Don't forget that the Edge Arena Bowl is at 7 p.m. this Friday at Rabobank Arena. It's Kern County's high-flying, indoor version of a high school football all-star game, and it should be a ton of fun.

I went over to Rabobank tonight to watch a little practice and talk to a couple of the guys from each team. Competitive juices, as you might or might not expect from an all-star game, are definitely flowing.

Stockdale's Brandon Benavides told me his West squad was going to sit back and let the high-profile East squad — and its quartet of Division I-A recruits — do all the talking.

Here's how East High running back Andre Smith — who has a chance to be a D-I guy himself after a stint at BC — responded when I told him what Benavides said:

"I guess you could say we talk," he said. "We're just making it fun, though. We're making it fun for everybody. If there wasn't no talking and everybody was quiet, it wouldn't be as fun. That's going to make it more competitive, so that's what we do."

Then Smith gestured back towards Highland's Anthony Johnson, who's going to Fresno State as a receiver next year, and passed the buck.

"You know we got AJ over there, and he's the best talker. He talk everything. He talks all the time."

Wow. Definitely a couple of roles developing here. The East is the flashy, in-your-face, let's-ball team, and the West is billing itself as the smashmouth underdogs. It's an arena game, so maybe speed takes it. Then again, there could be some bone-rattlin' hits.

All-star game or not, it sounds like these guys are ready for some football.

Here are updated, final rosters for each team released by the Arena Bowl this week:

EAST

3    Emmett Hodges    Golden Valley
3    Chad Pollard    Liberty
4    Ehren Ochsenrider    Tehachapi
5    Eddie Morrow    East
6    Marcus Nelson    Bakersfield High
7    Anthony Johnson    Highland
10    Tanner Webb    North
11    Kyle Atchley    Highland
13    Peter Mitchell    Bakersfield High
20    Eric Jones    Foothill
21    Emmanuel Ojeriakhi    Bakersfield High
22    Andre Smith     East
22    Vince Van Horne    Bakersfield High
23    Deandre Wallace    Foothill
24    Randy Davenport    Foothill
34    Joey Caraballo    Arvin
44    Jacob Lanier    East
44    Alek Taliulu    Tehachapi
50    Sean Andrew    Bakersfield High
60    Francisco Cervantes    Arvin
71    Derrick Hartman    Foothill
74    Justin Owens    Highland
75    Mitchel Knoy    Bakersfield High
77    Joel Turrubiates    Bakersfield High
78    Joe Feliz    Garces
83    Justin Finch    Garces

    Coaches
    Dennis Manning   
    Mike Gregg   
    Kevin Sneed   
    Brett Clark   
    Blaise Smith
    Jim Maples

WEST

2    Allen Daniels    West
2    Preston Lopez    Centennial
3    James Hiracheta    Taft
4    Ty  Thompson    Shafter
5    Dionte Tomlin    West
5    Brock Bivens    Centennial
6    Joey Bertrand    Centennial
6    Lyndon Faagau    Taft
7    Jamestate Peterson    Bakersfield Christian
8    Josh Gallington    Bakersfield Christian
11    Spencer Kennedy    Lighthouse Christian
15    Lane Claiborne    Stockdale
17    Dalton Botts    Taft
22    Kyle Taylor    Taft
27    Gene Blair    Ridgeview
31    Tony Lenz    Frazier Mountain
44    Jose Santa Cruz    McFarland
52    Luis Diaz    Stockdale
54    Jacob Cross    Centennial
55    Rodney Miller    West
55    Cameron Shelton    Centennial
61    Andres Quintero    Centennial
63    Sam Teare    Frazier Mountain
70    Pedro Quintero    Centennial
79    Ryan Clanton    Bakersfield Christian
99    Brandon Benavides    Stockdale

    Coaches
    Steve Sprague   
    Russell Emberson   
    Brian Durkan   
    Rick Woodson   
    Shawn Cummins
    Rob Cleveland
    Mike Goodwin

The idea of league tournaments seems a bit antiquated in high school sports these days. Football, obviously, doesn't have one. But neither do volleyball, basketball, soccer, baseball or softball.

In some of those sports (I'm thinking of basketball specifiically) it would be great to have a seeded tournament among league teams. It's not really practical, because it'd take an extra week. Plus, there's no real point because all of the above sports play round-robin with every team in the league and different teams are in different divisions so it would have little impact on the section playoffs.

