Small Colleges / Alan Drooz : She’s Had a Career Worth Noting

When Becky Miller ends her Biola University playing career next spring, gets married and goes into teaching, her collegiate accomplishments probably will have been little noted beyond Biola’s La Mirada campus.

But they’ll be etched in the NAIA record books: four straight years as a volleyball All-American, and--if she maintains her 27-point, 13-rebound average--the same four years as a basketball All-American.

Yet Miller remembers that when she was being recruited out of Riverside North High School four years ago, most coaches tried to discourage her from playing two sports. Finally, Miller, who was leaning toward a Division I volleyball scholarship, heard what she wanted from Biola basketball Coach Betty Norman, who told her she could probably play both sports on the NAIA level.

“She was recruited well (by Division I schools) in volleyball,” Norman said. “I hardly said 10 words to her. We had what she wanted academically and with a Christian environment. When we said she could play both sports, it was like it all came together.

“I’ve known Becky since the fourth or fifth grade. Her father would bring her to games every year. So she’s watched Biola since she was a little kid.”

Biola proved the correct choice for Miller. She was named second-team All-American in volleyball as a freshman and has been first team every year since. Observers say she was so dominant in NAIA competition this season that she was virtually playing on her own level. She made good on 46% of her 815 kill attempts and was second on the team in assists.

Although volleyball comes easier to her, Miller, a 5-11 center, has been equally proficient in basketball. Despite the month or so it takes her to get her “basketball legs,” she is shooting 62% from the field this season.

The statistics do not support Miller’s belief that both sports probably suffer from her double duty, but she said that even if that is the case, she’d still rather play both.

And she remains modest about the honors that have come her way. “They’re not my goal,” she said. “It’s been really nice. It’s given Biola a lot of exposure. But I’m really kind of surprised when I got those honors.”

Miller is the middle child from a family of three girls, but she is the only one who pursued her sports interests, playing volleyball and basketball and running track and cross-country at Riverside North.

“She can out-jump 6-3 girls,” Norman said. “She’s very feminine-looking, but she’s a physically strong girl. Sometimes she psyches people out if they haven’t seen her jump. If she doesn’t get 12 or 15 rebounds a game I feel like she hasn’t done anything.”

Miller will marry volleyball player Wayne White after May graduation and is looking forward to teaching at La Mirada High and being an assistant coach at Biola.

Forward Michael Long, who leads Azusa Pacific in scoring with a 19-point average, appears to need an earlier wake-up call. The 6-6 transfer from Fullerton College is averaging 15 points in the second half of his last four games and is shooting 62% after halftime. In his season-high 31-point game against Cal State San Bernardino, he scored 23 in the second half. Long has scored 15 or more points in the second half in three of the team’s 10 games.

Freshman Jean Quintana, who breaks her own school records nearly every meet, has become the first swimmer at Cal State Los Angeles to qualify for the 1986 NCAA Division II national meet with her time of 4:40.47 in the 400-yard individual medley. That broke her own school record by five seconds.

Quintana, from Smithtown, N.Y., set the mark in the Cal State Northridge Invitational. She also set a school record of 2:13.12 in the 200-yard individual medley, again breaking her own mark but missing the national qualifying standard by .02 seconds.

Another freshman, Jim Julian from Arcadia, broke school records in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:00.77) and the 200-yard individual medley (2:01.79). Julian hasn’t qualified for the national meet yet but Coach John Wasilak is building a solid team around his prize freshmen. “The times are getting better and we’ll have more kids making the national cuts,” he said.

Cal State Northridge and Cal State Bakersfield dominated the national meet last year.

Small College Notes

Cal Poly Pomona forward Gregg Brofer was named most valuable player of the Pomona-Pitzer Tournament. He led the Broncos to the tourney title, with 32 points, 20 rebounds, three blocks and 13-for-18 shooting in the two games. . . . After missing the first three games of the season due to ineligibility, 5-9 freshman Kim Nidey began her basketball career at Southern California College with a triple double in her first game: 14 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists against Christ College. She also was MVP of the Redlands Tournament, recording 61 points and 17 rebounds in three games. . . . Bob Moore, 100-goal scorer for Claremont-Mudd, was named SCIAC water polo player of the year. . . . Cal Poly San Luis Obispo sophomore punter Kevin Emigh ranked 10th nationally in the final Division II football statistics, averaging 40.7 yards on 59 punts. Teammate Jim Gleed was 18th in rushing with 814 yards for an average of 90.4 yards per game despite missing 2 1/2 games due to injury. . . . Sherrian Ellison, the only returning starter on the Cal State Dominguez Hills women’s basketball team, has rejoined the team after quitting earlier for personal reasons.