Marcell & Andy at CIT; Wests in Northern Sun

Marcell 4th, Andy 6th

At the tough CIT wrestling tournament in Morro Bay last weekend MARCELL BLOW of Lompoc High (pictured here) took 4th place in the 125-pound weight division. He won his first match then lost his second match to drop into the consolation bracket. Then with his back against the wall he pulled off seven straight wins before losing in the third place match. He finished with a record of 8-2 for the weekend.

Cabrillo's ANDY CHAVOYA took 6th place in the heavyweight division. He had an impressive run making it all the way to the semi's before falling to 6th place. He finished with a record of 3-3 for the weekend.

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West Hoop Wrap

The University of Mary is 5-13 overall but imagine where would they be without the Wests?

sWitch: Starting with the North Dakota game, Jordan Wilhelm moved back into the starting lineup and GEOFF WEST moved into a reserve role. The switch was precipitated by injuries to West that may not fully heal during the season. Since the change, both have increased their season scoring averages. Wilhelm is averaging 11.0 PPG and a team-high 6.4 rebounds since moving back into the starting lineup and West is averaging 15.4 PPG as a reserve.

WILD WILD WILD WILD WEST: One of the top scorers in the NSIC, West is ninth in the Northern Sun Conference in scoring at 14.9 points per game. He is third in treys made per game with 2.53. Seven times West has led the Marauders in scoring, including a 34 point outburst in the season opener when he set a school record nine treys. Four times he has hit for at least 20 points.

NCAA INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS: West is the highest ranked Marauder nationally in treys. He is 54th in three-point field goal percentage (39.8) and 78th in treys per game (2.5).

CLIMBING THE THREE-POINT CHART: West has knocked down 110 career three-pointers in his three years with the Marauders. That places him 8th all-time on the Marauders career list. West set the school record for treys in a game when he made nine in the season opener this year at Saint Martins.

600: West cracked the 600 point barrier when he scored 14 against Northern State. He now has posted 686 career points partway through his third and senior season at U-Mary. After 68 career games, he s averaging 10 points per game. West averaged 6.7 ppg in 2007, 9.9 ppg last year, and 14.9 this season.

WILD WEST WEEK: West may have played his best three-game stretch as a Marauder last week, averaging 19.3 points per game. At North Dakota, West scored 20 points, making three treys and all five free throws. He scored 19 points against Minnesota Duluth, hitting three treys, all six free throws, and distributed four assists. In the Bemidji State win, he again added 19 points, made three treys, was 6-of-7 at the line and had five rebounds with two steals. For the week, he made 17-of-18 free throws, 9-of-20 treys, and shot 16-of-35 overall.

WESTWARD HO: Sophomore guard JASON WEST, younger brother of Geoff, moved into the starting lineup alongside Geoff in the Southwest Minnesota State game and has now started ten straight games. Jason is 12th in the NSIC in assists (2.78). Averaging 8.1 points per game, he had led U-Mary in scoring four times. One week after hitting three-point shots to force overtime in consecutive games, West continued his strong play last weekend. The sophomore guard led the Marauders in scoring both games. He and Zach Dosch both had 11 at St. Cloud State and West scored 11 points the next night at Concordia. Four times this season West has led UM in scoring.

MR. CLUTCH: In case you’ve forgotten the previous week Jason West had a week to remember. Against North Dakota, West hit a trey with 3.3 seconds left in the game to force overtime. Three days later at home against Minnesota Duluth, West did the same thing in an even more dramatic fashion. Behind the arc in front of the Marauders bench, West twisted away from his defender towards the baseline, lofted a shot high off the glass that hung on the rim before falling through the net at the buzzer to tie the game at 65. In overtime, West broke a 75-75 tie with a shot in the lane and later hit a free throw to lift U-Mary to an 80-77 win.
Courtesy University of Mary Athletic office.

Gunther Cunningham to Detroit Lions

LHS Alum to Upgrade Lion D

From Kansas City to Detroit. New Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz made his first major staff decision Wednesday, bringing in veteran assistant Gunther Cunningham as defensive coordinator.

Cunningham, a 40-year coaching veteran on the college and pro levels, was Kansas City's head coach from 1999-2000 and the Chiefs' defensive coordinator in 1995-98 and from 2004 through this past season.

Cunningham also has served as an assistant with the Raiders, Chargers and Colts in the NFL and California, Stanford, Arkansas and Oregon in the college ranks after leaving Lompoc High in the 1960's.

Schwartz and Cunningham previously worked together as assistants with the Tennessee Titans.

Cunningham willl face a task as big as Barack Obama's, to fix one of the league's worst defenses. It was a major contributor to Detroit's winless record in 2008.

