Crossroads Sports Complex: $17 Million of Perfection

By Mitch Chortkoff

It was early Friday evening and my tour guide was Chuck Ice, proud athletic director of Crossroads School.

My mission was to see the new sports complex at 18th and Olympic Blvd., two blocks West of the school's main campus. And he was eager to show me around.

The result was I was highly impressed with the state-of-the-art 800-seat gymnasium, adjacent soccer field with Astro Play, the latest turf that quickly soaks up rain, a six-lane, 25-meter swimming pool and an elementary school for kindergarden through fifth grade.

As the largest donors, the late Frank and Dorothy Grisanti have their name on the gymnasium, courtesy of their daughter. They were members of the school's original Board of Trustees and she is the Crossroads girls volleyball coach.

As matters developed, I went to Crossroads on a good day. The boys soccer team defeated St. Bernard, 5-0. The girls' soccer team defeated Archer School of Brentwood, 11-0.

Next door, the Crossroads girls varsity basketball team defeated Pacific Hills, 49-43 for new coach Sherrise Smith.

Then the boys basketball team ran away from Pacific Hills, 72-48, led by center Isaiah Fox with 28 points and guard Phil Abrams with 15.

So, there's a lot new at Crossroads. And the latest news is the school will have a swimming team for the first time this spring now that it has a pool.

``I've been at Crossroads 19 years and our basketball teams played all over town,'' said Ice. ``Now we have this marvelous facility and our attendance has significantly increased.''

It was a nice community outing. The gym was filled close to capacity and it occurred to me this is now the best gym on the Westside.

It will house other events too. The gym has an upstairs that includes a 500-seat meeting room.

Daryl Roper's boys basketball teams have been a powerhouse for years, producing NBA players Austin Croshere and Baron Davis. The newest star, the 6-foot-10 Fox, has signed to play at Arizona next season.

Sherisse Smith, a former Crossroads star, played at California last season. Her assistant, Erin Irving, was her teammate at Crossroads and went on to play at San Jose State.

Smith's younger sister, Christina, is a starting guard.

``At times it's frustrating to coach her because I know all of her capabiliites,'' said Smith. ``But it's rewarding too.''

The girls built a lead over Pacific Hills and then held on.

``The team needs consistency,'' said Smith. ``We let up a little in the fourth quarter. But it was our league opener and a good game to win.''

This Friday the boys will play at 6 p.m. against Brentwood and the girls will play at 7:30.

``We're experimenting with rotating who plays the first game,'' said Ice.

At other schools the experiment has failed because fans tend to leave after the boys game. That would leave the girls with a small crowd for their contest. Last Friday, for instance, a crowd coming in for the boys game saw the exciting fourth quarter of the girls game.

``We have six league games. We'll have the boys play early three times and the girls play early three times and then we'll evaluate it,'' said Ice.