There's "turning the corner," then there's what Riverside King High's girls' soccer team has done this season, which is more like a screeching, 180-degree turn, leaving Sunkist League opponents like skid marks on asphalt.

After a 2-8-1 start, the Wolves have rebounded to win their past seven games. Now 9-8-1 and a perfect 6-0 in the Sunkist League, the Wolves will be playing for a share of the league title at Riverside Norte Vista this afternoon.

First-year coach Lance Riley, a former assistant at Colton, said he's pleasantly surprised that his team could have this kind of success in its first varsity season. But he did expect his team to have talent.

"I knew the JVs had had some success," Riley said. "I also knew that there was a good incoming group of freshman."

Early on, inexperience and a tough schedule led to a string of losses that could have ruined the confidence of some teams.

"We had a tough streak where we lost seven games in a row and we got shut out in six of them," Riley said.

Riley said the slow start was partly due to young players switching from club soccer to the more physical high school game, where they were sometimes playing against girls four years older and much bigger.

"I told the girls that if we just took something small from each game and kept improving, that by the time we got to league, there'd be nobody who could stand in our way. But after losing seven games, the girls stopped believing me."

But at a team meeting following the winter break, Riley's players showed that their faith was still there. The team set goals of perseverance, determination and confidence.

"They could have easily thrown the towel in," Riley said. "These girls are showing a level of dedication that has really impressed me. . . . The willpower they have is very strong."

Beginning with an 8-3 victory over Moreno Valley Rancho Verde, the Wolves have outscored opponents 20-4 during their winning streak.

"Our defense has been playing really well," Riley said. "We are playing just a flatback three, and the girls have really gotten down the concept of it."

Anchoring the defense have been midfielder Heather Amrheim and fullback Daphny Lazarus.

In addition, freshman keeper Raegan Finney has made big plays when the team has needed them.

"She's played well beyond her years," Riley said. "I've been around a lot of goalies, and she doesn't get flustered back there. She has a lot of poise a lot of juniors and seniors don't have."

The offense, which runs throughmidfielder Laila Gramalki (10 assists, six goals) has struggled at times with accuracy.

`We've taken an average of 25 shots a game," Riley said. "We just don't find the back of the net."

But the defense has been enough in most games.

"We get a few goals and then our defense takes over. It's kind of like the (Baltimore) Ravens; we get a small lead and it's lights out for the other team."

Now poised to clinch a share of the title, the seven-game losing streak seems like a long time ago.

"We took our knocks early in the year," Riley said. "But we've settled down and started to come into our own a little bit."

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Riverside North senior hurdler Jeff Garrison did more than he expected to do at the LA Invitational Track and Field Meet on Jan. 20.

Garrison not only won the 50-meter high hurdles race and beat rival Chris Morton of Taft, but he also set the meet record.

He set the national high school record in the process.

Garrison's time of 6.72 eclipsed the previous mark of 6.73 set in 1994 by Kristen Lightbourne of Uniondale, N.Y.

"I was just hoping to win," Garrison said. "When that (national record) happened I was really surprised . . . I didn't feel like I did any thing great."

The record is slightly misleading, because there are few meets that run 50-meter hurdles races for boys, so other quick hurdlers may not have had the opportunity to top the time. But for now, it's the best in the nation.

Garrison, who was eighth in the state in the 110 hurdles last season, had considered his best event the 300-meter hurdles.

"Actually he made a promise to himself that he is going to win the 300 hurdles (at this year's state meet)," his father, Jeff Garrison, Sr., said.

"I was all kind of technique, then I had to build up my speed," the younger Garrison said. "I feel confident now (in the 110) that I saw how fast I run the 50. I didn't know I had that kind of speed."

The fact that the 50 is not run often had a positive effect of Garrison's record.

"It may stand for a while," he said.

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Led by senior forward Brandie Williams, Norte Vista's girls' basketball team is on track for its best season ever.

If the Braves (6-0, 12-8) win home games against King tonight and Fontana Kaiser on Thursday, they will clinch the first league championship in the program's history.

Heading for their third consecutive playoff appearance and the second under Coach Lemuel Neal, the Braves had a rough start to the season.

"He (Neal) kind of knew that he had a shot and went out and scheduled a pretty tough schedule for pre-league, even though he took some lumps," Athletic Director Rich Shearer said.

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After a second opinion at the S.P.O.R.T. Clinic in Riverside, King forward Marvin Lea expects to return to play as soon as this week. Lea, who was originally expected to miss the rest of the season with a broken left wrist, has instead suffered a bad sprain in the wrist of his shooting hand as well as a cyst on a bone in the joint, the clinic doctor said according to Lea's father, Marvin Lea, Sr.

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Norte Vista fullback Jermaine Horn said he will sign with Northern Arizona on Feb. 7, the national signing day.

Horn, who rushed for 1,749 yards and 19 touchdowns to help the Braves reach the Division 8 semifinals, said he has canceled a planned trip to Boise State this weekend, choosing Northern Arizona because its proximity will allow his family to come to more games.

Horn, who plans to major in communications, said Lumberjacks coaches have told him he will have a chance to play as a true freshman defensive lineman.