Terms of his contract were not disclosed.

Ryan Church Signs One-Year Deal with Mets

CHURCH INKS $2.8 MIL PACT

Ryan Church, Lompoc High class of 1996, avoided salary arbitration Tuesday by agreeing to a $2.8 million one-year contract with the New York Mets.

Church, the Mets' starting right fielder most of the season, interrupted only by injury, earned $2 million in his first year in New York after coming over from the Washington Nationals in a trade. Church suffered a concussion in spring training and another in late May forcing him to miss 72 games. Before his injury he was among the major league leaders in doubles.

The 30-year-old Church batted .276 with 12 home runs and 49 RBI in 90 games. In 2009 he can earn an extra $150,000 in performance bonuses for remaining healthy. They pay off after 400, 450, 535 and 550 plate appearances.

Wests Rip Up Northern Sun

GEOFF and JASON WEST KEY HEART-STOPPING HOOP COMEBACKS

January 17, 2009
Bismarck, ND -- For the second consecutive night, the University of Mary pulled off a stunning comeback at home as the Marauders rallied from a 20-point second half deficit to defeat Bemidji State University 80-76 in Northern Sun men's basketball.

On Friday night, U-Mary rallied to defeat the University of Minnesota Duluth 80-77 in overtime after Jason West hit a game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime. While the Marauders didn't need anything quite as dramatic to defeat the Beavers, there were many clutch plays down the stretch.

Bemidji State led from the start, building a 28-11 lead before entering intermission up 46-31. That lead for BSU eventually bloomed to 20 points at 57-37 with 14 minutes left in the game.
Suddenly the fortunes turned and the Marauders found themselves on a 28-7 run to take a 65-64 lead when Ryan Malm hit a layup off a feed from fellow freshman UT Udo with 6:41 left in the game. It was the first lead of the night for the Marauders. During that run, Geoff West hit two treys and scored 10 points. Mark Bakkum knocked down two treys and two free throws to score eight points.

After BSU hit two free throws to regain the lead, Udo dropped in a three-pointer. Two Beaver layups pushed BSU back in front 70-68, but Jordan Wilhelm responded with a trey for a 71-70 U-Mary lead with 2:42 left. After two free throws by Jason West, BSU's Jake Lindstrom knotted the game at 73-73 on a trey with 1:37 on the clock. Then it was time for Wilhelm to take control of the game.

Wilhelm hit a layup, was fouled, and converted the three-point play at 1:09 for a 76-73 lead. With BSU looking to close the gap, Wilhelm blocked a layup attempt by Lindstrom and Danny Sandvig snagged the biggest rebound of the night with 51 ticks on the clock.

After a timeout, Jason West missed a layup but Geoff West found the rebound, was fouled and hit both shots to make the score 78-73. After Lindstrom nailed a trey with five seconds left, Wilhelm was fouled and made both of his free throws to seal the 80-76 win with four seconds remaining.

Geoff West again led the Marauders, coming off the bench to score 19 points for the second straight night. He was 3-of-6 on treys, 6-of-7 at the line and added five rebounds and two steals. Wilhelm scored 15 points, made two treys, and led all players with eight rebounds. Jason West scored 11 points and went 5-of-6 at the free throw line. Sandvig added seven rebounds and five points.

Sargeant Wins by Inches in Mammoth Turnout

Does LYDELL SARGEANT look more like Muhammad Ali or Joe Frazier?

Hard to tell, but what he unquestionably does look like is Lompoc Locker Room's People's Choice Male Athlete of the Year for 2008.

The Penn State cornerback's campaign put on a closing push that gave him 100 votes over the final 24 hours to inch past Kansas City Royal pitching prospect Danny Duffy 577-573.

Some 40 of those ballots came in in the final 90 minutes.

"I looked about 10:30 and Danny had it by 30 or so," said Dan Duffy, father of Danny, on Friday. "I looked this morning and it was as I expected-- close."

Sargeant, contacted in Dallas where he is attending the Deion Sanders cornerback camp, said he had no idea what was going on in the digital world but he felt happy and honored to be remembered in Lompoc.

Asked who was the mastermind spearheading his Obama-size electoral machine that brought him from a distant third place last weekend, he could only tick off who it was not. It was not Mom. "I don't think she knows it's going on," he said. "I only knew myself because Coach Cross said something about it."

Coach Don Cross (pictured above with Sargeant) was reached at Lompoc High but he refused to take credit. "I just follow public opinion," claimed the man who was Sargeant's head coach at Cabrillo. With his tongue planted firmly in his cheek as he laughed he said "I just mentioned it to a couple people at a basketball game that since Vai Taua was the panel's selection it would be nice to have another Cabrillo running back be the People's Choice."

