Krayzelburg Sets American Record, Wins National Title

Lenny Krayzelburg of Studio City broke his American record while winning the 200-meter backstroke in the Phillips 66 U.S. National Summer Championships on Saturday at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Krayzelburg, a USC graduate competing for the Trojan Swim Club, won the race in 1:56.68, bettering his mark of 1:56.95, set at the Phillips 66 U.S. National Spring Championships in March.

The 1998 world champion in the event, Krayzelburg missed Martin Zubero’s world record of 1:56.57 but captured his ninth national title.

Kristine Quance-Julian, a Granada Hills High graduate competing for the Trojan Swim Club, finished second in the 200-meter butterfly in 2:12.75.

BASEBALL

* Valley Chatsworth will begin play in the American Legion Region 8 baseball tournament on Thursday at 5 p.m. against Nevada at Nevada Las Vegas.

The winner of the eight-team regional will advance to the American Legion World Series in Bristol, Conn., which begins Aug. 18.

The regional, which runs through Aug. 16, features two four-team brackets.

Valley Chatsworth (27-4), runner-up to Danville last week in the California state tournament, will play Hawaii on Friday and Arizona on Saturday in round-robin play.

The top two teams from each bracket will advance to the semifinals next Sunday, with the championship to be played Aug. 16.

* Chris Cordeiro pitched an eight-hitter with 11 strikeouts to help Thousand Oaks open the American Legion 17-and-under state playoffs Saturday with a 7-3 victory over Concord at Veteran’s Home in Yountville.

Cordeiro (6-0) gave up only one hit for extra bases and walked one.

Ryan Fitzgerald had three hits and drove in three runs for Thousand Oaks (27-2). Adam Leavitt had two doubles and drove in a run and Greg Simonetti hit his first home run.

FOOTBALL

* Ron Ponciano, fired July 16 as coach at Cal State Northridge, has accepted a job at McPherson College in Kansas, an NAIA school, where he will be the defensive coordinator.

Ponciano, who began his college coaching career in 1984 at Azusa Pacific, where he was an NAIA All-American, begins his new job Aug. 29.

“I consider myself very fortunate to get a coaching position, let alone a coordinator’s job,” said Ponciano, who plans to keep his options open after the season. “You never know how things will work out.”

TENNIS

* Garrett Wong of Thousand Oaks defeated Joel Kielbowicz of Henderson, Nev., 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, in the boys’ 16 division at the National Hardcourt Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich.

Lester Cook of Calabasas beat Jeffrey Lusk of Shreveport, La., 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 6-3.

Philip Sheng of Thousand Oaks and Nick Weiss of Calabasas advanced in the boys’ 18 doubles with a 7-6 (12-10), 3-6, 6-4 victory over fifth-seeded Mardy Fish of Vero Beach, Fla., and Bo Hodge of Athens, Ga.

Sixth-seeded Travis Rettenmaier of Camarillo and Alex Bogomolov of Miami, Fla., defeated Quinn Borchard of Camarillo and Paul Warkentin of Santa Barbara, 6-0, 6-0.

Andrew Rosenfeld of Harvard-Westlake High and Zoran Korac of San Marino beat Geoffrey Boyd of Tucker, Ga., and Amit Taggar of Martinez, Ga., 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Greg Archer of Beachwood, N.J., and Brandon Tung of Pittsburgh defeated Adam Zunder of Encino and Amir Marandy of Woodland Hills, 6-4, 7-6 (7-0).

DIVING

* Josh Joffred of Thousand Oaks placed seventh in the boys’ 13-and-under three-meter springboard competition at the Speedo Junior Olympic National Championships on Saturday at the YMCA Aquatics Center in Orlando, Fla.

Joffred scored 240.90 points.