Still, the idea is somewhat enticing to me because of some of the great rivalries that develop during the season. Why not have one more meeting, for all the marbles?

If you agree, this week is for you. Boys golf, boys tennis, boys and girls swimming and boys and girls track and field all hold league championships this week in all three major Kern County leagues (with the exception of SSL golf, which was last week). Should be pretty cool stuff. Here's the schedule, with a comment or two included on each:

SEYL and SWYL boys golf, Tuesday at Seven Oaks Golf Course — Centennial and Stockdale is the best team race; those teams have been battling 1-2 all year long in the SWYL. It will also be interesting to see Bakersfield High's Bhavik Patel go head-to-head with Stockdale's Pete Fernandez and a couple of Centennial up-and-comers.

SSL track and field finals, Wednesday at CSUB — We know there will be one star, in Shafter thrower extraordinaire Anna Jelmini. There might be a few others who emerge as well.

SEYL and SWYL track and field, Thursday at Liberty — There will be plenty of stars out at this one. An especially cool thing about track league championships is that during the year, you rarely see a meet where every good athlete from the area is present, because the best ones will often to travel to high-profile meets out of town. That won't be the case at league.

SWYL swimming finals, Thursday at CSUB — Like track, there will be a big emphasis on individuals here. Yeah, teams want to win the league title, but some swimmers will be more concerned with shaving a few extra seconds off their times so they can qualify for the area or section meets.

SSL tennis, Thursday at Arvin — Alex Nichols from Bakersfield Christian is the big dog here, having won the section title last year. Some big-time star power again from the smaller schools.

SEYL and SWYL tennis, Thursday-Friday, SEYL at Bakersfield Racquet Club — I'm still trying to track down a location for the SWYL, believe it or not. But this is the first step for some individuals who should go far, including Stockdale's Jeremy Quiroz, who could be the best player in the section. He reached the third round of the CIF division at the vaunted Ojai Valley Tournament last weekend.

SEYL swimming finals, Friday at CSUB — Like Stockdale, Frontier and Centennial the day before in the SWYL meet, BHS, Garces and Liberty should stage a three-way battle royale for the crown in both boys and girls.

A week like this doesn't happen often — there's one in the fall and then some league wrestling in the winter — so get out and enjoy it while you can.

The kitchen sink didn't make an appearance at Liberty's baseball field Thursday, but it was about the only thing that missed the party. To explain, I'll steal a line from my game story on Liberty's 10-8 victory over Stockdale.

Tootie’s home run actually was a relatively normal play in a game that featured a little bit of everything. To wit: two fielder’s interference calls on Liberty, a catcher’s interference on Stockdale, 13 walks, 11 strikeouts, five errors, a six-run rally and a run scoring on a balk.

Tootie is Grant Sanders, the hot-hitting Liberty first baseman who had the big blow in this one, a solo home run in the sixth inning that broke an 8-8 tie.

Where'd Tootie come from? Glad you asked, because it's one of the funnier stories I've heard in a while. Sanders' initials are G. A. S., you see, and when he was little, it seems as though he had a lot of G. A. S. Someone came up with the nickname and it stuck. (You know how it goes: Beanies, beanies, the magical fruitie. The more you eat, the more you...)

Luckily, Sanders has embraced it. Everybody calls him Tootie, from his teammates to his coaches to the Liberty fans. His girlfriend? I didn't ask him that.

All funny business aside, this was a huge statement victory for Liberty. The Patriots, constantly seeking respect because they play in the weaker SEYL, now own wins over both Centennial and Stockdale (they've also lost to each team once), proving in this one they can take a hit — Stockdale scored six times in the fifth to tie the game — and keep on playing well.

It seemed to me like Liberty cared a bit more about this one than Stockdale, which is ranked No. 4 in the state by Cal Hi Sports. But that's probably unfair to say, though it sure seemed like it early on and then again late in the game.

Before today, I thought the Pats would stand by and watch Centennial or Stockdale or a Fresno-area team take the Division I title, but now I don't want to count them out. As LHS coach Tony Mills said, "On any given day, we can beat anybody."

That's some Tootie power.

In a flip-flop as absolute as could be, the CIF sent out a release today saying the Home Depot Center in Carson will continue to be the home to the state football championship bowl games for at least the next two years.

That means it won't be Bakersfield, which had filed an apparently strong bid for the bowl games.

