Cerritos College

BOYS' TENNIS Glendale 11, Alhambra 7: The visiting Nitros opened the season on a bright note with a nonleague win Tuesday. Glendale turned to its doubles team of Sevag Bagramian and freshman Nick Daka, who swept their three sets. Zane Elhadary and Mike Adamian and Aram Anbartsumian and Edgar Nazaretian each won two doubles set for the Nitros, who got two set wins from singles athlete Hovik Ovikimyan. BOYS' GOLF Flintridge Prep 229, Monrovia 235: Despite competing in the steady rain, the Rebels (1-0)

GLENDALE — Right from the start, Glendale Community College second-year football Coach John Rome figured his defensive unit would be up to speed. Rome surmised correctly after the Vaqueros opened the season Sept. 5 with a 51-29 home victory against West Los Angeles College. Now, Rome will look for another strong defensive performance when Glendale college meets East Los Angeles College in a nonconference road game at 6 p.m. today. “From the first day they were able to put the pads on, our defense was willing to hit and tackle,” Rome said.

Local sports roundup items.WRESTLING La Cañada in Dual-Meet Wrestling Championships: The Spartans lost in the second round CIF Southern Section Division VI championships at Santiago High in Garden Grove on Saturday. La Cañada, which finished second in the Rio Hondo League behind Monrovia, opened up with a convincing 66-12 victory against Frontier League champion Fillmore. The Spartans then suffered a 36-33 loss to second-seeded Hemet. Hemet fell to Elsinore, 37-22, in the championship match.

GLENDALE ? Though it won?t be the same cast, the objective will be the same ? win another state championship. It?s something that hasn?t been forgotten by the members of the Glendale Community College women?s cross-country program, which won the state crown last year for the first time since 1980 with a talented group that never shied away from taking to and handling some of the most difficult courses. The Vaqueros don?t want to take a chance of encountering any possibilities of veering off course during the next several months.

NORWALK — On June 2, 1979, at Sacramento’s Hughes Stadium, then Glendale High senior Lee Balkin turned in the greatest high jump performance ever to be recorded at the CIF State Track and Field Championships. Twenty-nine years later, his record-breaking leap of 7 feet, 3 1/4 inches still stands as the meet record. For his efforts, Balkin was one of four athletes honored in a special ceremony prior to the start of Saturday’s 90th version of the state championships at Cerritos College.

GLENDORA ? Clinging to a four-point lead for the majority of the 55th annual Al Malaikah Shrine All-Star football game, it seemed as if the Private All-Stars would win for the first time in the four-year span that has seen the game pit Public All-Stars versus Private. But Public quarterback and most valuable player Jordan LeSecla of Newbury Park High changed all that with a late, fourth-quarter drive which led to the Public All-Stars' 17-14 victory on Saturday night at Cerritos College.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE - A small bounce proved the difference between winning and a continuing slide for the Glendale Community College men's basketball team Friday afternoon. A fall-away five-foot jumper from sophomore wing Mike Johnson agonizingly bounced twice on the rim, but failed to score as time expired, allowing visiting Cerritos College to steal a 71-70 overtime victory in nonconference play. “We competed hard and we've just got to do a better job of understanding time circumstances and conditions of the game,” Vaqueros Coach Brian Beauchemin said.

CERRITOS — From her unassuming arrival at Glendale Community College to her electrifying freshman campaign, the writing was on the wall forecasting an exemplary career. Sure enough, through the historic 2007 cross-country season and into her glorious farewell at Saturday’s California Community College Track and Field Championships, Tove Berg has left behind quite a body of work in just two short years. “Oh no,” insisted veteran Glendale college track and field and cross-country Coach Eddie Lopez when asked if there is any precedent in the college’s rich running tradition for Berg’s set of back-to-back state titles in the 5,000- and 10,000 meter runs and leading role in the Vaqueros first state championship in cross country since 1980.

CERRITOS — With Tove Berg the last Vaquero scheduled to compete on Saturday, the second and final day of the California Community College Track and Field Championships, it was a strong bet that the Glendale Community College women’s track and field team would end its 2008 season on a winning note. Berg did not disappoint, returning to the track at Cerritos College one day after defending her state title in the 10,000-meter run to become a two-time state champion in the 5,000 with a time of 17 minutes 18.98 seconds.

GLENDALE — This year’s Glendale Community College baseball team will feature some intriguing freshman talent, as well as some sophomore holdovers returning for their second year at Stengel Field. But for Coach Chris Cicuto, much of the heart and soul and, ultimately, the success of the Vaqueros, who begin the 2009 season today at 2 p.m. at Cerritos College, will rest on their core of third-year players. Infielders Danny Casey and Miguel Alvarez, outfielders Brian Ward and Chris Arredondo and pitcher Tony Banuelos, Jr., all of whom have redshirted a year during their stint at Glendale college, are back for their final year of eligibility and all will be asked, to varying degrees, to take a leading role in the clubhouse and on the field.