CSUN and Bakersfield Still Rule CCAA Pool

The Cal State Northridge women and Cal State Bakersfield men continued to dominate the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. swimming championships Friday at Cal State Bakersfield.

Northridge women have won 12 of 15 events, including the two in diving, in scoring 761 points to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s 506.

Bakersfield men have won all 11 of the swimming events they’ve been involved in this week, including four more Friday as they increased their point total after the third day of the four-day meet to 673. CSUN is second at 505.

The exuberance of the Northridge women was tempered somewhat when their two individual winners Friday, Jenny Wiggins in the 200-yard freestyle and Sandy Barnes in the 100 butterfly, just missed qualifying for the NCAA Division II championships March 12-15 in Orlando, Fla. Barnes missed qualifying for the nationals by .10 of a second, while Wiggins missed by .66 of a second. Barnes will try to qualify again in the 100 fly in a time trial.

Other winners Friday included:

-- CSUN divers Blair Nogosek and Marion Gelhaus, who became the meet’s first two-time winners. Nogosek, who won the one-meter event Thursday, won at three meters Friday, again outscoring teammate and defending NCAA champion Roland King. Nogosek was second to King in both events at the nationals last season, and CSUN Coach Pete Accardy expects them to finish 1-2 again this year.

“It’s a toss-up whenever they compete,” Accardy said.

Gelhaus added the one-meter to the three-meter title she won Thursday.

--Bakersfield’s Bartt Frey and Tom Roth, and Jeanie Quintana of Cal State Los Angeles, all of whom also won for the second time. All three were clocked in national qualifying time.

Eight CSUN women, including six swimmers, have qualified for the national meet. Five more are close enough to still have a chance.

“We need nine or 10 to have a really good shot,” said Accardy of his team’s prospects for winning the national championship. “If we go back with six, anything can happen.”

Bakersfield has qualified 10 men this week for the nationals, bringing its total to 13. Eleven CSUN swimmers and four divers have qualified.

Depth has been Northridge’s mainstay as the Matadors have won five straight NCAA championships and nine of the last 11, but Accardy this season has had six potential national meet scorers quit the team.

“On paper,” Accardy said of his team’s chances for winning a sixth straight title, “it will look like we don’t have any chance at all, but I think we’ll have a shot.”