Sam Marcus was back where it all began on Tuesday to announce the next chapter of his basketball career.

Sitting at a table next to three of his former coaches and with his family and numerous former teammates in attendance inside the Bakersfield United Gym, the recent Liberty graduate signed a ceremonial letter of intent with Cal State Stanislaus.

Tyler Painton, The Californian's All-Area Baseball Player of the Year after an outstanding senior season at Centennial High, has signed a letter of intent to play baseball at the University of San Diego.

Painton, a left-handed pitcher, was selected in the 13th round of the first-year player draft by the Toronto Blue Jays and has until Aug. 16 to sign a professional contract.

Bakersfield High wrestler Coleman Hammond reached the USA Wrestling Cadet National Freestyle Championship this week in Fargo, N.D., before losing a tight match to Pennsylvania's Chance Marsteller in Friday's title match at 145 pounds.

Hammond was 7-0 in the round-robin stage of the tournament with a pin and three technical falls before losing 0-6, 5-0, 6-0 in the final. The cadet division consists of high schoolers who have been freshmen or sophomores.

Cal Hi Sports gave Centennial's Cody Kessler one of its highest honors Wednesday, naming him the state's Division I boys Athlete of the Year for his junior campaign.

Kessler led the Golden Hawks to the Central Section Division I title game in football, throwing for 2,169 yards and 10 touchdowns and running for 290 yards and 8 TDs despite missing three games with an ankle injury.

Sixteen high school boys teams will compete Saturday in more than 12 hours of basketball during the Chevron Academic Summer Breeze Varsity Tournament at Cal State Bakersfield's Icardo Center.

The tournament, which used a two-day format in the past, has been compressed into a one-day event with 27 games.

The Vision Zone Volleyball Club won the U15 bracket at the Junior National Championships in Reno, Nev., this week with a roster made up entirely of local players.

Vision Zone went 11-0 in a 48-team pool, beating Southern California's Club West 25-18, 23-25, 15-6 in the championship.

The irony isn't lost on Matt Darr.

The Frontier graduate and nation's No. 1 high school punter, according to Scout.com, confirmed Wednesday he is now going to Tennessee, a year after he verbally committed to Southern Cal and about five months after he signed a letter of intent to play for Fresno State.

Shafter High graduate Anna Jelmini and Taft High graduate Billy Nelson posted top-five finishes in the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.

Jelmini, of Arizona State, placed fifth in the discus (191 feet 10 inches) and 13th in the shot put (52-91/2). Nelson, formerly of the University of Colorado and now with the Oregon Track Club, was fifth in the 3,000 steeplechase (8 minutes, 35.17 seconds).

BASEBALL

Southwest Yosemite League

Former West High and Bakersfield College baseball player Corey Davisson signed a free-agent contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend.

Davisson spent the last three years pitching at Evansville (Ind.) University after catching at BC as a freshman. He was 9-1 with a save and a 3.95 ERA as a senior at Evansville.

The nation still is taking note of Frontier graduate Matt Darr.

MaxPreps named the Fresno State-bound Darr a finalist for its Athlete of the Year award this week, noting his success in football, in which he was ranked as the nation's No. 1 punter, and track and field, in which he won a combined three state championships in shot put and discus.

Three of Bakersfield's finest girls soccer players and a local coach will be part of a Southern California contingent in Albuquerque, N.M., later this month for one of the country's biggest club soccer tournaments.

Frontier senior-to-be Cami Privett has led her 17-and-younger Real SoCal team to the Far West Regional IV tournament of the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championship Series. Stockdale graduate Erica Shelton and Bakersfield grad Nikki Storslett qualified last fall with the club's 18-and-younger team.

LOS ANGELES -- The NCAA threw the book at the storied USC football program Thursday with a two-year bowl ban, four years' probation, loss of scholarships and forfeits of an entire year's games for improper benefits to Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush dating to the Trojans' 2004 national championship.

USC was penalized for a lack of institutional control in the ruling by the NCAA following its four-year investigation. The report cited numerous improper benefits for Bush and former basketball player O.J. Mayo, who spent just one year with the Trojans.

Three more players with local ties were taken Wednesday during the final day of the Major League Baseball draft, bringing the city's total to seven.

The Texas Rangers -- whose Class A team is the Blaze -- took Cal State Bakersfield senior Jason Kudlock in the 36th round, with the 1,096th overall pick. Kudlock pitched and played infield for the Roadrunners but was listed as an outfielder when Texas selected him. Kudlock is from Chandler, Ariz.

Of all the teams in Major League Baseball, here's one you might least expect to establish a Bakersfied pipeline: The Toronto Blue Jays.

And yet, for the second straight year, it's Toronto that selects the first local player in the MLB Draft. This year, it was Centennial senior pitcher Tyler Painton, taken Tuesday in the 13th round.

Kern County could see as many as 10 local sons picked in this week's Major League Baseball Draft.

Or all could be staying home.

It's the home stadium of his father's team. But Friday night Tyler Painton turned Gerry Collis Field into his house.

The Centennial left-hander pitched four solid innings and reached base six times in leading the Southwest Yosemite League to a 14-4 victory over the Southeast Yosemite League in the Senior All-Star baseball game at Bakersfield College.

CLOVIS -- It's against his nature, but Ridgeview junior Johnny Carter is learning -- for now -- how to be a silver-medal kind of a guy.

Carter, who came into Saturday's CIF State Track and Field Championships with the state-leading marks in the long jump and triple jump, took second in each event at Veterans Memorial Stadium in front of a crowd of 9,572 for a two-day meet total of 17,358.

CLOVIS -- Matt Darr was the defending state shot put champion, by golly, and he wasn't about to let people forget it.

So he came out with the series of his life, winning his second state title in the shot put Saturday in the CIF State Track and Field Championships at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

CLOVIS -- Alex Collatz is just 16, and already she's had a throwing career that's taken her to Italy, around the United States and to the top of best-mark lists everywhere.

What she didn't have, until Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium, was a California state championship.