College Division : Cal Poly Pomona Women Becoming a Track Force

It couldn’t be said that the women’s track program at Cal Poly Pomona has been struggling in recent years.

Then again, the Broncos haven’t been perennial championship contenders in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn.’s Division II, either.

Over the last four seasons, Pomona has finished in the top 10 at the Division II national meet three times, including a distant fifth-place showing in 1986. In John Turek’s seven seasons as coach, the Broncos have never finished worse than 15th in the national meet.

The Broncos, however, have never had the depth to challenge perennial powers such as Abilene Christian, which has won the last three Division II titles, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, last year’s runner-up, for the top spot.

But there are indications that Pomona’s fortunes are about to change for the better.

Just ask Turek.

“I think we’ll definitely be in the top five this year and we’re only going to get better,” he said. “I think it’s realistic to expect a national championship in the next two or three years.”

Pretty big words, but Turek appears to be on sound ground.

The Broncos, for instance, do not have a senior on their 24-woman roster. There are 5 juniors, 8 sophomores and 11 freshmen.

“Talk about being optimistic!” Turek says. “You can’t help it when you think about numbers like those.”

The coach draws his optimism from more than sheer numbers, though.

Turek also has outstanding talent, primarily the sophomore trio of Brandi Gail in the shotput and discus, Durelle Schimek in the heptathlon and Lana Cantrell in the sprints and hurdles.

Gail is ranked among the Division II leaders with bests of 49 feet 4 inches in the shot and 161-5 in the discus. Schimek is near the top in the heptathlon at 5,143 points, the javelin at 158-2 and the high jump at 5-10, and Cantrell is one of the best in the 100-meter dash at 11.98 seconds and the 100-meter hurdles at 13.82.

Highly promising athletes include freshman sprinter-hurdler Doris Williams, freshman middle distance runner Kristin Harkins and sophomore Kimber Reed in the high jump and javelin. It’s a far cry from the way things were when Turek started the program in 1980.

“There were only five athletes and only one good one,” he recalled. “The program didn’t have much money, and it was basically a part-time position. I had to build it year by year.

“But I never put any limits on myself or the program. My coach always called me an overachiever, anyway.”

Turek said the school has allotted more money for the women’s track program in recent years and the team’s reputation has grown.

“Budget-wise, we’ve got a little more money for the program, enough to keep us going, and from a standpoint of reputation, we’ve been able to attract better athletes,” he said.

But the coach also said that luck has played a factor in the team’s development.

He considers himself lucky to have Gail and Cantrell, neither of whom probably would have attended Pomona under most circumstances.

Cantrell, who won the California Interscholastic Federation state title in the 100-meter hurdles for Pasadena Muir High in 1985, competed for Division I Nebraska as a freshman. “Things didn’t work out and she decided to come here,” Turek said. She was referred to Turek by a Muir coach.

“There was a little bit of luck involved in getting Brandi and Lana but that luck has helped perpetuate us getting people like Doris,” he said.

A little more luck of that nature and Turek thinks the team will have the talent and depth to emerge as a perennial Division II power.

“You bring in three or four individuals and you win a national championship and you’re on a roll,” he said. “Winning makes it that much easier to recruit.”

For this season, Turek thinks his team is ready to compete with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the six-time defending champion, and Cal State Northridge for the title in the highly competitive California Collegiate Athletic Assn.

“We’re probably in the toughest (Division II) conference in the United States,” he said. “ . . . Traditionally SLO has won our conference meet every year, but this year I think it will be very close between SLO, Northridge and ourselves.”

So much for this year. But you can excuse Turek if he is already a little excited about next season.

It has already been a memorable year for the fledgling athletic program at Cal State San Bernardino.

The Coyotes, in only their fourth year of competition as an NCAA Division III independent, have been ranked or have received postseason tournament bids in 6 of the 14 sports in which they have competed this season.

Perhaps even more impressive, San Bernardino teams have a combined record of 182-63-4 this season, remarkable 73%.

The success has not diminished with the start of the spring sports season.

The top spring sports have been baseball, where the Coyotes are ranked No. 5 in Division III at 25-4-1 in only their second season of competition, and men’s golf, where San Bernardino is rated No. 4 at 15-2 after finishing fourth in their second season last year. The men’s tennis team is also at 10-5, although the women’s team has slipped to 7-9.

If that’s not enough, the women’s softball team is also a contender for a Division III playoff berth. The Coyotes are ranked fifth in the West Region with an 11-10-1 record and the team figures to have a good future, thanks largely to freshman pitcher Marnie LaFleur, who is 9-2 with an 0.47 earned-run average.

That is comparable to the school’s success in sports earlier this season when San Bernardino turned in big showings in women’s volleyball, men’s soccer and men’s and women’s basketball.

The Coyotes were ranked No. 7 in the final regular-season poll in women’s volleyball before losing to eventual national champion UC San Diego in the West Regional final, and the soccer team was ranked No. 3 before losing, 2-1, to Washington of St. Louis in the Division III semifinals.

In the recently completed basketball season, the women’s team reached the NCAA playoffs before losing to eventual champion Concordia of Minnesota in the first round, and the men’s team was ranked No. 19 with a 21-4 record but was passed up for a postseason berth by the NCAA selection committee.

Regardless of the sport or season, the winning has remained constant.

College Division Notes

Point guard Cathy Gooden of Cal Poly Pomona was the only West Coast player named to the 1988 NCAA Division II All-American basketball team selected by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Assn. The 5-5 junior averaged a CCAA-high 20.2 points in leading the Broncos to their seventh straight conference title, the Division II quarterfinals and a 28-4 record. . . . Pat Douglass, Cal State Bakersfield’s men’s basketball coach who led the Roadrunners to a 21-10 record and a berth in the NCAA Division II playoffs in his first year at the school last season, has signed a 3-year contract through the 1990-91 season. It is the first time that the school has signed a coach to a multiyear contract. . . . Bill Macdermott and Hal Athon have been named assistant football coaches at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Macdermott, a volunteer assistant at the school last year, will coach the offensive linemen and Athon the linebackers.