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SoCal High School Preview & News

Montclair: State 5AA Champs?:
Sondheimer Selects as Top 10 Preseason--(November 2, 1997)

Eric Sondheimer's column in the Times this morning picked Montclair Prep (Van Nuys, CA) as one of the top 10 teams in "the region". Presumably this means Southern California, although it's somewhat unclear, given that until a few weeks ago, when Sondheimer moved over to the Times from the Daily News, he only really covered the San Fernando Valley. We've seen this team and would certainly have to agree that it's one of the best in the LA area, and possibly in SoCal. Man for man, they can go against most of the better teams in SoCal, even teams from much bigger enrollment schools. S

Sondheimer also picked the Montclair Mounties to finish first in their Division (5 AA) in the State Championship this year, so I guess in addition to being within the Top 10 in the Region, they would be within the top 10 in the State (counting all 5 divisions in CIF). I don't know if he really intended such a conclusion, and maybe there are a few Division 1 or 2 schools who are better, but we think Montclair could go up against any of them and do pretty well.

Sondheimer's blurb also gave props to senior point guard Rocky Steryo (who's being recruited by some WAC and WCC schools) and Jed Hall, although Sondheimer says he's only 6'-7" and we think he's a legitimate 6'-8". This summer, Hall reportedly hammered Raphael Berumen of Simi who's an inch taller at 6'9", and being heavily recruited by a lot of Pac-10 schools; Berumen is clearly taller, but didn't look a whole lot bigger than Hall when they matched up.

Also as we reported last week, Ben Braun was at Montclair visiting Hall, and Hall also visited USC, and has some other visits set up. However, we bet that he probably won't sign until the spring. Unless. . .

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