Mira Costa High School

Michael Okwo prefers to look at his entire high school career rather than each individual year, which is fitting since he's as complete a player as can be found at the high school level. A running back and linebacker for Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, Okwo could dominate a game from either side of the ball. He had 2,481 yards and 30 touchdowns as a running back; 120 tackles and seven sacks as a linebacker this season.

Peter Dobush is far different than his teammates at Manhattan Beach Mira Costa High, many of whom grew up in comfortable homes near the coast, with parents who doled out the proper ratio of affection and discipline. Dobush's life has taken many turns. He grew up in an economically-depressed, drug-infested part of Detroit, where his father slept with a gun under the pillow. But as Dobush grew older, unsafe surroundings turned out to be the smallest worry in his life.

Jason D'Amore is a natural. The senior from Manhattan Beach Mira Costa is one of the best golfers to come out of the Bay League and has taken only a handful of lessons. D'Amore shot a school- and league-tournament record seven-under-par 65 at Griffith Park's Wilson Golf Course to finish with a school-record 10-under 134 and clinch medalist honors in the Bay League tournament on May 6.

With the Southern Section split into nine divisions for state playoff purposes, the strength and depth this year appear to be in Division I-A, which includes top-ranked Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, two-time defending state Division I champion Newport Harbor, Santa Ana Mater Dei, Simi Valley Royal, Irvine and Huntington Beach. Mira Costa is led by senior setter Lexy Beers and outside hitters Jamie Grass, Brooke Donahue and Kristin Nelson.

Don Morrow had heard rumors that some of the players on his football team at Manhattan Beach Mira Costa were experimenting with drugs. Mira Costa is no different from any other high school in that regard, but Morrow and Tana Hausch, president of the school's football booster club, decided to take action. Earlier this summer, Mira Costa unveiled a voluntary drug testing program for the football team. Players and parents were given a choice to sign agreements that would allow random testing.

In East Hermosa, the waves don't crash outside your doorstep, but neither does the party crowd that descends upon Pier Avenue every weekend. Yes, this is still surfurbia -- just east of Pacific Coast Highway. What it's about Known as the "less expensive" section of Hermosa Beach, East Hermosa, the 12-block slice south of Artesia Boulevard and roughly north of Anita Street, offers peaceful streets and stunning views.

For seven years, Scott Stokes conducted his own reckless inquiries into the physiological effects of pot. "I woke up to get high, and I got high to go to bed," recalled the 19-year-old from El Toro, who broke his marijuana habit only after he was arrested two years ago for burglarizing a head shop. "If I didn't have it, I would . . . start sweating, and when I'd breathe deep I'd get into these weird breathing patterns. "People say that marijuana is not addictive, but it's extremely addictive."

Mira Costa High School of Manhattan Beach, led by setter Piper Hahn and middle blocker Krystal Attwood, defeated Sandburg High of Chicago, 14-16, 15-6, 15-1, Saturday to win the Reebok Challenge girls' volleyball tournament in Chicago. After winning its pool, Mira Costa beat Chicago Richards, 15-6, 12-15, 15-7, Friday night to advance to the final against Sandburg, which downed defending Illinois champion Chicago Mother McAuley, 10-15, 16-14, 16-14.