Bussey, Leading 400 Runner in the State, Declared Ineligible

Senior Blaine Bussey of Taft High, the fastest 400-meter sprinter in the state last year, has been declared academically ineligible and will miss at least the first half of the season, Taft Principal Myra Fullerton said Thursday.

Bussey won the City Section title and placed third in the state championships last year before clocking a state-leading 47.20 to finish third in the Junior Olympics last summer.

Bussey could regain his athletic eligibility in late April if he raises his grade-point average to 2.0 or higher at the mid-semester mark.

Sophomore Schquay Brignac of Cleveland High, defending City champion in the girls’ high jump, is academically ineligible.

Junior Jayda Bailey, defending City champion in the girls’ 400, has withdrawn from El Camino Real High after being declared academically ineligible. Bailey won the City title in the 400 for Taft last year..

Sophomore Jason Lovell, the No. 3 returning 400 sprinter in the region with a career-best 49.2 as a freshman at Cleveland, has been expelled from Taft for disciplinary reasons, Athletic Director Jim Woodard said.

BOXING

Heavyweight Lance Whitaker of Granada Hills will fight Lou Savarese in a 10-round bout Saturday in Atlantic City, N.J. The bout is on the undercard of the David Reid-Laurent Boudouani World Boxing Assn. super-welterweight title fight and will be televised by HBO.

Whitaker, 18-0 with 16 knockouts, is coming off a seventh-round knockout of Alex Stewart in Las Vegas in January. Savarese is 38-2 with 32 knockouts.

BASKETBALL

David Enowitz, boys’ basketball coach at Reseda High for the last five seasons, has resigned.

Enowitz said he will probably take some time off from coaching, but eventually hopes to find a position outside the Valley region.