was amended to allow a player to step out of bounds and return to the court if the player gains no advantage. A player is penalized only if, after returning inbounds, the player is the first to touch the ball or avoids a violation.

WRESTLING

The NFHS also made several significant rules changes in wrestling. The big one is that wrestlers are allowed to wrestle six matches in any one day of competition starting in 2023-24. "The six-match limit includes championship matches and excludes forfeits," the NFHS wrote in a press release.

"With risk minimization in mind, the committee also approved Rule 1-4-7, which states that no contestant shall wrestle in more than 10 matches in two consecutive days," the NFHS stated in the release."

Another big change was also made in the definitions section of Rule 5 in the rules book. "In Rule 5-15-2a which lists the points of support when a wrestler is down on the mat, "foot/feet" was added to the list that includes the knee(s), side of the thigh, buttocks, hand(s), and head," the NFHS explained.

'"Feet are regularly supporting the wrestler's weight during the match while on the mat," said Elliot Hopkins, director of sports and student services and liaison to the Wrestling Rules Committee. "We allow a wrestler's feet to be considered supporting points while in a near-fall situation. By adding it to the list of usual supporting points on the mat, it will create more clarity and consistency for the wrestlers, coaches, and officials – without creating additional injury risk."'

One more significant change came with the singlet that wrestlers use. "In Rule 4 regarding the wrestler's uniform and appearance, language was altered in Rule 4-1-1a to denote that the one-piece singlet may be worn with full-length, form-fitted tights. The stirrups requirement was deleted because the tights worn by wrestlers today do not ride up the wrestler's leg causing a disadvantage to the opponent," the NFHS explained.

SOCCER

There were 11 revisions made for the upcoming 2023-24 soccer season by the NFHS. The two that have garnered a lot of attention require "High school soccer officials will now have a set of criteria to consider when determining misconduct for a player "denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity" (DOGSO), as well as added definitions for fouls involving physical contact," the NFHS announced in a press release.

"Rule 12-8-4 was added and includes four criteria to consider when determining if a goal-scoring opportunity was denied: the distance between the offense and the ball, the general direction of the play, the likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball, and the location and number of defenders," the NFHS announced. "The rule also outlines the resulting consequences if DOGSO is determined to have occurred."

There is a new section on fouls for Rule 12-1-1, "which defines the seven direct free kick fouls and provides consistency for officials when interpreting misconduct. The corresponding definitions for Careless, Excessive Force, Serious Foul Play, Tactical Fouls, and Violent Conduct were adjusted in Rule 18-1-1," the NFHS explained in their release.

Finally, changes were made in regard to substitutions and injured players. "If the referee stops play for an injured player, the player must only leave the game if a coach or health-care professional is beckoned from the sideline," the NFHS stated.

For more information on these rule changes, log onto www.nfhs.org

LA SERNA BOYS GOLF FINISHES SECOND AT CIF-SS DIVISIONALS

The La Serna boys golf team was the only area team to pick up a plaque at the CIF-SS Boys Golf Divisional Tournaments throughout Southern California. The Lancers finished in second place in Division 2 with a final team score of 368 at the River Ridge Golf Course in Oxnard. San Marcos was the divisional champion with a score of 366.

Tyler Yao and Chandler Ornelas posted the best individual scores for La Serna with a 2-under 70.

The action continues on Thursday as La Serna will be among the 14 teams competing for four spots at the CIF-SS Individual Championships which will also be held at River Ridge Golf Course. The top 28 golfers that are not on the four qualifying teams, will advance to the state regional that will be held next week for the first time at Los Serranos Golf Course (South Course) in Chino Hills

Daniel Li of San Marino at the top of the medal stand at last weekend’s CIF State Swimming Championships in Clovis. (CIF State photo)

DANIEL LI WINS STATE TITLE IN BOYS SWIMMING

The remarkable junior season of Daniel Li was completed in fantastic fashion last weekend as he won a state title at the CIF State Swimming Championships that were held at the Clovis Olympic Swim Complex.

Li won the gold medal in the 100-yard breaststroke with a final time of 52.83 seconds. He was also part of the 200 Medley relay that finished in 8th place with a final time of 1:33.24. The Titans finished in fifth place at the state meet.

FORMER UCLA ANNOUNCER CHRIS ROBERTS PASSES AWAY

The late Chris Roberts, former UCLA radio announcer, passed away last weekend at 74. (UCLA)

UCLA athletics announced last weekend that longtime football and basketball radio announcer Chris Roberts had passed away at the age of 74.

Before getting the job at UCLA, Roberts was the radio voice of Long Beach State athletics, which included football and basketball in the 1980s. In 1992, Roberts was tabbed to replace John Rebensdorf as the radio voice of the Bruins. He would stay in that position until the end of the 2015 basketball season. Roberts was a four-time Golden Mike Award winner and was a member of the California Sports Broadcasters Association's Hall of Fame.

He also made many appearances that the Pasadena Quarterbacks Club lunches during the football season.

Roberts, who was born under the name of Robert LaPeer, was a product of the San Gabriel Valley. He was born on March 23, 1949, in Alhambra and was a three-sport star at Baldwin Park High School in football, basketball, and baseball. Among the many friends that he maintained contact through the years included the late SGV coaching legend, Greg Gano.

He went to college at Cal Poly Pomona, where he played baseball, but also started his broadcasting career at the school during that time. It was when he was working for a radio station in San Bernardino that the program director wanted him to change his name. According to the obituary by Ben Bolch of the LA Times, LaPeer changed his first name to Chris (in honor of TV sports legend Chris Schenkel) and picked Roberts as his last name to match his first name.

Roberts also worked the Los Angeles morning drive time window, first with the popular Lohman and Barkley show on KFI in the 1980s and would also do "Athletic Briefs" on KOST 103.5. He also worked at KUTE-FM and KMPC.

He is survived by his wife Ann, son David, daughter Nichole, and three grandchildren. Services are pending.

AREA ALL-STAR BASEBALL GAME TO BE PLAYED IN JUNE

The 27th annual San Gabriel Valley All-Star Game will be taking place on June 4th at South Hills HS. This year, not only with there be a senior only game (at 1 p.m.) but there will also be an underclass game at 10:00 a.m.

Coaches wishing to nominate players for either need to email information to Darren Murphy (dmurphy1@c-vusd.org) or Donnie Montanez (dmontanez@rowlandschools.org).