Don't get me wrong; the Home Depot Center makes sense for the CIF because of its size, location and facilities, and I wrote as much in my blog entry discussing the various sites a couple of weeks ago. But the stadium in Carson right off the 405 freeway raised its prices on the CIF midway through the last two-year lease, and CIF brass called the cost of this bid "prohibitive."

Here's what changed: The Home Depot Center decided that it wanted the bowl games bad enough to lower costs and raise incentives. Exactly what that means is anybody's guess, but CIF communications director Emmy Zack told me today that it the Home Depot Center made some concessions in several different areas.

Too bad for Bakersfield. I thought BC's Memorial Stadium offered quite a few advantages: a central location, the community support that has made the wrestling tournament successful and a good-sized stadium.

But apparently, locker rooms and an old press box did more harm to the bid than those positives could overcome. The CIF needed four "relatively equal" locker rooms, in Zack's words, and Memorial Stadium has two off-to-the-side, older locker rooms in a separate building.

I've returned from a weekend getaway down in Orange County and have spent the day working/freaking out about everything that's about to happen. I say freaking out because (1) it's going to be a lot of work to organize and keep tabs on everything (but, hey, that's why they pay me the small bucks, right?, and (2) because this is going to be a heck of a ride.

Here's some of what's coming up in the next three weeks:

Regular-season showdowns — The big one, of course, is the Stockdale-Centennial rematch in baseball, which will be May 7 at Centennial. The Mustangs are ranked No. 4 in the latest Cal Hi Sports state poll (you need a Rivals subscription to view that), with the Golden Hawks checking in at No. 13.
But that's not the only regular-season game to keep an eye on. Centennial, Stockdale and North are in a three-way battle in SWYL softball (CHS has the clear edge right now, but things can always change), Garces and Liberty are due for a rematch in softball, and close golf battles (Liberty-BHS in SEYL, Centennial-Stockdale in SWYL, Bakersfield Christian-Tehachapi in SSL) will be decided once and for all. Also, Stockdale travels to Frontier in tennis tomorrow. The Titans can't win, I don't think, but it will be interesting to see top Stockdale player Jeremy Quiroz battle Frontier's unbeaten James Griffen.

Postseason heats up — Golf is the first to get going, with the SSL championship tomorrow at Riverlakes and the two bigger leagues duking it out at Seven Oaks next Tuesday. Tennis, swimming, baseball, softball and track will soon follow suit.

How far can they go? — Shafter's Anna Jelmini deserves a huge SHZ shout-out for her performance up in Salinas last weekend. She threw the discus 183-11, which is a phenomenal mark for anyone, let alone a high school junior. That's an Olympic B qualifying standard, which means Jelmini could go to the U.S. trials and attempt to make the Beijing Games if she so chose. It's also the fourth-best throw by a high school girl in the U.S. Ever.
The big question is, can Jelmini and Foothill's Dayshan Ragans, the top boy thrower in the state, back up their lofty marks with state championships? The road starts with the league meets at Liberty on May 1.

Bouncing off the walls — In the middle of all of this, don't forget about the Edge Arena Bowl, which is May 2 (that's a Thursday) at Rabobank Arena and pits football stars from the East and West sides of the county in an arena game. The more I think about it, the more I love this twist of your run-of-the-mill all-star game. It's going to be a ton of fun to see some of those athletes do their thing in an arena game with nothing to lose.

It's going to be fun, folks, so gear up.

Before I begin, I should tell you that this turned out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Next month, I'll take part in a meeting to help decide who'll win the Jim Tyack Award as Kern County's Most Outstanding Athlete for the past school year, male or female. I thought, with it being a bit of a slow week, we might take a look at who could be the winner this year.

I came up with a rough top five, but keep in mind I wasn't in Bakersfield until December and so might have missed a couple of worthy athletes. If that's the case, let me know below. That's part of the reason I'm doing this too.

Also — the emphasis for the Tyack Award is on excellence in multiple sports, not just one. So Stephon Carter might have been a basketball wiz at Garces, Ricky Wofford at Bakersfield High or Dayshan Ragans in track at Foothill, but they won't be considered because they don't have a second or third sport to back it up.

So here we go, my initial top five. I reserve the right to edit this list as much as I want to:

First, some honorable mention — Amanda Cady, Stockdale basketball and track; Byron Campbell, Liberty football and baseball; K.C. Hobson, Stockdale football and baseball; Sami Janzen, Bakersfield Christian volleyball and basketball; Cooper Thompson, Garces basketball and track.

