OPHS lacrosse likely to join CIF

This Tuesday night Oak Park High's lacrosse team may finally be granted its wish to join the CIF.

According to OPHS athletic director Dick Billingsley, the Oak Park Unified School District will most likely approve a vote on Tuesday for the lacrosse team to be granted CIF eligibility for the spring of 2008.

Oak Park previously was a member of the Southern California Lacrosse Association.

"We're very excited about this," Billingsley said. "Lacrosse is such a growing interest, especially in this area. We've had a lot of our students play on a club team, and there has been quite a big move from the kids and parents to have that team be granted CIF access."

Oak Park was the Division II state club champion this past season and has an overall record of 65-5 in its four-year existence.

Leon Bennett, the Oak Park lacrosse team manager, was thrilled with the news.

"The decision came down to the school administrators and the athletic department at Oak Park being convinced that lacrosse is a growing sport that is here to stay," Bennett said.

"We were finally able to get past the financial part of the process by letting people know that we had a booster program that was able to have sufficient funds for us to play for the next five years."

If approved, OPHS must be accepted into a league. Billingsley is looking at the Condor Lacrosse League or the Mission Lacrosse League for logistic reasons.