chaminade

The Zion Phelps story is going to be told over and over at Loyola High to show students what can happen when someone discovers potential and decides to take a chance to bring it out.

In his first year running track after bragging during the football season that he was the fastest student at Loyola, Phelps proved on Thursday he’s also the fastest 100-meter runner in the Mission League by winning in a school-record time of 10.49 seconds at the Mission League finals at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.

“I’m beyond grateful,” he said after embracing Loyola coach Sharaud Moore.

A junior defensive back, Phelps let Moore bring out his track talent, and now he has options in track and football.

Loyola’s Ejam Johannes offers the “shoosh” sign after anchoring the winning 4×100 relay team. He also won the Mission League 400 and 200 titles.

(Craig Weston)

Another Loyola athlete stepping forward in preparation for next weekend’s Southern Section Division 1 prelims was Ejam Yohannes. He ran anchor leg for the 4×100-meter relay team that beat Notre Dame for the first time in three years with a time of 40.75. At the finish, he put a finger over his lips and gave a “shoosh” sign. He also won the 400 meters in 47.05 and the 200 meters in 20.85, the fourth-best wind legal time in the state this year.

Notre Dame’s JJ Harel qualified in three events — going 6 feet, 10 inches in the high jump, 22-5¼ in the long jump and also qualifying in the triple jump.

The strangest moment of the day came in the Mission League 100 girls’ final. Nalia Keyes of Chaminade and Maya Rios of Bishop Alemany tied for first place, each finishing with a time of 12.46.

“It’s weird,” Rios said of her first ever race tie.

In the Marmonte League final, Demare Dezeurn of Westlake ran the 100 meters in 10.39 seconds to outduel Jaden Griffin of Newbury Park (10.50) and Kingston Celifie of Calabasas (10.56). Dezeurn played football for Palisades in the fall after transferring from Bishop Alemany last season.

Baseball

Sylmar 10, Kennedy 0: Rickee Luevano hit a grand slam for Sylmar.

Westlake 10, Newbury Park 3: Dylan Lee homered and Holden Backus had two hits and three RBIs.

Bishop Amat 3, La Serna 2: Ray Castro threw six innings and also had an RBI single.

Temecula Valley 3, Vista Murrieta 1: Grayson Martin gave up one hit and struck out seven in six innings.

Oaks Christian 17, Calabasas 8: Ryan Sheffer hit two home runs and finished with four RBIs.

Softball

Garden Grove Pacifica 4, Cypress 1: Jenna Valladares had an RBI triple and Shay Kletke threw a complete game.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 16, Louisville 0: Jackie Morales had three hits and six RBIs.

Harvard-Westlake 14, Chaminade 11: It was a wild Mission League game that ended on a walk-off grand slam by Kale’a Tindal in the bottom of the ninth inning. Chaminade scored five runs in the seventh to tie the score 9-9. Both teams scored runs in the eighth to make it 10-10. Chaminade took an 11-10 lead in the top of the ninth on an RBI single by Siena Greenlinger. Tindal finished with four hits and four RBIs. Dylan Fischer had a home run, two doubles, a single and four RBIs.

Murrieta Mesa 8, Great Oak 0: Tatum Wolff threw six innings, striking out 10 and walking none. She also hit a home run.

The Suppan name is well known in West Hills. Jeff Suppan was a superstar at Westhills Pony Baseball before moving on to Crespi and having a 17-year career in MLB. His sister, Karen, was once the girls’ volleyball coach at Chaminade. Brother Mike has been a longtime teacher at Chaminade. Jeff still helps at Westhills Pony Baseball.

Now there’s a new Suppan making a name for herself. Jeff’s daughter, Finley, is the star pitcher as a sophomore for Chaminade (10-2-1).

Asked about her father’s contributions, Finley said, “He’s helped me a lot. We’ve had many car rides together. He told me a lot about the mental side of softball. Also how important it is to just focus one pitch at a time as a pitcher and to control the controllable.”

Dad is learning it’s much harder to watch his daughter pitch than pitch himself.

“I have to admit I don’t know how my parents and my family watched me pitch for all those years,” Jeff said. “I guess that’s why my mom always kept score and now I do to.”

Finley’s complete interview will be on Thursday’s edition of Friday Night Live at 5 p.m. via X at LATSondheimer.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

A look at the top 20 high school softball teams in the Southland; as ranked by CalHiSports.com for The Times.

Rk. School; Record; Last ranking

1. Murrieta Mesa; 16-0; 1

2. Fullerton; 11-1; 4

3. Norco; 9-2; 3

4. JSerra 14-2; 2

5. La Mirada 12-2; 6

6. Oaks Christian; 12-1; 5

7. Orange Lutheran 5-3; 7

8. Etiwanda; 14-1; 11

9. Riverside King; 10-2; 20

10. Chino Hills; 13-4; NR

11. Chaminade; 10-1; NR

12. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame; 11-3; 8

13. El Modena; 7-4; 19

14. La Habra; 12-3; 18

15. Temescal Canyon; 8-4; 12

16. Long Beach Poly; 5-0; 16

17. Los Altos; 7-5; NR

18. Garden Grove Pacifica; 10-5; 9

19. Westlake; 10-2; NR

20. Anaheim Canyon; 8-4,10

For Nareg Kopooshian, the basketball coach at AGBU High in Canoga Park, there’s a big summer ahead. He’s going to be the head coach for the U16 Armenian national team in the FIBA U16 EuroBasket competition July 4-12 in Yerevan.

It’s the first time Armenia is hosting the event.

Los Angeles has the largest Armenian community in the United States with as many as 700,000 people.

Players selected for the training camp in Armenia include Anthony Sarkesian (Chaminade), Anthony Karayan (Village Christian), Ethan Kazanjian (AGBU), Edward Gemjian (La Canada) and Jivan Dorian (AGBU).

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

Perhaps Chaminade’s softball team should no longer be considered a surprise for its 7-0 start overall and 1-0 mark in the Mission League.

Its 7-6 win over defending Mission League champion Sherman Oaks Notre Dame on Thursday featured a five-run seventh inning that should get everyone’s attention. Notre Dame went 8-0 in league play last season. Casey Glantz hit a two-run go-ahead home run.

Chaminade has featured sophomore pitcher Finley Suppan, the daughter of former major leaguer Jeff Supan. She’s 6-0 with a 1.15 ERA. She had a strikeout to end the game. The Eagles are flourishing under coach Cory Skinner.

Garden Grove Pacifica 4, Anaheim Canyon 1: Shay Kletke hit a home run and also pitched four innings.

Thousand Oaks 9, Granada Hills 4: Zoe Justman had three hits for Granada Hills.

Los Alamitos 6, Huntington Beach 5: A home run by Erin Denny on a 3-and-2 count in the top of the ninth inning broke a 5-5 tie and lifted the Griffins to victory.

Baseball

Sun Valley Poly 11, Sylmar 9: The Parrots improved to 3-0 in the Valley Mission League with a huge win over preseason favorite Sylmar.

Etiwanda 2, Foothill 0: Four Etiwanda pitchers combined on a three-hit shutout. Foothill had recorded shutout wins in four of its last five games. James Milam had two doubles.

La Mirada 7, Aliso Niguel 1: Blake Barberena had two hits and two RBIs.

Santa Monica 8, Calabasas 4: Jaxson Ehlers went four for four to lead Santa Monica.