5. Anthony Johnson, Highland — AJ was terrific in football, where he played nearly every offensive position, rushing for 907 yards and 10 touchdowns, catching 25 passes for 318 yards and three scores, and even passing for 136 yards and two more TDs. His numbers were equally as impressive in basketball, where he scored 21.2 points a game to go with 4.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists. He's headed to Fresno State next year on a football scholarship.
What's going to drag AJ down is that neither Highland football nor basketball finished with a winning record. Not really his fault, but winning does count for something, too.

4. Shanesha Epps, Golden Valley — She's on the list mainly because of track and field, but her secondary sport, volleyball, was pretty good too. Epps was second on a mediocre Bulldogs teams with 1.2 kills a game, and she hit a solid .298.
It's in track, though, that Epps is going to get real recognition. She is currently in the Central Section's top three marks in the 200 meters, long jump and triple jump.

3. Chris Schwartz, Foothill — This might be a bit of a cheat, because Schwartz's two sports are cross country and distance running for track, but you're not going to beat his prowess if you count that as two sports.
Schwartz won the Division I state championship in cross country and was the Californian's Runner of the Year (he was second among all divisions), and is the section leader in the 3,200 meters in track. To pair a state championship with a section title (and maybe another top-5 finish in state) would be hard to ignore.

2. Pete Mitchell, Bakersfield High — Surprising how much of an Southeast Yosemite League feel this list has to it, but the SWYL and SSL seem to have more one-sport-focused athletes.
Mitchell is the true three-sport athlete on this list, and with him recently teeing it up for the BHS golf team, you could make that four. His football accomplishments have been well-documented — quarterback for the Division I section champions, tons of passing yards, a few rushing yards and even some kicking success — he kicked the game-winning field goal in the section title game against Clovis West.
But he's not bad in his two less-publicized sports, either. He was the starting goalkeeper for the Drillers soccer team and the catcher and leadoff hitter for the baseball team (hitting .271). If Mitchell wins the Tyack, that will be the reason. But I'm not sure he's been high-profile enough in either of his last two sports to take top prize.

1. Anna Jelmini, Shafter — Hard to top Jelmini, who was the South Sequoia League player of the year in basketball (and a second-team All-Area selection) and nothing short of a superstar in track.
In hoops, Jelmini averaged 18.9 points for a better-than-average team. But her bread and butter is her throwing. She just threw a personal-record 46-1 in the shot put — the top mark in the state by more than three feet — and has an incredible 175-8 in the discus. That's the top high school mark in the nation this year and has Stockdale freshman Alex Collatz (just a freshman, by the way, with the second-best mark in the state) by more than 16 whopping feet.

A friendly reader brought it to my attention that we haven't yet done a league preview of boys golf here at School House Zach. That's a big mistake on my part, because (1) the league season is closer to finished than it is to starting, and (2) boys high school golf in Kern County is really interesting this year.

Let's start with the team picture, where there are terrific races going on in all three major leagues. Centennial and Stockdale are neck and neck in the Southwest Yosemite League, and same with Bakersfield High and Liberty in the Southeast Yosemite League and Bakersfield Christian and Tehachapi in the South Sequoia League.

That makes every mini-tournament crucial. Centennial has beaten Stockdale four of seven times so far, BHS has a 64-62 lead on Liberty in the SEYL team standings and BCHS leads Tehachapi 44-42 in the SSL.

Third in the pecking order for the different leagues are Garces in the SEYL — the Rams actually won the league's mini-tournament last week, with all three top schools withini three strokes of each other; Taft in the SSL; and a battle between Frontier, Ridgeview and North in the SWYL.

On an individual level (and let's face it, that's where the glory is in sports like golf, tennis and track), BHS' Bhavik Patel probably is the class of the area. He's averaged a 69.17 in high school play and won the L.A. City Junior Amateur Championship earlier this spring — that's a prestigious tournament where past winners include some guy you might have heard of named Tiger Woods.

Other top golfers include Pete Fernandez of Stockdale, who gets into the 60s quite often, Conner Huser from BHS, Stephen Harmer of Garces and Chris Underhill of Bakersfield Christian.

Spring isn't usually the time for big crowds and high-tension moments in high-school sports, but today at Stockdale was an exception. They had the snack bar open between the baseball and softball diamonds for the first time since anyone I talked to could remember.

