Northridge Takes Early Dive as 2 Fall Short in 1-Meter Event

Cal State Northridge’s hopes of defending its championship in NCAA Division II women’s swimming and diving took a header on Tuesday, even though the official start of the meet is not until today.

Nina Fodor and Chiye Onodera, divers who Coach Pete Accardy of Northridge had expected to place high in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events, failed to make the pre-qualifying cut of 18 on the short board.

Fodor placed 19th and Onodera was 21st in the 1-meter event.

But don’t get the wrong idea. Northridge is a long way away from belly-flopping just yet. All Tuesday’s failures mean so far is a tighter race.

CSUN is still favored to win the women’s competition, although its perch above the University of Tampa (Fla.) and Northern Michigan has become more precarious.

Fodor and Onodera made the cut in the 3-meter competition, joining Xiao-Xia Chen and Misti May of Northridge, who qualified for both events.

Any points CSUN scores in diving will be unrivaled by Tampa, which did not qualify a diver in either event. Northern Michigan is strong in both diving events.

Northridge is expected to fare well in the three individual races and one relay today.

The CSUN 200-yard medley relay team of Stacy Mettam, Tina Schnare, Tina Dodson and Jude Kylander qualified with a national-best time of 1:48.78.

Kylander is one of the favorites in the 50-meter freestyle, an event that she won last year.

“This should be the best meet Division II has ever had,” Accardy said. “The swimmers are better than ever.”

The conditions at the University of Buffalo’s natatorium should help lower the times. Last year, the national meet was held at the Belmont Plaza pool in Long Beach, which was under repair and not conducive to fast times. Buffalo’s natatorium is only a year old and is considered extremely fast.

The Northridge men’s team, which finished third last year, is expected to duplicate that performance.

Cal State Bakersfield, the two-time defending champion in the men’s competition, is again favored.

Northridge and Bakersfield have combined to win 11 men’s titles since 1975. In all, California teams have won 21 men’s championships since 1965.