Katella High School

Jaret Wright caught the visitor staring at his outdated duds and quickly set the record straight. "It's '60s Day today (at school)," Wright said, laughing. "I think I found these pants in the trash." One could hope that's where Wright tossed them afterward. The blue-denim bell bottoms, leisure suit jacket, flowery shirt and medallion hanging from his neck were no fashion statement. They were more like a hallucination.

Katella High School recently had its sixth annual 101 Knights Leadership Conference at the United Methodist Church in Anaheim. The conference, organized by administrators, teachers, students and members of the community, is designed to reach those students with leadership potential. "We hope to show the students who attend that they can make a difference, and if they believe in themselves, they can accomplish anything," said Marci Maietta, student government adviser.

The compromise was easy. A piano to please mom; a batting cage to make dad happy. The trick for Kyle Evans, the whiz kid from Katella High School, is finding the time to juggle the two. He spent his childhood going from the bench to the plate. Evans became a talented piano player, good enough to spend four years in a conservatory. But there was never much doubt where his future lies. Even his mother knew it. "Kyle was too good at baseball to ever go into music," Judy Evans said.

Katella High School first baseman/outfielder Kyle Evans, El Dorado catcher Brian Loyd and San Diego Vista shortstop Aaron Rounsifer have made oral commitments to play baseball at Cal State Fullerton. They said they will sign national letters of intent this week. Evans, an All-Empire League selection last season, entered the week batting .341 with five home runs, 13 runs batted in and 11 runs scored.

1990-91 RECORDS OVERALL LEAGUE 14-10 5-5 COACH RECORD AT SCHOOL Tom Danley 472-181 RETURNING STARTERS YR. HGT. P Brian Carlson Jr. 6-5 F TOP RETURNERS YR. HGT. P TOP NEWCOMERS YR. HGT. P Keith Carraby Jr. 5-11 G Earl Coke Sr. 5-11 G Lee Jones Jr. 6-4 F-C Benny Garcia Jr. 6-1 F Brian Gardiner Sr. 5-8 G Scott Hardin Sr. 5-8 G Nick Roditis So. 6-0 G Brad Martin Jr. 5-10 G Steve Shirmacher Sr. 6-3 F Tim Tenpas Sr.

Katella 1990-91 RECORDS OVERALL: 6-15 LEAGUE: 3-7 COACH: RECORD AT SCHOOL Shelly Noble: 7-16 RETURNING STARTERS YR. HGT. P Chris Carrillo So.. 5-5 G Carrie Glodt Sr. 5-7 G-F TOP RETURNERS YR. HGT. P Rachel Davis Jr. 5-7 F TOP NEWCOMERS YR. HGT. P Erin Kennedy So. 5-6 F Patti Barba So. 5-9 F Kelsi Armbruster Jr. 5-11 C OUTLOOK The Knights, like Esperanza, are small in a year where the rest of the Empire League is tall.

Leonard Martinez says he thanked a baseball coach at Katella High School last year for telling him he didn't have what it took to make the team. That judgment drove the soft-spoken 16-year-old to something he might not have thought possible without those harsh words--to be elected senior class president. At Katella High in Anaheim, no other Latino student has won that position or any other spot in student government. "That really stuck with me," Martinez said of the coach's words.

Gary Smith has been selected as the outstanding biology teacher in California by the National Biology Teachers Assn. Smith, a biology teacher at Katella High School, also was named Teacher of the Year in the Anaheim Union High School District. Smith is a district science mentor teacher who is particularly interested in environmental education.