College Notebook : UCSD May Be Out of NCAA Water Polo Picture

The UC San Diego water polo team appears to have little chance of becoming the first Division III team to make the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. championship tournament after a 12-7 loss to sixth-ranked UC Irvine Friday.

The Tritons (12-7), are ranked eighth in the country. Even if they stay among the top 8, it is unlikely they will make the 8-team championships even though they are the only Division III team in the rankings. Because there are not enough non-Division I teams, there is only 1 NCAA championship tournament for all divisions.

The Tritons probably need to finish in the top 6 to have a chance because the East Region has 2 automatic qualifiers to the NCAA tournament, which will probably be 10th-ranked Brown and possibly unranked Navy.

UCSD is hoping that it will have a chance next year if the NCAA grants the Western Water Polo Assn. an automatic qualifier to the NCAA tournament.

UCSD has participated in the Western association since it was formed in 1982. It consists of independent schools and each year holds a season-ending tournament. UCSD will be the top-seeded team this year and has reached every final since the tournament started, winning in 1983 and 1985.

“It’s been one of those years where we cannot for the life of us beat anyone ahead of us (in the polls),” Coach Denny Harper said. “But we haven’t lost to anyone behind us, either.”

The WWPA tournament will be at Air Force Nov. 11-13 and will feature Loyola-Chicago, Santa Clara, Chaminade, Cal State Los Angeles and Utah.

Grossmont Community College has impressive winning streaks in men’s cross-country and women’s volleyball.

The volleyball team is ranked second in the state and has won 32 consecutive Pacific Coast Conference matches.

But the most impressive streak is by the cross-country team. Grossmont has won 19 consecutive conference titles and a state-record 68 consecutive dual meets.

That streak could come to an end at Lake Murray Friday when Grossmont faces favored San Diego Mesa in the PCC finale.

Notes

Chuck Clegg, San Diego State’s soccer coach, has a chance to win his 100th match this season. Clegg, in his seventh year, is 97-37-13 at SDSU entering Saturday’s match against South Carolina. . . . The San Diego County community college football teams are not faring too well this season. The county teams compete in the reformed Mission Conference, which is divided into 3 divisions. The county schools, which compete in the South Division, were 3-18 against schools in the conference’s North and Central divisions.