Kim captures junior girls golf title with big comeback
Abigail Kim of Santa Barbara rallied past Emily Gonzalez of Calabasas by one stroke to capture the girls 11-to-14 age division at the 46th Annual Ventura City Junior Golf Championships at Olivas Links.
Kim, who trailed by five strokes after the first round, fired a 74 in the second round for a 36-hole total of 152.
Theodore Vigna was second in the boys 11-14 age division with rounds of 76 and 71 for a 148.
Leo Metzer of San Marcos High School shot a 68 – the best score of the second round — to tie for fourth in the boys championship division with an even-par-144.
Shams Janhangir-Arshad tied for 10th (73-75—148), Callaway Winans of Solvang tied for 26th (83-73—156), and Jeffrey Foster tied for 41st (79-84—163).
In the girls championship division, Elizabeth Goss placed seventh (82-82—164).
— Mark Patton
Warriors honored as Champions of Character
Westmont College has been named by the NAIA as a Champions of Character Five-Star Award winner.
The local Christian college was identified as one of 112 NAIA schools to earn gold status — the top honor — by receiving a rating of 97 on a 0-to-100 scale.
According to the NAIA website, “Institutions are measured on a demonstrated commitment to Champions of Character and earned points in character training, conduct in competition, academic focus, character recognition and character promotion. Institutions earned points based on exceptional student-athlete grade point averages and by having minimal to no ejections during competition throughout the course of the academic year.”
Westmont had 12 of its athletic programs named NAIA Scholar Teams for accumulating a team grade-point average of at least 3.0 during the 2019-20 academic year. Fifty-two Warriors received NAIA Scholar-Athlete recognition for being a rising junior or older and possessing a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.50.
— Mark Patton
Westmont tees off fall sports competition
The 2020-21 sports season began for Westmont College with Tuesday’s completion of the Vanguard Golf Invitational, a 54-hole tournament at the Bella Collina Golf Course in San Clemente.
The Warriors’ Kat Bevill shot a two-over-par 74 in the final round and tied for fifth in the women’s individual standings with a three-round total of 230.
“Kat shot the lowest round in her college career,” Westmont coach Tom Knecht said. “She has always been good, but her game this year has vastly improved over her first year.
“Kat has always hit the ball a long ways — she is one of the longest players in the NAIA. Over the off-season, she has taken her game to a whole new level … Her short game has been spot-on and she is making her way around the course a whole lot better.”
Westmont’s men placed fourth as a team behind freshmen Mason Mancasola, who was eighth individually (76-75-73—224), and Jared Tran, who tied for 21st (80-82-74—236).
— Mark Patton
Nuggets take Game 3
The Denver Nuggets won their first game of the Western Conference finals Tuesday night, defeating the Lakers 114-106 in Orlando.
The Lakers, who lead the best-of-seven series 2-1, were trailing by double digits throughout the second half before going on a 19-2 run to draw within three points with six minutes left.
Denver’s Jamal Murray made the plays when his team needed it most, notching a fancy assist for a layup and two deep 3-pointers to close out the game. His bomb with 53 seconds left pushed the Nuggets to a 12-point lead.
LeBron James scored 30 points for the Lakers and notched his 26th career playoff triple double, finishing with 11 assists and 10 rebounds. He trails on Magic Johnson (30) for most triple doubles in NBA playoff history.
Anthony Davis added 27 points and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 12.
Murray finished with 29 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds. Jerami Grant added 25 points, while Denver’s Nikola Jokic finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
Game 4 is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday on TNT.
— Mitchell White
