Prelims

BOYS' TRACK AND FIELD Pacific League prelims at Arcadia High: Numerous area athletes qualified for Friday's upcoming Pacific League finals with top-nine, or in some events, top-12 performances on Friday. Area winners included Glendale's Michael Davis in the 100-meter dash (11.06 seconds) and 200 (22.08), Burroughs' Anthony Monroy in the 1,600 (4:22.55) and Crescenta Valley's Josh Strachewski in the 110 hurdles (15.75) and 300 hurdles (41.29). Other qualifiers for CV were James Maturan in the 100 and 200, Hayden O'Burke in the 100, Justin Springfield in the 200 and 400, Alex Damla in the 400, Adam Akopyan in the 400, Mike Duncan in the 800 and 1,600, Nick Beatty in the 800, Aaron Esparza in the 800 and 1,600, Davit Shahamanyan, and Cody Heidenreich in the 110 hurdles and Mike Jaramillo in the 110 and 300 hurdles.

It didn't play out ideally for Cecilia Nicolas and Nohemi Martinez, but both Glendale Community College women's track and field runners said their desire to succeed fueled them to cross the finish line first at the Western State Conference Championships. Rodriguez and Martinez were the only Vaqueros - both men and women - to finish first Friday at Moorpark College, as the women took third with 108 points, behind West L.A. College (119) and College of the Canyons (112). The Wildcats swept on both sides, as their men also finished first with 135 points.

LA CRESCENTA - With the regular season now complete, some of the members of the Crescenta Valley High boys' and girls' track and field teams can turn their attention during the next two weeks toward winning league championships. In particular, Josh Straschewski and Kayleigh Carrillo. Crescenta Valley closed out its final dual league meet Wednesday, falling to rival Arcadia. The boys' lost, 86-50, while the girls' suffered a 90-46 defeat. Straschewski did his part, capturing the 110-meter hurdles in 15.2 seconds before taking the 300 hurdles in 40.6.

The following are updates on local athletes at the collegiate level. DeAndre Daniels (Renaissance Academy) freshman, Connecticut men's basketball: Daniels logged two minutes of court time in his NCAA Tournament debut, which saw the defending-champion Huskies suffer a 77-64 loss in the second round to Iowa State on Thursday. The former Wildcat, who transferred to Taft as a junior, didn't register any statistics in the loss, but did manage to make an impact on the team this season.

PASADENA - Girls' tennis singles players Emily Borkowski and Kathy Henry made quick work of their opponents during the first two rounds of the Pacific League Tournament on Monday afternoon. So fast that neither player lost a game despite battling warm temperatures. Borkowski of Crescenta Valley High and Henry of Burroughs proved to be among the best singles players throughout the regular season and are now looking to further prove that throughout the two-day tournament. "I've been playing well and I've stayed consistent," said Borkowski, the No. 2 seed who posted an 8-0 win against No. 15 Taylor White of Pasadena and 10th-seeded Gabrielle Markari of Burroughs at Pasadena High.

Former Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy standout Andrea Kropp is looking golden at this weekend's 2011 ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships at Stanford University's Avery Aquatic Center. Or maybe bronze is a more accurate description. The 18-year-old representative of the Rattler Swim Club raced to a third-place finish in the women's 200-long-course-meter breaststroke preliminaries in a time of 2 minutes, 28.65 seconds on Saturday morning. Her time was actually higher than her seeded entry mark of 2:27.63, which was accomplished at last year's championship when Kropp took fifth place.

GLENDALE — The group of local athletes competing in the 2011 CIF Southern Section Track and Field Divisional Championship finals at Cerritos College today may be smaller than in most years, but for a handful of runners from Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, Glendale High, St. Francis and Flintridge Prep, the aspirations remain quite large. In addition to competing for CIF championships, they will also be chasing down qualifications for the Masters Meet gained by finishing in the top nine across all divisions in their respective events.

GLENDALE — After getting through the first hurdle of competing for league supremacy, a slew of local track and field athletes took to the next stage. More than 30 area athletes took part in the CIF Southern Section prelims from Orange to Santa Barbara counties to try to qualify for the CIF Finals on Saturday. Fourteen made the cut to advance to the CIF finals, which will take place Saturday at Cerritos College in Norwalk. Flintridge Sacred Heart will have five athletes scheduled to participate in the Division IV finals.

GLENDALE — No one can accuse the Crescenta Valley High boys' swimming team of resting on its laurels. After finishing runner-up behind Oaks Christian in the CIF Southern Section Division II Swimming and Diving Championships last season, the Falcons have made no secret of their desire to take one more step up the ladder in 2011. With even more depth and star power than they had last year, the Falcons are an odds-on favorite to do just that, carrying a host of top-seeded swimmers into the Division II preliminaries at Belmont Plaza pool in Long Beach on Friday where they will aim to push as many as possible through to the finals on Saturday.

VALLEY GLEN — Though the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy swimming team placed third in the Mission League, it still had athletes capable of stepping up to first on the individual stage. Among those were freshman Katie Altmayer and sophomore Emily Balog. While it's natural for underclassmen to be intimidated competing at the varsity level, neither backed down Thursday afternoon during the Mission League finals at L.A. Valley College. The duo stepped up in a big way, as Altmayer and Balog each won one individual event and helped a relay team take first.