The High Schools : Charm-Filled Coconuts Kept Kennedy Rolling

In a battle of extremely unofficial 4-A Division good-luck charms last week, can chalk up one for Kennedy.

The Golden Cougars traditionally hang a pair of coconuts from the dugout wall at games. Thursday night at Dodger Stadium, the coconuts were sitting atop the third-base dugout as Kennedy beat Palisades, 4-3, for the City Section title.

Hart brought its pair of good-luck horseshoes to Saturday’s Southern Section final with Cerritos, and Coach Bud Murray hung them on the third-base dugout railing as soon as the team took the field for warm-ups.

Yet despite using the same dugout and a similar superstitious theme as their City counterparts, Hart lost, 4-1.

Horseshoes, of course, are easy to understand.

But coconuts? Don’t ask.

More goals ahead: Morgan Bateman of Crescenta Valley reached one of his preseason goals when he placed third in the boys’ 800 meters at the state track and field championships Saturday.

But the senior will travel to Hughes Stadium in Sacramento for the Golden West Invitational on Saturday in quest of another goal--a breakthrough time in the 800.

Having run 1 minute, 53.94 seconds in the event as a sophomore and 1:52.66 as a junior, Bateman thought he was capable of running “at least under 1:52” this season. His best so far, however, is 1:52.37, which placed him third in the Southern Section 4-A Division championships.

“It’s been a satisfying year in that I qualified for the state championships for the third year in a row and placed in the top three,” said Bateman. “But I am a little disappointed that I haven’t had that big breakthrough race yet.”

Bateman hopes that the Golden West meet--which features some of the nation’s top seniors--will be that race.

Staff writers Steve Elling and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.

BASEBALL TOP 10

FINAL

Selected by sportswriters of The Times

Rk Team League Record 1 Kennedy North Valley 22-7 2 Saugus Golden 23-5-2 3 Hart Foothill 23-7 4 Simi Valley Marmonte 23-4 5 Chatsworth West Valley 21-7 6 Sylmar East Valley 19-4 7 Notre Dame S.F. Valley 25-6 8 San Fernando North Valley 16-7-1 9 Grant East Valley 16-5 10 Newbury Park Marmonte 19-5-3