It was with good reason, because both games were played in front of jam-packed stands, something pretty rare for mid-season spring games. Even the JV games going on at the same time looked like they had pretty decent crowds. That's because visiting Centennial and Stockdale are clear-cut favorites from Kern County — and maybe the entire Central Section — and this was the first time the teams met in either sport this year.

The result was a wash, if you take into account both sports. Stockdale scored seven — yep, a touchdown — in the first inning of the baseball game, even without exactly roughing up Centennial ace Jarret Martin. Martin allowed just one hit, but allowed a batter he struck out to reach on a wild pitch, hit another batter and walked three others before leaving down 3-0 and with the bases loaded. Stockdale's patience won it for them in this game.

There were some fireworks too, with Greg Osteen hitting a solo home run for the Mustangs (20-1, 3-0 SWYL) and Martin a solo and Dusty Robinson a three-run blast for the Golden Hawks (17-4, 3-1). Centennial had dug itself too big a hole for any of that to really matter, though. The final was 12-6, but the teams meet again May 7 at Centennial. Expect another slugfest there, where the wind always seems to be blowing out.

As for the softball game, it was Centennial in a bit of a surprise. I had Stockdale maybe one notch above the Golden Hawks because of how dominant MacKenzie Oakes could be in the pitcher's circle, but Centennial got to her with an RBI single from Hannah Grisham in the fifth inning. Centennial is dangerous, even to a pitcher like Oakes (who had eight strikeouts and allowed four hits) because its entire lineup can hit. It's rare in softball to have nine good hitters with no break for the pitcher.

But give a lot of credit to Ensley Gammel, too. The Centennial starter might not strike out quite as many as Oakes, but she's got good stuff too and today showed she can pitch under pressure, too. She got out of bases-loaded jams in the second and third innings without damage.

Again, those teams will meet again on May 7 — and perhaps, in one or both sports — in the Central Section playoffs.

Those who enjoy watching elite athletes in Bakersfield (and judging by attendance at Jam games, maybe there aren't too many of us) could be in for a treat. The CIF State Football Bowl Championships — now five games strong instead of three — are looking for a new home starting this December, and Memorial Stadium at Bakersfield College is one of seven candidates statewide.

And yeah, if you're questioning, there are definitely high-school players in California who are world-class. Just look at alumni lists. There will be some great players at these games.

You can read about all the CIF details in this week's prep notebook, but here on the blog I'd like to go through each of the proposed sites and talk about their likelihood of being chosen. I'll do it in order from least likely to most likely:

 Alex G. Spanos Stadium, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo

Looks like a nice place — Cal Poly's Web site calls it the "Wrigley Field of college football" — and it's obviously in a nice location, but I just don't think it's feasible. The reality is, most teams in the state championships are going to come from the Bay Area or Sacramento or from the L.A. or San Diego areas. It ain't easy to get to SLO from just about anywhere. Shoot, Bakersfield's about the closest you're going to get, and it's still a 2.5-hour drive. Plus, capacity is only 11,750 — the bowl games drew about 13,000 last year with only three games.

Aggie Stadium, UC-Davis

It'd certainly be fair for the Bay Area schools (not to mention Sacramento) to have such a short drive after making the trek to Carson for each of the bowl games' first two years, and Aggie Stadium also is the only of these seven choices to offer artificial turf, which could be a key factor in field conditions with five games played in two days.
But capacity will be a key issue here, with fewere than 10,000 fixed seats and about 3,000 berm (grass) seats. Plus, a nice press box, but not a big one, and what could be difficult accomodations for TV cameras. Probably not going to cut it.

Los Angeles Coliseum

Imagine how cool it would be to crown state champions in one of the most historic stadiums in the world — USC football, love it or hate it, has incredible tradition, the 1932 and 1984 Olympics, not to mention the Dodgers, Raiders and the World Cup have been among its tenants.
Then imagine how not cool it would be to crown those champions in front of a stadium that was maybe 1/8 full. Let's face it, the CIF isn't going to draw anywhere near the 100,000 that the Coliseum could hold, and that will ruin the atmosphere. Plus, according to CIF director of communications Emmy Zack, this is one of the two most expensive bids.

Home Depot Center, Carson

Speaking of expensive bids, we have the reason this is up for discussion anyway — yes, the Home Depot Center signed a two-year deal when the bowl games started, but you can bet your most prized pigskin that both parties would have liked to continue the relationship. The Home Depot Center isn't used much during the winter, has the right capacity and media accommodations, isn't off the beaten path, and is a nice, new place to play a game. But it raised rent for the CIF so much between the first and second years that Zack called it "prohibitive." Ouch. Doesn't sound like the CIF is a happy tenant.

