DON McDERMOTT MORE COLUMNS DON McDERMOTT / PVT The annual junior golf clinic was held Tuesday and Wednesday at Mountain Falls, with more than 90 boys and girls, ages 7 to 18, participating. DON McDERMOTT / PVT The Pahrump Valley High School football team, under the direction of Leo Verzilli, is an ongoing event this summer, running from 5:30 p.m. til 7 Mondays through Thursdays each week until further notice. Advertisement

Notes on disa and data, from off the top of my head ... and other strange places ...

The 13th annual Pahrump Valley Open Inferno, a tournament designed for golfers with nothing to do but sweat on the 4th of July, is rapidly approaching.

That's two weeks from today and will be played at the Lake View Executive course, a par 58, 3,500-yard course off Mt. Charleston.

The entry fee for this individual medal-play event is $30, with the Pahrump Youth Golf Founders Club benefitting.

Competition divisions are men's, women's and seniors.

Make checks payable to the Pahrump Valley Open Inferno and mail to 2440 S. River Plate, Pahrump, NV, 89048.

Entries can also be dropped off at Worden's Insurance or mailed to that River Plate address.

The tournament is sponsored by Worden's Insurance, Ace Hardware, Floyd's Construction, Century 21 Aaimheigh and the Pahrump Valley Times.

One of the golf programs directed by the Founders Club is the annual clinic, held Tuesday and Wednesday this week at Mountain Falls. More than 90 boys and girls ages 7 to 18 participated in the clinic, which is required if a youngster wants to compete in Pahrump Valley Junior Golf Association clinics.

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Pahrump Valley high school football players are already preparing for the 2008 season ... the hard way.

Anywhere from 20 to 40 boys a day are in the PVHS weight room, participating in weight lifting, under the direction of coach Leo Verzilli and his assistants.

"We told them that we would not open up the room (at 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays) if no one showed up," said Verzilli. "We have had as many as 40 and as few as 20 here ... most days 30 to 35 show up."

Preseason workouts begin officially Aug. 14. Verzilli would like to see every eligible boy have his paper work and physical examinations completed well in advance of that day. Registration and exmination forms will be available July 1 at the high school.

For those prospects who have been on vacation since classes ended in late May, the weightlifting sessions are from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and will continue throughout the preseason at times to be announced.

The 2008 season begins Sept. 5, with the Trojans at home against a new Las Vegas team representing Desert Oasis high school. The Trojans play at Faith Lutheran Sept. 12, then launch their first Sunset Region Southwest Division Class 4-A campaign Sept. 19 at Bonanza.

Other home games are Sept. 26 vs. Western, Oct. 10 vs. Clark, Oct. 17 vs. Spring Valley and Oct. 30 vs. Sierra Vista.

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The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association is going to have to rethink its realignment process.

In the 2009-2010 school year, only 10 Class 3-A high schools will remain. Wednesday, the NIAA approved Faith Lutheran's application to move up from 3-A to 4-A. Which means the Southern 3-A League will have only three members remaining -- Boulder City, Mesquite Virgin Valley and Overton Moapa Valley.

In comparison, there will be 48 schools in 4-A, 18 in 2-A and 28 in 2-A in the 2009-2010 school year.

To quote a good friend with a great deal of common sense, "That ain't right."

Why the NIAA would allow such a disaster to befall the Class 3-A schools is beyond comprehension. Officials need to explain their reasoning. If it's simply because the numbers dictate such a realignment formula, the NIAA hierarchy has to reconsider its numbers.

The NIAA also ruled that in the 2008-2009 girls soccer season, the Northern League 4-A playoff winner will be considered the state champion.

Southern 4-A teams that play in the winter cannot play for either league or state championships. Girls soccer will be considered a club sport in winter 2008-2009.

Pahrump Valley's Lady Trojans are playing a Southern 3-A slate this fall, but what their status will be for post-season games was not available at press time.

Practice for boys and girls soccer, girls golf, volleyball and boys and girls cross country begins Aug. 18 for all Nevada schools.

Just a thought ... it would be terrific if PVHS had an athletics director before July 1, when the paper chase begins for its athletes. (And Larry Goins lives in Pahrump already ... there are no moving costs involved...) We couldn't resist noting that...with no apologies.

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Dominique Maloy made CBS's telecast of the NCAA Division I Women's Track and Field Championships Saturday, at Des Moines, Iowa.

The Pahrump Valley High School product, a freshman at Arizona State University, was the leadoff runner for the Sun Devils' 4x400-meter relay team that needed to finish at least second to insure a second straight national title for the school.

Maloy looked strong in her 400, handing off to a teammate with ASU still in contention. But when the race ended, Penn State had won and LSU was second, meaning the Bayou Tigers had won the national championship and ASU was relegated to a second-place finish.

Maloy won 15 individual Class 3-A titles as a runner for PVHS teams in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. Watching her compete on national TV was exciting; it's just too bad the commentators couldn't provide more time to talk about her singular accomplishments in high school and how well Dominique, a freshman, was doing at ASU.