College Division : This Monrovia Import Quite a Catch for Biola

When he arrived at Biola University in La Mirada last year, sprinter Oliver Daniels had a difficult time explaining where he was from.

When he said that he was from Monrovia, many thought he meant the small town in the foothills of the San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles.

But Daniels is from another Monrovia, a long way from the San Gabriel Valley. His hometown is the capital of Liberia, a small nation on the west coast of Africa.

But Biola track Coach Jerry Masterson is not concerned about what town Daniels, 22, is from, only where he is headed.

In his first year of competing for Biola, the 5-foot 10-inch, 165-pound junior has already given a considerable boost to the Eagle track team.

He has run school-record times of 10.4 seconds in the 100-meter dash and 21.09 seconds in the 200 meters, marks that would have been fast enough to win the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics national meet last season. Daniels has also anchored Biola’s 400-meter relay team to a school-record 41.17 seconds.

Daniels, in fact, has Masterson talking about finishing as high as second in the NAIA District III championships next Thursday throught Saturday at Santa Barbara City College.

Biola’s best showing in the district since 1960 was its second-place finish in 1978.

Daniels attended Biola last year but was academically ineligible to compete. In his first competition for the Eagles this season, he won the 60-yard dash in 6.2 seconds at the NAIA national indoor meet in February at Kansas City.

How did Daniels wind up at Biola?

“I have a really good friend (at Biola) whose parents are missionaries in Liberia,” Masterson said. “I think that, more than anything, helped attract him to us.”

Daniels had visited Southern California once before he arrived at Biola in 1986.

That was for the 1984 Summer Olympics, when he competed in the 100 meters and 400-meter relay for Liberia. Daniels would just as soon forget about his performance, though. He finished sixth in his opening heat in the 100 meters, and the Liberian team was seventh in the relay for an early exit in both events.

“I enjoyed the experience even though I knew they were so much better than me,” he said. “But I was just a young kid at the time.”

After the Olympics, Daniels went to live with his sister and brother for a year in New York but was hoping to return to California for college.

Before deciding on Biola, Daniels said he spoke with coaches from several Division I colleges in Southern California. “But they said my times were not fast enough,” he recalled.

Finally, Daniels learned of Biola’s interest and enrolled in the fall of 1986.

After waiting longer than anticipated to compete, Daniels said he was looking forward to this season.

As impressive as his times have been, Daniels said he was hoping to do better.

“I wanted to be a little faster at this time of the year,” he said. “Even though I’m doing good enough to win the NAIA, my season will go beyond that.”

Daniels was referring to the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea, where he will represent Liberia again.

In preparation for the Olympics, Daniels will compete with the Athletes in Action touring team in Europe after the NAIA national meet through mid-July. Then he will head for Liberia in late July to practice with his national team.

But first things first. Masterson is hoping for peak performances at the District III meet next week and the NAIA nationals May 26-28 at Azusa Pacific.

Going into the last day of the regular season, the Westmont baseball team is already top seeded and host in the NAIA District 3 playoffs, starting next Thursday.

That’s because the Warriors, 28-15 overall and ranked No. 20 in the NAIA, have clinched first place in the Golden State Athletic Conference.

The difficult part is determining which teams will join Westmont in the 4-team, double-elimination tournament. Entering today’s games, five teams in the district were still in contention for the final three playoff berths.

Based on its overall record, Azusa Pacific (34-12-1) would appear to be the front-runner for second. But the Cougars, ranked No. 12 in the NAIA and the preseason district favorite, have struggled at times since the start of GSAC play.

Westmont is 21-7 in the district. Azusa Pacific is 19-8, followed by The Master’s at 12-9, Cal Baptist at 14-11 Southern California College at 16-13 and Cal Lutheran at 14-13.

Azusa Pacific plays at Southern California College and Cal Baptist plays at Cal Lutheran in doubleheaders today.