And the three favorites, in no particular order ...

Spartan Stadium, San Jose State

It's a bit old, having been built in 1933 with no  renovations since the 1980s, but it would be a nice spot for the championships. TV coverage  and infrastructure wouldn't be a problem, not with D-IA games, the Women's World Cup and MLS televised there from time to time.
Of course, the MLS initially left San Jose because the stadium wasn't nice enough. And if you're not good enough for the MLS ... nah, soccer fans, I'm just kidding.

Stanford Stadium, Palo Alto

A newly renovated, 50,000-seat stadium chock-full of history — Stanford football, Super Bowl XIX, Olympic soccer and the World Cup have all been there — easy airport access, Bay Area.
There a couple of negatives I can think of. Hotels are very expensive in the area, and though Zack didn't say it, this might be one of the more expensive bids too. Still, if I had to choose a favorite, this might be it.

Memorial Stadium, Bakersfield College

The best thing Bakersfield has going for it in this argument is its location — easy to get to and about as centrally located as you're going to get. Also, the state wrestling championships have been a success at Rabobank Arena, so the CIF is comfortable with the level of community support and hotel/restaurant availablity.
But let's quickly examine this without the Central Valley-colored glasses. Every other bid is home to a major college or professional team. This is a junior college, and though Memorial Stadium is a nice place, with capacity 20,000 (and more when the Renegades need it), there could be question marks about the field's durability and accommodations for parking, traffic and media. But who knows? It's probably one of the more feasible, inexpensive bids, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if the CIF announces Bakersfield will be Titletown in December.

A decision could be made by May 1, the next time the CIF Executive Committee meets. How do you rank the choices? Would you go to a state championship game at BC even if there were no local teams involved?

You know those crazy news stories you hear sometimes — like the ones that come on at the very end of the local news or the ones we post here in our "Around the Web" feature at bakersfield.com?

It never seems like those news stories hit very close to home. Well, for some folks in Clovis, that's about to change. Clovis West has hired Gary Joe Kinne as its new football coach. (You might recall that the Golden Eagles forced out coach Marty Martin after he went 9-4-1 and lost to Bakersfield High in the Division I section title game. Martin, who has since moved on to Kerman, has filed a lawsuit against the Clovis Unified School District.)

Thing about Kinne is, he was in one of those strange news stories a few years back. Three years ago, he was shot by a disgruntled parent in his Canton (Texas) High office. Yeah, that's right, shot by a parent over a silly game. Suffered severe damage to his liver but survived.

Yeah, I'd say he's brave enough to take on the Clovis West administration that seems to so quickly move on to the next coach. Question is, what happens if he goes 8-5 next year? Keeps his job? You'd like to think so, but he'd probably just take solace if no one attacked him over it.

As a side note, Kinne's son, G.J., has announced he's transferring from the University of Texas. He spent his redshirt season there last year buried on the depth chart at quarterback. Don't be surprised to see him surface somewhere around these parts, either — and if it's Fresno State, that certainly could affect local prep quarterbacks' college choices.

Anyway, best of luck to Kinne at Clovis West. Let's hope he's only in the news for the right reasons here in California.

I had quite a chat this afternoon with Stockdale boys tennis coach Dave Hillestad, so I guess I'm now knowledgeable enough to write a preview for the three local leagues.

No, that doesn't mean that Hillestad will influence me to make this pro-Stockdale, not anymore than it already would be (considering the Mustangs are loaded). And yes, I realize it's a bit late to be "previewing" league play considering most schools have already played six league duals. But, hey, as they say, better late than never. And this will be more fun than just typing up the league standings for you to read.

We'll start in the Southeast Yosemite League, where Bakersfield High is top dog. Liberty coach Stephanie Olivier told me the other day that the Drillers were having a "dream season." It's the kind where all of your talent comes together and matures at the same time, and any departures from the previous year weren't crucial or were easily replaced. BHS has won all six of its league duals easily, including last week against Liberty and an early-season meeting with Garces.

The Rams and Patriots (no, this ain't the 2001 Super Bowl) are probably next in line in the standings, with East right there as well. Garces beat East 7-5 and Liberty beat East 8-4, so the Blades probably get fourth in the pecking order. I haven't seen a result from this week's Liberty-Garces match. Foothill, Highland and Golden Valley bring up the rear.

