COLLEGE HIGHLIGHTS : CSUN Qualifies 3 for Division II Track Finals

Cal State Northridge track Coach Don Strametz thought his Matadors were tired prior to Saturday’s Northridge Invitational at CSUN.

“We’ve had several hard weeks of training,” he said, “so I’m not expecting many great performances.’

He received several anyway as Will James, Noreen Flynn and the men’s 400-meter relay team all qualified for the NCAA Division II Championships.

James placed second in the 1,500 meters with a personal best of 3:51.81, Flynn leaped a freshman record of 5-8 1/2 in the women’s high jump and the 400-meter relay team of Gary Jackson, Tyrone Jeffries, Donnie Haley and Kevin Hendrix placed third with a 41.26 clocking.

Flynn, a graduate of Bell-Jeff High, also set a personal best and a CSUN freshman record.

Freshman Darcy Arreola, the 1986 state high school champion in the 1,600 meters, placed second in the 3,000 meters with a personal best of 9:39.9. Arreola has already qualified for the Division II Championships in the 800, 1,500 and 3,000 meters.

Carol Keller, a former Division II champion in the 3,000 meters, placed first at 9:36.7.

BASEBALL

Chris Hernandez squeezed home Mark MacArthur in the fifth inning to give The Master’s a 3-2 win over UC San Diego in the first game of a nonconference doubleheader. San Diego won the second game, 14-6.

In the first game pitcher Kevin Taylor picked up his fifth win for Master’s (18-16). MacArthur homered in the second game for Master’s.

Willie Gutierrez’s two-run single with one out in the bottom of the 12th gave Moorpark a 10-8 win over Ventura and a split of the Western State Conference doubleheader at Ventura. Rick Allen, who doubled in the 12th and later scored on Gutierrez’s single, drove home four runs for Moorpark (15-13, 10-8 in conference) with a solo homer and a bases-loaded triple. Ventura won the first game, 9-4.

GYMNASTICS

Monica Mayes, a senior from Cal State Northridge, finished seventh in the vault with a score of 8.87 at the U.S. Gymnastics Federation nationals in Oshkosh, Wis.

Mayes becomes CSUN’s first All-American in two years and possibly its last. Earlier this week, Judith Brame, Northridge women’s athletic director, recommended that the sport be discontinued after this year.