Bruin Athletes Lead the Way : Westchester High Coach and Player Named Tops in Girls Basketball

If the 32 current and former UCLA athletes who competed for the United States in the 1988 Olympics had been a national team by themselves, the 23 medals they won at Seoul would have given them 11th place among countries in total medals.

Former Bruin Florence Griffith Joyner, who won three gold medals and a silver, did better than some nations. If she were a country, she would have finished in a five-way tie for 25th place with Denmark, Finland, Spain and Switzerland.

The brilliant performances of those athletes were the most remarkable of any by athletes from the Westside in 1988, but there were other notable achievements by local performers.

In intercollegiate athletics, the UCLA men’s teams, which captured NCAA championships in track and field and golf, won the Knoxville (Tenn.) Journal’s All-Sports Survey award for the third consecutive year. In 18 years of the survey, the Bruin men have won nine firsts and seven seconds and have never finished below fourth place.

The UCLA women’s softball team, which won its fifth NCAA title, led the way for the Bruin women, who had five teams that finished among the nation’s top 10 squads and won the Knoxville paper’s intercollegiate competition award for a second time as well as a similar award from the Copley Newspapers. It was the seventh time in the last 11 years that the UCLA women took first place in the Copley survey.

All told, UCLA had 15 teams that finished in top 10s in NCAA tournament play and polls. The Bruins were second in women’s track and men’s water polo, third in men’s and women’s gymnastics, women’s tennis and women’s volleyball and fifth in men’s volleyball. UCLA also placed seventh in men’s swimming and ninth in women’s swimming, men’s tennis and men’s soccer and football. In women’s volleyball, UCLA finished with a 34-1 record.

The national championships in men’s track and golf, gave the UCLA men a record nine NCAA championships in different sports. UCLA’s last NCAA title in basketball was in 1975, and the others were last won in gymnastics (1987), soccer (1985), swimming (1982), tennis (1984), volleyball (1987) and water polo (1972).

It was also another good sports year for Pepperdine University.

Three Pepperdine teams finished among the nation’s top 20: baseball (No. 12 in one poll, No. 16 in another), men’s tennis (No. 5) and women’s tennis (No. 17). Robbie Weiss of the Waveswon the NCAA singles championship. Dave Gorrie retired as Pepperdine baseball coach after 10 successful years and was succeeded by Andy Lopez of Cal State Dominguez Hills.

In men’s basketball, Coach Jim Harrick’s Pepperdine team went to the National Invitation Tournament, the sixth postseason appearance by one of his squads in nine years at the school. Last April Harrick went to coach at UCLA and was succeeded by his chief assistant, Tom Asbury.

Pepperdine won West Coast Athletic Conference championships in baseball, men’s and women’s tennis and women’s volleyball. The women’s volleyball team also swept the conference’s top honors as Nina Matthies was named coach of the year, Lisa Bevington the outstanding player and Cari Delson the best freshman.

Kari Baerg of the Pepperdine cross-country team finished first at the WCAC championships.

In prep football, the year’s top story probably was the resurgence of the St. Monica High football team under first-year head Coach Angelo Jackson. The Mariners, who hadn’t had a winning season since 1981, finished with a 9-2 record and lost their last two games by a total of 3 points. It may have been the best St. Monica team in two decades.

Jackson and his running back, Mike Wagner, and Santa Monica High lineman Kevin Kelly won the top Westside honors at the annual Times high school football awards brunch. Jackson was named coach of the year, Wagner top back and Kelly best lineman.

In eight-man football, Brentwood School won the CIF-Southern Section Large Division championship. Brentwood’s Pat Brown was named the division’s coach of the year, and his running back, Jay Langan, player of the year.

In The Times prep basketball awards, Trisha Stafford of Westchester High and Chris Mills of Fairfax were named the Westside’s top players and Beverlie Pendleton of Westchester and Jim Nakabara of University High the area’s coaches of the year.

Los Angeles City prep championships went to Westchester and Coach Pendleton in girls 4-A basketball, to Crenshaw and Coach Willie West in boys 4-A basketball, to Palisades and Coach Howard Enstedt in 4-A boys volleyball, to Palisades and Coach Bud Kling in 4-A girls tennis, to University and Coach Frank Cruz in 3-A baseball, to Palisades and Coach Dave Anderson in boys swimming and to University and Coach Tom Anderson in 4-A boys tennis.

Individual City singles tennis titles were won by Heather Willens of Palisades and by Jason Clark of University.

In the state basketball tournament, the Westchester girls advanced to the second round of the Southern California regionals and were defeated by Lynwood, 66-57. In the Southern California regional final, Crenshaw lost to Manual Arts, 89-82, and Manual Arts went on to win the state championship. The Toilers defeated Oakland Bishop O’Dowd, 54-53, in the final.

Santa Monica High wrestler Greg Jackson finished third in the state at 138 pounds.

In competition for CIF-Southern Section championships, the St. Bernard girls lost in the 2-A quarterfinals to Arroyo Grande, 66-62; the Crossroads baseball team lost in the 1-A final to Fillmore, 4-2; Santa Monica went to the quarterfinals in 4-A boys volleyball and lost in five games to Marina, the Brentwood boys volleyball team lost in the 3-A semifinals to Arcadia in three games, the Brentwood boys tennis team lost in the 1-A final to Harvard, 10-8, and the Beverly Hills boys tennis team lost to Santa Barbara in the 5-A final. The 5-A tennis final ended in a 9-9 tie, but Santa Barbara won on games, 80-78.

In individual Southern Section championships, Felice Lipscomb of Santa Monica won the 4-A girls 100-meter low hurdles, and two schoolmates, swimmer Alex Haddox and wrestler Jackson, also won titles. Haddox won the 3-A boys 100 backstroke, and Jackson was the champion at 142 pounds.

Six Westside high school students were named Southern Section student-athletes of the year: Glyn Milburn of Santa Monica, Rod Landis of St. Bernard, James Brennan of St. Monica, Kristin Klein of Marymount, Leah Stevenson of Notre Dame Academy and Lindsey Caron Kozberg of Westlake School.