There’s a trade taking place in City Section sports. Sun Valley Poly, North Hollywood and Chavez will leave the East Valley League this fall and move to the Valley Mission League for all sports. They will exchange places with three teams moving from the Valley Mission League to the East Valley League — Panorama, Monroe and Reseda.
The City Section Board of Managers is expected to approve the realignment at its next meeting. The new league alignments will be Arleta, Grant, Monroe, Panorama, Reseda and Verdugo Hills in the East Valley and Canoga Park, Chavez, Kennedy, North Hollywood, Poly, San Fernando and Sylmar in Valley Mission.
At Tuesday’s City Section Executive Committee meeting, it was revealed that Pasadena City College is the likely site for the City Section Open Division semifinals and finals in boys’ and girls’ basketball on Feb. 18 and Feb. 25, pending approval of an insurance requirement. Roybal, part of the Los Angeles Unified School District, refused to make its site available.
The same situation with Roybal happened last year until intervention by LAUSD. This time the City Section has decided to move on. Just last month, LAUSD invited actor George Clooney to Roybal to show off a new specialized academy at the school.
When Roybal opened in 2008, its gym was built larger than most in LAUSD with the commitment others could use it for athletic events. The City Section wanted Roybal to host wrestling championships but that was also rejected.
In other news, the Executive Committee voted to recommend approving girls’ flag football as a new sport for this fall. The Board of Managers are expected to give approval at its meeting, and then it will be up to the CIF State Federated Council for final approval on Feb. 2.
The Animo Jackie Robinson eight-man football team is facing sanctions from a playoff incident last fall in which the school refused to tell officials the name of its coach.
The City Section is considering changes to the way it seeds teams for its football playoffs after what commissioner Vicky Lagos called a “barrage of complaints from coaches and schools.” The City Section has primarily seeded teams based on rankings from CalPreps.com. Any adjustments will be up to the Games Committee, in consultation with a football advisory committee, to decide.
In other news:
—The girls’ water polo finals will be held Feb. 16 at Valley College.
—The soccer finals will be held at Valley College and Birmingham High.
—The site for the wrestling finals has yet to be determined, with Venice and San Fernando under consideration.