Who exactly were "the couple people" that Cross was talking to? "Some of Lydell's teammates may have helped," the coach hinted.

But Cross also denied staying up late Thursday night monitoring the tally. "I have to go to work in the morning," he said, but suggested that his school-age sons may have played a surreptitious role.

Whether young Cross-men or Cabrillo alumni were pulling the strings the Sargeant forces put on a stunning campaign. To bring their man from a distant third behind Duffy and Chris White, they generated 200 votes in one weekend to vault Sargeant into a virtual tie with Duffy and far beyond the reach of White. The Detroit Tiger minor league outfielder posted more votes than last year, when he won this competition, but this year had to settle for third.

Duffy's forces operated from coast-to-coast, said Duffy Senior. "My wife's family, people at work, and my uncles back East. It was crazy. It took on a life of its own. I kept getting e-mails telling me 'Wow, I got five more that will vote every day.' It was nuts."

The total vote for the top two contenders was staggering--1150 votes cast on this race alone, not counting all the other 18 nominees or all the nominees in the other four categories.

"It really made it fun," said Duffy. "It keeps the sports pot boiling. I'm not suffering one bit of heartburn over this. It was a lot of fun."

The detailed final tally can be seen by scrolling down. In the other categories Cabrillo golfer Morgan Salm turned back closest pursuer Chelsea Cassulo for People's Choice Female Athlete of the Year. Cassulo had been picked by the Blue Ribbon panel earlier.

Coach of the Year according to the fans is Claudia Terrones of the Lompoc High basketball team after nipping the panel's choice, Jim Allen of LHS baseball.

Only the YFL Panthers, champions of the YFL Super Bowl, and the panel's pick as Team of the Year, was able to repeat in the opinion of the fans.

But all of the other categories were overshadowed by the titanic struggle put on by the Sargeant and Duffy camps.

As a result of the amazing response Lompoc Locker Room will be ordering up more polls in the future, said poll "commissioner" Mike Loney. Loney said LLR might stage a People's Choice of Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall.

"Would that be too much?" Not to Sargeant and Duffy voters.

Interviews with Sargeant, Cross and Duffy Senior will be televised Monday at 5:30 p.m. on TAP TV Channel 25.

Duffy vs. Sargeant-- Ali vs. Frazier

Duffy- Sargeant: Classic

From a light-hearted winter pastime, Lompoc Locker Room's Peoples' Choice Athlete of the Year has morphed into a classic battle.

Call it Ali vs. Frazier or A-Rod vs. Manny duelling in Home Run Derby. Or what the hay, the Williams vs. the Mannings.

Danny Duffy and Lydell Sargeant have amassed (right now at 9:46 p.m. PST Wednesday night) MORE THAN 900 VOTES as fans of the two slug it out.

Right this minute Duffy leads 462-461 but both camps have shown the ability to send avalanches of votes in a matter of hours. When the polls close wenty-six hours from now who knows... 501-500, 750-749??

Who woulda' thought? Last year Chris White won this honor with just 144 votes. We called it "colossal." If that was colossal. what is this?? Super colossal? Mammoth? Titanic? Seismic?

Whatever it is, it is unprecedented. Wow, where's Stuart Scott?

Amazing Charge by Lydell

SARGEANT FANS ARISE




Who says nobody takes this stuff seriously??


No sooner was the ink dry on Friday night's electrons than Lydell Sargeant blasted from a lagging third place spot to virtually tie Danny Duffy for first place in our People's Choice Athlete of the Year poll for 2008.

The Penn State cornerback racked up an unbelievable 200 votes in TWO DAYS to leapfrog past Detroit Tiger outfielder Chris White, last year's Peoples' Choice winner, and reach within a single vote of Duffy, the Kansas City Royals' lefthanded pitcher.

Then on Monday Duffy's fans fought back. They opened up a 33-vote lead over Sargeant 319-286 in what has become a two-man race.

Commissioner Mike The Statmeister Loney has set midnight Thursday PST to close the voting.

"Both Duffy and Lydell are fierce competitors so we would expect these two camps to be equally competitive," said the Commissioner. "It may come down to the final tally at 11:59 Thursday night."

Leads have not changed in the other three categories. Cabrillo golfer Morgan Salm leads the Female Athlete voting, Lompoc High basketball coach Claudia Terrones paces the coaches, and the YFL Panthers are running #1 among the teams of 2008.

Scroll down to cast your ballot.Voting is now closed.

