Small Colleges / Alan Drooz : Cal Poly Pomona Women Seek to Repeat

Darlene May of Cal Poly Pomona recently became the first Division II women’s basketball coach to reach 300 victories. But Monday she was worriedlylooking ahead.

The nation’s winningest coach has averaged 25 victories a year in compiling a 300-78 record at Pomona. “It means we’ve done it in a pretty short time,” she said, finding that pleasing, but she was just as happy that it had been achieved in a conference game against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. And now, on to bigger game, repeating as NCAA champion.

“That would be a tremendous honor,” she said. “It will be difficult. We must have a shot at it or we wouldn’t be in the position we’re in. But there are some good teams out there. When I think about what John Wooden did at UCLA, starting all over again every year, that’s just fantastic.”

May’s team is 18-3 going into this weekend’s game at Chapman College and is ranked No. 1 again. The Broncos are 6-0 in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. But May sometimes sounded as fretful Monday as the coach of a .500 team, not knowing quite what to expect.

“I’m concerned we’re not executing our offense well,” she said. “We’re not very patient. I don’t want to slow ‘em down because we’re a running team, that’s our game. But somewhere down the road there’ll be a game where our break isn’t working. Then what happens? We’re coming down the floor and not even looking to pass, just shooting. That’s frustrating. I’ve never had a team do that.”

The Broncos will also have to deal with a postseason conference tournament for the first time.

But most coaches would trade their problems for May’s. Her coaching mark at home in the CCAA is 26-0. The Broncos have won 16 straight CCAA games over two seasons. In all conference games since 1976, her teams are 102-3.

“It (300 wins) is a nice milestone to me,” she said. “(But) somewhere down the road, if you hung around long enough, you’d get the 300th. Back-to-back titles would be a tremendous feat.”

Cal State Bakersfield’s wrestling team, coming off its second straight championship in the California Collegiate tournament, ended its dual schedule with five wrestlers having 19 or more victories. The biggest winners were senior Marvin Jones, with a 24-1 record at 177 and 190 pounds, and junior Darryl Pope, 24-3-1 alternating at 167 and 177. Freshman Rich Bailey, 134 pounds, was 21-11; senior Matt Olejnik, 150 to 158, was 20-4-1, and senior Pat Huyck, 158 and 167, was 19-6. Junior Alan Paradise, 126, was next at 16-9-1.

The Roadrunners, ranked third in Division II, recently defeated No. 1 Southern Illinois Edwardsville, which was without two stars who will be at the national tournament. Defending champion SIU Edwardsville will be host to the national tournament Feb. 28 and March 1. Edinboro State (Pa.) is ranked second.

On the road again: Cal Poly Pomona baseball Coach John Scolinos is in Europe this week conducting coaching clinics, and Cal State Los Angeles women’s track Coach Gudrun Armanski will be in Houston this summer to train the West team in the Olympic Festival.

Scolinos, the second-winningest coach in collegiate baseball history, behind USC’s Rod Dedeaux, with 1,042 victories, is conducting clinics in the Netherlands and Italy on a trip arranged through the Sports Exchange USA. Scolinos, beginning his 39th year in coaching, said he would be working with European coaches at all levels.

Armanski will work with sprinters and relay teams in Houston and will also help select the West team during The Athletics Congress meet in Eugene, Ore., in June. Armanski, who has been at Cal State Los Angeles since 1973, has coached several Olympic medal winners, among them Sherri and Denean Howard and Rosalyn Bryant. “I’m elated,” he said. “Now . . . I don’t have to pay my way to get in.”

The Cal State Los Angeles men’s basketball team, which took the CCAA lead by defeating UC Riverside at Riverside, lost the lead last weekend by losing two games at home, both on last-second shots. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo won, 73-72, and Cal State Bakersfield won, 69-68, in overtime. Those results boosted Riverside, a double winner, and Cal Poly SLO into a first-place tie, a game ahead of Cal State L.A. The losses also broke the Eagles’ 11-game winning streak.

Small College Notes Chapman College center Leone Patterson has become the all-time scoring leader in women’s basketball in the CCAA. Patterson, in her fourth varsity season, reached 1,200 points last week and passed Jann Martin of Cal State Los Angeles (1982-84). Cal Poly Pomona center Vicki Mitchell is third and probably will also pass Martin. . . . Guard Denise Duncan of the Azusa Pacific women’s basketball team narrowly missed the school’s first triple-double when she recorded 26 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists against Southern California College. . . . Azusa Pacific guard Rick Johnsen shot 63% from the field in the first five district basketball games and has averaged 13 points since moving into the starting lineup in mid-January. . . . The Claremont-Mudd swimming team placed sixth in the Rebel meet at Las Vegas and had 18 performances that qualified for the Division III national meet. So far 11 Stags have qualified in 20 events. . . . Cal Poly Pomona will open the women’s softball season Friday with a home doubleheader against U.S. International. The Broncos have All-American pitcher Rhonda Wheatley, who set an NCAA record with 48 victories last season. She was 48-16 with an 0.27 earned-run average. . . . Freshman basketball player Anthony Blackmon, recently inserted into the Cal State Dominguez Hills starting lineup, has made 35 of 38 free throws. He leads the CCAA with a 91.7 percentage. . . . Janet Nicholls of Cal Poly Pomona was selected to compete in the Canadian-USA indoor pentathlon at West Texas State University Feb. 15. She was Division II national heptathlon champion in 1984.