Small Colleges : Marti Proves a Success on Several Fields

As a football player, Cal Lutheran University’s Robert Marti set some school records and was considered a good player, but during his four seasons, he suffered constant injuries and setbacks.

Maybe he was in the wrong sport.

Marti, a standout football and soccer player at Simi Valley High School, chose football at Cal Lutheran. As a freshman, he averaged 37 yards a kickoff return, good for a school record and third in the NAIA’s all-time rankings.

But because of injuries--he had knee surgery as a junior and hamstring problems last year--Marti’s playing time was limited, and he never became the star he was expected to be.

Enter Gary Jensen, the second-year soccer coach. He heard that Marti had been an All-Southern Section soccer player. He also heard that Marti would be attending Cal Lutheran for a fifth year to complete his degree requirements. Though Marti has completed his football eligibility, Jensen knew he could still play another year in a different sport. Marti was considering that possibility as well.

Jensen was merely looking for a good athlete with some experience to help a team made up largely of freshmen and sophomores. He may have uncovered a star.

Marti has led the Kingsmen to a 6-1-1 start and has scored nine goals. He leads the NAIA’s District III in scoring going into today’s home game with Fresno Pacific, an NAIA power.

“We sort of approached each other,” Jensen said. “I was aware of him because I had him in a physical education class. I noticed he was a very skillful player. I wondered how I let a guy like that slip away. Then I found out he played football.

“I knew he had a certain skill level, a lot of experience, a lot of gung-ho enthusiasm. I was really not aware of how good a player he was going to be. He was one of those athletes who just comes out of the woodwork.”

Jensen said that Marti’s speed, agility and strength work for him in soccer, perhaps even better than in football. At about 170 pounds, Marti is also 10 pounds lighter than he was for football. Jensen thinks that is helping him avoid the injuries that plagued him in football.

“He’s still adjusting to the maturity of the game itself from his last level,” Jensen said. “He’s got speed, strength, the ability to take punishment--and give it. That’s what it takes up front when you’re fighting for the ball. He’s very physical.”

Marti teams with sophomore Peter Arreola, who also has nine goals, giving the Kingsmen a strong attack. Jensen said that Arreola is “probably the most skillful player who’s ever played at Cal Lutheran.”

Most of the team’s standout players are sophomores. Jensen calls his squad a team of the future. “Peter’s senior year (1988) should be the year we make noise,” he said.

Meanwhile, the team is winning ahead of schedule and learning from the example set by Marti.

“Rob is probably going to be in there 90 minutes, or 110 if we go overtime,” Jensen said. “Rob can have a poor day and still be better than some of the starters out there because of his speed and intensity. I’m very proud to have him. We call him our senior-senior captain.”

Christian Okoye, Azusa Pacific running back, will look back fondly on Whittier College. The 255-pound tailback rushed for a career-high 210 yards Saturday in Azusa Pacific’s 36-7 victory, becoming the school’s all-time rushing leader. Okoye had his other 200-yard game against Whittier last year, giving him 416 yards and 7 touchdowns against the Poets.

Okoye, a Nigerian who never played football until two years ago, has 2,357 yards rushing in 21 games--19 as a starter--and 12, 100-yard games. He is averaging 159 yards a game this season. The Cougars are 16-1-2 since he became a starter.

The Cougars will certainly miss Okoye when he graduates next spring, and they’ll probably miss Hillside Field, where Saturday the Cougars will play for the last time, against Menlo. The Cougars will then open an on-campus stadium and athletic complex. Since 1980, the team is 23-4-1 on the hill, where home games have been played since 1966.

Running back Chris Dabrow’s 199-yard rushing effort is noteworthy at pass-happy Claremont-Mudd, where the team has rushed for 100 yards only seven times in the last 40 games. Dabrow’s total, in the opener against Redlands, was more than any Claremont team has made since 1981, when the Stags ran for 203 yards against Whittier.

In that 40-game span, only one other Stag back has topped 100 yards, Jeff Ross with 117 against Pomona-Pitzer in 1984. The Stags’ rushing yardage of 306 against Redlands was their best this decade.

Small College Notes When Cal State Northridge running back Mike Kane gains 100 yards, the Matadors win. Kane has had two 100-yard games this season and 10 in his career, and Northridge is 9-1 in those games. The exception was a 20-19 loss in 1984. . . . Freshman volleyball player Wendee Walker of Cal Poly Pomona had knee surgery and will miss the rest of the season. . . . Kicker Art Gonzales of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo was injured in a motorcycle accident and will be out for at least a month. . . . Quarterback Robbie Bristow of Pomona-Pitzer passed for 318 yards and 4 touchdowns in the school’s opener against Colorado College. His statistics would have been even more impressive had it not been for penalties. Three touchdown passes were negated by illegal procedure calls. . . . Over the last five football seasons, Azusa Pacific has a 29-8-1 record in day games but only a 4-5-1 mark at night. . . . Two Cal State Northridge women cross-country runners have broken the Northridge record for the course at UCLA, where they compete. Freshman Darcy Arreola ran 17:23.6 and senior Nancy Bowman 17:40.6. Nina Manriquez held the mark of 17:49.2. . . . Senior Joann Howard of Cal Poly Pomona finished second in the Riverside cross-country invitational and set a school record on the 5-kilometer course, 17:06.4.