College Division : Cal Poly SLO in Running for Sixth Title

Since the National Collegiate Athletic Assn.’s Division II started competition in women’s cross-country in 1982, the race for No. 1 has been pretty clear cut.

Everybody has taken a back seat to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which has won five straight titles and is the heavy favorite to win its sixth Saturday at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville.

How have the Mustangs been able to stay on top every year?

Lance Harter, San Luis Obispo coach for the last eight years, says it is not simply a case of his team having better athletes than the competition. It’s more of a testament to development.

“A lot of our athletes come in without big names but they evolve to become well known nationally,” Harter said.

The coach attributes the development largely to training techniques.

“What we term ‘the program’ is designed physiologically to use the latest research information to develop the athletes in a safe, positive way,” he said. “The program has worked time and time again for us.”

Harter points toward runners such as junior Becky Nieto, who was not considered a top high school runner but developed after enrolling at San Luis Obispo. “In junior college, she was a 2:19 half-miler and now she’s an integral runner (No. 4) on our team,” he said.

“We’re basically looking at the development of our athletes. If they come in and stay with the program and believe in what they’re doing, over a period of time we think it will pay dividends.”

Harter’s philosophy of developing athletes has enabled the Mustangs to maintain outstanding depth. He said that the team’s top seven runners are all capable of scoring at the national meet. That’s something no other team in the division can say.

San Luis Obispo’s depth was in evidence at the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. meet Oct. 31 when the team’s top runner, Gladees Prieur, did not compete, but the Mustangs still won handily.

The same was true at the Division II West regional Nov. 7 when the Mustangs again won easily, even though freshman standout Teena Colebrook did not compete.

Harter said that except for Prieur, his other six runners are about even. “Our other runners have always oscillated, so we never really know which way they’ll finish. But they usually finish right up there as a group.”

Considering that Prieur and Kris Katterhagen are the only seniors among San Luis Obispo’s top seven runners, the Mustangs appear strong again for at least another year.

“We hope it will last forever,” Harter said. “Unfortunately, we realize there are other excellent athletes and coaches that we’re up against and they’re going to take their best shots at us.”

But for now, the Mustangs are the undisputed leaders of the pack.

Over the years, Cal State Los Angeles has been known more for its sprinters than its distance runners.

But if this cross-country season is indicative, that may be changing.

Cal State L.A.’s women are ranked second in NCAA Division II and the men’s team No. 3 going into the Saturday’s national meet. Neither team is expected to win a title, but it has easily been the best cross-country season ever for the Golden Eagles.

The women’s team, which finished third in the CCAA meet and second at the NCAA West Regional, figures to stay close enough to top-ranked San Luis Obispo to finish second in its first trip to the national meet.

“We’re kind of stuck in the middle,” Coach Greg Ryan said. “We’d have to get a real great race and they’d have to be off for us to win. At the same time, we would have to have an off race to finish lower than second.”

The Golden Eagles have flourished with seniors Sylvia Mosqueda, Gretchen Lohr and Marie Rollins. Mosqueda, who won the individual title at the Division II regional meet Nov. 7, may be the favorite to win the individual title Saturday.

But Ryan admits that his team does not have the depth to unseat San Luis Obispo.

“We’re not like SLO,” he said. “We don’t have a large program so we decided that if we’re going to go to nationals, we just have to focus on that and forget the rest (of the meets).”

That is why Ryan did not let Mosqueda run at the CCAA meet Oct. 31. Mosqueda came back the next week and won the individual title at the NCAA West Regional in an outstanding time of 17:47 for the 5,000 meters.

The Cal State L.A. men’s team is having its best season since 1975, when it finished 12th in the national meet. The Golden Eagles, who won the NCAA West Regional meet Nov. 7, figure to improve upon that led by juniors Benny Cruz and Martine Sandoval and senior Rob Arsenault.

College Division Notes For the first time since 1981, the Biola men’s soccer team has qualified for the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics’ national tournament. The Eagles (13-9-2) who upset seventh-ranked Westmont in the NAIA District III final Saturday, will compete in the 12-team national event starting next Monday at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Tex. Boca Raton of Florida, Simon Fraser of Canada, Wilmington of Ohio and Virginia Wesleyan are considered the strong entries. . . . The Cal State San Bernardino men’s soccer team has advanced to the NCAA Division III final four for the first time. The Coyotes (16-2-3) ranked seventh in the final Division III poll, will meet Washington of St. Louis in their semifinal game Saturday, and host team North Carolina Greensboro will play Salem State of Massachusetts in the other game. . . .Chris Dabrow of Claremont-Mudd finished the season as the No. 1 rusher in NCAA Division III football with 1,486 yards. He rushed for 261 yards and 3 touchdowns in his team’s season-ending 35-14 win over La Verne Saturday. That gave the Stags a share of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title with Occidental.