Coach, 4 Broncos on Pan-American Softball Team

The Cal Poly Pomona women’s soft-ball team will be well-represented when the United States competes in the Pan-American Games in Indianapolis in August.

Not only will the coach be Pomona’s Carol Spanks, but four of the 18 players are also from the Broncos.

One is center fielder Alison Stowell, who will be a senior next season, and the others are former Pomona stars Rhonda Wheatley, Suzi Brazney and Donna McElrea. Wheatley is a pitcher and Brazney and McElrea are catchers.

The selection to the Pan-American team is the latest in a long list of honors for Stowell, a former Walnut High performer who has made the NCAA Division I All-American team at different positions the last three years. Stowell made it as a right fielder as a freshman, a second baseman as a sophomore and a center fielder last season.

Besides being solid defensively, Stowell led the Broncos with a .317 batting average last season. She has a career average of .292 with 3 home runs, 59 runs batted in and 41 stolen bases in 55 attempts.

Wheatley, a former All-CIF player at Workman High in La Puente, was Pomona’s top pitcher the last four seasons, including her 35-21 record and 0.57 earned-run average as a senior. The three-time Division I All-American posted a career record of 139-60-2 with an 0.40 earned-run average and 979 strikeouts in 1,414 innings.

Wheatley, her school’s female athlete of the year, finished with career totals of 96 shutouts and seven no-hitters to lead the Broncos to four straight Division I playoff berths.

Brazney was a member of the 1983 Pan-American Games team after playing for four years at Cal Poly. A two-time All-American, Brazney is Pomona’s career leader with 180 hits, 24 doubles and 69 runs batted in.

McElrea caught for the Broncos in 1985 when they finished fourth in the Division I World Series. McElrea, who also played at Cal State Fullerton and Golden West College, finished the 1985 season with a .281 batting average, 5 home runs and 27 runs batted in.

Two All-American track stars from Cal State Los Angeles have been named to the Academic All-American team selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

They are senior sprinter Darwin Freeman and junior half-miler Rob Briglia, who led the Golden Eagles to their second straight California Collegiate Athletic Assn. title. Both were previously named to the College Division All-Far West Academic Team.

Freeman, who posted a 3.53 grade-point average, earned All-American honors in track by running on the Cal State team that finished fifth in the 400-meter relay at the NCAA Division II championships.

Briglia, who finished with a 3.55 grade-point average, made All-American by placing sixth in the 800-meter run in 1:49.74 at the Division II championships. Briglia, who won the CCAA title in the 800 meters, was also named Cal State’s top scholar-athlete for 1987.

Lori Kildal, girls athletic director and volleyball coach at Northview High in Covina, has been named women’s volleyball coach at Azusa Pacific University. The 32-year-old Kildal replaces Sharon Peterson, who resigned in April.