Kubiak Wins but Is : CSUN Swim Teams Flounder in Division II Championships

Jeff Kubiak presented more evidence Friday that he is not racing his competition this week in the NCAA Division II swimming championships. The Cal State Northridge junior is racing the clock.

But for both CSUN’s men’s and women’s teams, time may have run out.

Kubiak, the CSUN junior, who twice set Division II records Wednesday in the 200-yard individual medley, reacted to winning the 400 I.M. Friday night by slamming his cap onto the pool deck. Coach Pete Accardy and several teammates came by to console him.

All that because Kubiak failed by .04 of a second to better the record of 3:59.67 that he had established in the morning preliminaries.

In the final, Kubiak’s goggles slipped down as he dove into the pool at the Justus Aquatic Center. The goggles filled with water and obviously bothered him. Finally, during the backstroke leg of the four-stroke race, he pulled them off.

“That ticked me off because I was so up for this,” a more composed Kubiak said later. “Before the race, I felt better than I’ve felt all week, so it ruined a good swim for me.

“I’m not happy with it. I mean, I’m happy that I won and everything, but I know I could have done a lot better.”

As bad as Kubiak felt his day went, his CSUN team felt much worse.

Accardy said that Kubiak’s misfortune typified CSUN’s season, which he predicted will end tonight with the Matadors failing to win the men’s championship for the first time since 1980.

Cal State Bakersfield leads the team standings with 396 points to CSUN’s 323, and Accardy expects the Roadrunners to, well, keep running.

“We just don’t have the numbers,” he said. “We could lose by 100 points.”

Considerably happier than Kubiak were the members of the CSUN women’s “kiddie corps” medley relay team--sophomore Sandy Barnes and freshmen Stacy Mettam, Tina Schnare and Jude Kylander.

The foursome established its second Division II record in three days, adding the 400 medley relay title to the 200 medley title it won Wednesday.

But, just like their male teammates, the women are out of the team competition.

Clarion State of Pennsylvania leads the women’s team standings with 303 points. CSUN is a distant third with 228.

In breaking South Florida’s previous record of 3:55.54 in the medley relay, Mettam (backstroke), Schnare (breaststroke), Barnes (butterfly) and Kylander (freestyle) led from start to finish and were clocked in 3:55.27.

That gave Schnare three records in three days. On Thursday, she set a record in the 100 breaststroke. Mettam won the 100 backstroke Thursday, missing a record by .11 of a second.

The Northridge men held an 11-point lead after Thursday’s events, but were outscored in all three individual events Friday and then finished third in the 400 medley relay behind Bakersfield and Oakland (Mich.) Tech.

“Today was the day we would have had to pull out a miracle,” Accardy said. “And we’re just a little bit off. . . .

“You can get away with that only so long when you don’t have the numbers.”

Or, as Accardy suggested, if you have a few more competitors like Kubiak.

The problem with his goggles broke his concentration, Kubiak said, and it took him about four strokes to pull them off.

“I couldn’t see,” he said. “It’s worse than not wearing goggles at all because they’re full of water. It’s really distracting.”

Said Accardy: “Most guys would let that bother them and they wouldn’t win the race.”

Not Kubiak.

He was eighth after 200 yards, but made up about half a pool length on leader Rich Swoboda of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, who finished second, and took the lead during the breaststroke.

Afterward, he swam to the middle of the pool to retrieve his goggles from the bottom.

“But I’m not going to wear them tomorrow,” he said of today’s 200-meter breaststroke, in which he is the national record-holder and defending champion.

“I’m not taking a chance on my best event.”

Notes

Senior diver Marion Gelhaus of CSUN finished third on the one-meter board. . . . Other records set Friday: Bartt Frey of Cal State Bakersfield in the men’s 200 freestyle; George Webber of Cal State Chico in the men’s 100 butterfly; Tammy Burch of Rice in the women’s 400 I.M.; Bakersfield in the men’s 400 medley relay and Angel Myers of Furman in the women’s 100 butterfly. . . . Myers, who won the 200 I.M. and the 50 freestyle within a 30-minute period Wednesday night, also swam a leg on Furman’s winning 200 freestyle relay team.

CSUN AT NATIONALS

DAY 3 HIGHLIGHTS

Jeff Kubiak won the 400 individual medley. In the final, he failed by .04 of a second to better the record of 3:59.67 that he had established in the morning preliminaries.

“Kiddie corps” medley relay team of Sandy Barnes, Stacy Mettam, Tina Schnare and Jude Kylander established its second Division II record in three days, adding the 400 medley relay title to the 200 medley title it won Wednesday. The team was clocked in 3:55.27, beating South Florida’s record by .27 of a second.

CS Bakersfield leads the men’s team standings with 396 points. CSUN has 323.

Clarion State leads the women’s team standings with 303 points. CSUN is a distant third with 228.