As for the SWYL, Stockdale beat Centennial 8-4 even though No. 1 player Jeremy Quiroz is out with a sprained ankle. That means the Mustangs are 6-0 and are well on their way to a seventh straight league title. The Golden Hawks are the second-best team in the league, and it drops off from there, with Frontier, Ridgeview, West, North and South probably the order of things.

A couple of early duals gave us the front-runner in the South Sequoia League, and not surprisingly, it was Bakersfield Christian beating Tehachapi and Taft for that honor. The Eagles remain unbeaten in the SSL, with the Warriors and Wildcats following. Taft beat Tehachapi 5-4 this week to claim second place all to its own. Wasco, Shafter and Arvin will round out the standings.

On an individual level, Quiroz, when healthy, will be the man to beat — not only in Bakersfield, but probably in the entire Central Section. He didn't attend school last year so he could participate in a tennis academy at Indian Wells. In his absence, Bakersfield Christian's Alex Nichols won the section title. Well, Quiroz already has defeated Nichols twice this season. That should tell you all you need to know, though the injury could throw a wrench into things.

First things first: An update on something I mentioned in a couple of blogs last week, wrestling's Senior Nationals tournament in Virginia Beach, Va.

The tournament is a huge deal for wrestlers as far as measuring themselves against state placers from around the country — and more important, for college scholarships. Kern County had two participants, and Edgar Diaz, Arvin's 103-pounder who took fourth in California, placed fifth at nationals to become an All-American. Bakersfield High 145-pounder Travis Rasmussen finished one win away from finishing in the top eight and with All-American status. (To be fair, Diaz's bracket had only 10 wrestlers; Rasmussen's had a whopping 72.

Now on to today's main topic: Kern County swimming and diving.

I spent Saturday getting sunburned and splashed at Bakersfield College, where Garces held its second swimming invitational. Stockdale swept the boys and girls divisions, with Garces, Bakersfield High and Liberty nipping at the Mustangs' heels for both genders.

A new powerhouse is on the rise, too, with Frontier placing in the top five for both boys and girls. The Titans have some athletes at their new school, and I'd expect them to be instantly competitive in a lot of sports once they get a senior class in there. Heck, they already are, though for some reason, their boys sports are lagging a bit.

Anyway, back to swimming. I haven't seen Centennial and don't know a whole lot about them, but I'd expect the Golden Hawks to field (can you use that term in swimming?) a strong team (I guess you wouldn't say "pool a strong team").

On the individual level, Tehachapi's Michael Halaska had a strong day Saturday and might just be the area's best swimmer. The butterfly-and-breaststroke specialist won both events at the Garces invite and is headed to USC to swim next year. Can't think of another athlete from around here going to that high-profile of a school for any sport.

We'll get to tennis and golf glances in the next week or so.

Just got off the phone with Doug Barnett, the athletic director and football coach at Bakersfield Christian, and he told me that Derek Carr has been accepted at BCHS and plans to enroll in the fall semester. For the few who don't know, Carr is the younger brother of David Carr, a Stockdale and Fresno State standout who became the NFL's top draft pick in 2002. He currently plays for the New York Giants.

As for Derek, he'll be a senior for the Eagles next fall and will join a BCHS team that already returns its nucleus from last year's Division V Central Section champions. That includes Jake Peterson, a mobile quarterback who threw for 2,325 yards and ran for 550 more. Carr, more of a pro-style QB, threw for 1,622 yards and 16 touchdowns for Clements High School in Sugar Land, Texas.

That could create a slight quarterback controversy at Bakersfield Christian, though Peterson is more versatile (he was a great receiver as a sophomore) and so I'd guess he'll move before Carr would.

"It's a great, great problem to have," Barnett said. "Jake's already established he can play receiver and do a great job at receiver."

Either way, this is exciting news for Bakersfield football fans. Carr, though he's gone relatively unnoticed thus far, should be one of the nation's top QB recruits by the end of next season. This ESPN link (I believe you have be an "Insider" to get it to work) says his college choices right now are Utah, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, and (surprise!) Fresno State.

In other news, in case you missed it, All-Area basketball teams were released Sunday. Garces wing Stephon Carter is the boys Player of the Year, to no one's surprise, and Melissa Sweat, a super Stockdale sophomore, is girls POY. Congratulations to them both.