Who is the 2008 Lompoc Valley Male Athlete of the Year ?
	Joe Alerta - LHS Basketball
	Corey Belluz - Hancock Football
	Masson Blow - LHS Wrestling/Track
	Ryan Church - NY Mets
	Michael Coe - Cal Track/X-C
	Corey Dotzler - Hancock Baseball
	Danny Duffy - KC Royals org
	Boo Jackson - Ohio Football
	Alex Jensen - LHS Tennis
	Robert Nooney - Chico St Decathlon
	Frank Piemme - LOST Swimming
	Dalton Rouleau - LHS Baseball
	Matt Rotondi - CHS Football
	Lydell Sargeant - Penn St Football
	Jurgen Schmidt - LOST Swimming
	Mike Slaughter - Upper Iowa Football
	Joel Smith - UW/Chaminade Basketball
	Vai Taua - Nevada Football
	Geoff West - Univ. of Mary Basketball
	Chris White - Detroit Tigers org
View Results

Web Poll from Free Website Polls

Female Athlete of the Year
	Sarah Ur - Cal Poly Water Polo
	Paty Martinez - LHS Tennis
	Julia Heath - Cal Poly Golf
	Morgan Salm - CHS Golf
	Paola Hernandez- Tsunami Aquatics
	Becca Ur - San Diego St Water Polo
	Amanda Murray - CalSt Dominguez Hills Soccer
	Jeana Carrillo - LHS Softball
	Jessica Farley - CHS Volleyball
	Chelsea Cassulo - LHS Basketball/Track
	Rachel Nelson - CHS Water Polo
	Cameron Lizarraga - LHS Volleyball/Basketball
	Roxanne Rentschler - CHS Basketball
	Jozza Ray - LHS Basketball
	Heather Fenske - San Diego St Water Polo
	Katie McIntosh - Chico St Soccer
	Katherine Nelson - UCSB Water Polo
	Other: Leave a Comment
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Free poll from Free Web Polls

Team of the Year
The Panel picked the YFL Panthers-


Who do you think should have won?

Team of the Year
	CHS Boys Swim Team
	LHS Baseball Team
	CHS Boys X-Country Team
	YFL Panthers
	CHS Girls Swim Team
	Lompoc Tsunami [swim]
	CHS Girls Water Polo
	LOST [Swim]
View Results

Free poll from Free Web Polls

And Coach of the Year was Lompoc Baseball's Jim Allen -- Your Pick ?

Coach of the Year
	Scott Alvarez - CHS Girls Swim
	Mike Sullivan- WR's, NY Giants
	Peter Anderson- CHS Boys X-C
	Frank Taitague- YFL Panthers
	Mike Maher- Roy's Boxing Gym
	Jim Allen- LHS Baseball
	Corey McIntyre- CHS Water Polo
	Claudia Terrones- LHS Girls Basketball
	Jeff Storie - Tsunami Aquatics
	Mark Haley- South Bend River Hawks
	Craig Knowles- CHS Football
	Joel Jory- CHS Boys Swim
View Results

Free web poll from Free Website Polls

Duffy Fans Refuse to Lose

Duffy Sweeping Fan Vote

Lefthanded pitcher Danny Duffy refused to lose last summer in minor league baseball for the Kansas City Royals.

Now his fans refuse to lose the Lompoc Locker Room fans poll for Peoples' Choice Athlete of the Year 2008.

By Friday night Duffy had rolled up the mind-boggling total of 222 votes to lap the field of male athletes. He had 42% of the total vote.

His closest pursuer was his adversary in the Midwest League, centerfielder Chris White of the Detroit Tiger organization. White was collecting 29% of the vote with a total of 150.

Penn State cornerback Lydell Sargeant was third with 62 votes (12%), Lompoc High wrestler Masson Blow fourth at 47 (9%), and WAC rushing leader Vai Taua fifth with just 14 votes.

Two weeks ago Taua was named Athlete of the Year by the LLR Blue Ribbon Panel with Duffy second, Sargeant third, Blow fourth and Ohio quarterback Boo Jackson fifth. White was back in the pack, but not to the devotees of The People's Choice.

The female Athlete of 2008 is also running behind. Cabrillo golfer Morgan Salm leads Lompoc High basketball/weight thrower Chelsea Cassulo 35-22 (36% to 22%) with nobody else close. Cassulo was named Athlete of the Year by the panel earlier.

The Coach of the Year category also illustrates the public vote is not in sync with the experts. Lompoc High girls basketball coach Claudia Terrones leads LHS baseball coach Jim Allen, the panel's choice, 17-10 (30% to 18%).

Only the YFL Panthers remain on top. Named by the panel they also lead the public vote 16-10 over Allen's LHS diamond squad.

Scroll down for all the results. Voting will remain open through January 15.