College Notebook : UCSD Readies for Yet Another Run at Kenyon

The UC San Diego men’s swimming team has had the same problem as the majority of NCAA Division III teams the past 9 years. That is, trying to catch Kenyon College of Ohio.

But the Tritons hope to have a little more input in determining who wins the national title this season.

UCSD finished fourth in the Division III championships last season--losing to Claremont by a point--and was third the season before. But neither UCSD nor any other team has been able to get close to Kenyon, which has won 9 consecutive national titles and is the favorite to make it 10 this season.

“(The team) has made a whole lot bigger commitment than we’ve ever made as far as training,” UCSD Coach Bill Morgan said. “They think they can win it. At the halfway point (in the season), I think they can win it. It’s a matter of whether they are willing to make the sacrifice.”

Morgan said he figures the Tritons will have 29 swimmers earn qualifying times for the national championships. However, a school is only allowed 18 swimmers at the national meet.

“We can only take 18 to the meet and it’s creating a great situation on the team,” Morgan said. “(The swimmers) are saying, ‘We don’t care who goes as long as we win.’ We’ve been able to turn a negative into a positive.”

Morgan said the men’s team had a great recruiting year, but few of the recruits will be able to move into the top spots very soon as the Triton roster is primarily composed of juniors and sophomores.

The Tritons are led by Dave Sacco, who finished second in the 1,650-meter freestyle last year as a freshman and was only 15 seconds off the Division I qualifying standard.

Other top returners include: Darron Fredrick, who redshirted last season and was a finalist in the 100 freestyle and breaststroke in 1987; Randy Franke, who won the consolation title in the 200 freestyle last season, and Jason Vance, who reached the finals of the 50 freestyle.

“Last year, we were real top heavy with our stars being seniors,” Morgan said. “Our depth was pretty young. They performed as well as a group that young would be expected to, but they didn’t perform as well as the older swimmers.”

One thing Morgan did to better prepare his young swimmers was to improve this year’s schedule. UCSD will meet Division I teams such as USC and UC Irvine and defending Division II champion Cal State Bakersfield. The Tritons have already defeated Cal State Northridge, a solid Division II program, this season for the first time.

UCSD will play host to the UCSD Invitational Dec. 31 at Canyonview Pool. The meet includes Nebraska, Wyoming, Navy, Air Force and Colgate.

The women’s team, which finished second to Kenyon last year, is not as deep as the men’s, but has some top swimmers returning.

Michelle Steinberger, a three-time All American in the butterfly, and Dianna Gray, a three-time All American in the individual medley, return along with six freshmen who qualified for the national meet last year. Cristy Parker, who won the consolation title in the 50 freestyle last year as a freshman, and Jenna Banazcek are two of the young swimmers Morgan figures to improve.

“Both teams will be significantly improved over last year in national point totals, but where that will put us in the national standings remains to be seen,” Morgan said.

Oh, to be home again.

The United States International University men’s basketball team will get a needed respite as it wraps up a 10-game trip at Coppin State in Baltimore tonight.

The road was not kind to the Gulls (3-8). USIU is 1-8 in away games, having defeated Tennessee State, 94-85, in a consolation game in the Ball State tournament.

USIU has had a dismal shooting touch on the road, making just 35% of its shots from the floor. The Gulls should have figured this trip wasn’t going to be easy when they opened at USC and shot 25% in a 97-61 loss.

The Gulls’ defense has also been nearly nonexistent.

USIU’s opponents have shot 56% from the field and outscored the Gulls by an average of 97-73. USIU allowed 98.4 points per game in the 8 road losses, including 135 to third-ranked Syracuse.

The Gulls play host to Montana at Golden Hall on Dec. 28. USIU then plays St. Francis (Dec. 30), Vermont (Jan. 2), St. Mary’s (Jan. 4) and Loyola Marymount (Jan. 7) in its longest home stand this season.

Duffy Daugherty, Palomar College quarterback, was named to the academic All-American first team by J.C. Gridwire. Daugherty, a sophomore, has a 3.64 grade-point average in communications.

Daugherty, who also played at Fallbrook High School, was one of four backs named to the offensive team. He led the nation in passing yardage (3,006 yards) and pass completions with a national-record 233 completions in 421 attempts. He also threw for 22 touchdowns. Palomar was second in the country in passing yardage per game with an average of 316.8.

Palomar’s Scott Carlovsky, who also played at Fallbrook, finished seventh in the nation in receiving with 64 catches for 796 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Christian Heritage College plays host to Point Loma Nazarene in a basketball game New Year’s Eve at Granite Hills High School.

Christian Heritage, in its third year of collegiate competition, has yet to beat NAIA-rival Point Loma in 3 games.

Point Loma upset Christian Heritage, 87-66, last season behind center Steve Riddle’s 27 points.

The UC San Diego Invitational women’s basketball tournament will be Dec. 28-30 at Triton Pavilion.

Participants are host UCSD (5-2), Cal State San Bernardino, Cal State Stanislaus, Emmanual (Boston, Mass.), Luther (Iowa), Milliken (Illinois), St. Ambrose (Iowa) and Pacific Lutheran (Washington).