College Notebook : SDSU’s Women Golfers Can Hit Snooze Buttons

In the first seasons after he became the San Diego State women’s golf coach 7 years ago, John Klein wished for a day when his team wouldn’t have to tee off while the ground was still wet from the morning dew.

Klein and the Aztecs spent the majority of that time waiting for the early wakeup call reserved for teams trailing the pack.

Now the Aztecs, more often than not, are rising a little later.

Klein has built the women’s program from a perennial last-place team ranked 61st nationally his first year to a No. 16 computer ranking this season. The Aztecs, who finished 17th in the rankings last season, will be trying to send a team to the NCAA tournament for the first time.

“We were just trying to survive back then,” Klein said. “Back then, the golf programs were on the chopping block.

“When I first started, I was looking for tournaments. Now I have more tournament invites than I have room for. The coaches recognize San Diego State as a top 20 team, and players are recognizing San Diego State as a top 20 team. Things are starting to happen.”

Good things haven’t happened for SDSU women’s golf since the mid ‘70s, when Barbara Barrow and Barbara Moxness, who later played on the LPGA tour, were on campus. Barrow won the Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women title in 1974.

But 2 years ago, Wendy Modic of Chula Vista qualified for the NCAAs as an individual, and Karen Engberg went last year. Currently, Joann Walker is ranked 17th and freshman Vivian Overturf is 27th in the nation.

“I gave myself 5 years to get a team or somebody to nationals,” Klein said. “Which I did with Wendy going in 1987. I feel there’s a real good chance to go (as a team) this year.”

The biggest reasons for the recent success have been time and money.

Klein became the full-time director of golf--heading both the men’s and women’s programs--3 years ago. He primarily travels with the women. An assistant travels with the men most of the time, with Klein attending only the bigger tournaments.

Klein also raised $30,000 last year for scholarships alone. And with the scholarships have come better athletes.

“At first it was the players,” Klein said. “We had players that shot 95. It was a little embarrassing having those 95s posted. It’s been building the image--trying to get away from that 95 image.”

Gary Zarecky, U.S. International University men’s basketball coach, is trying to do something that has not happened to a USIU team since it became Division I in 1979--play at least as many games at home as on the road.

USIU played 17 of its 28 games on the road this season. The most home games the Gulls have had in a season is 11.

Next year, Zarecky has pretty much set 14 games at Golden Hall and 14 on the road, and he’s trying to improve on that.

The Gulls’ home schedule includes Loyola Marymount, Cal and Yale. USIU’s road schedule still includes some heavyweights, including Oklahoma Nov. 29.

USIU also has home-and-home games with three other independents--Wright State, Akron and Southern Utah State. The four schools are trying to get enough independents interested in forming a conference.

Akron was looking into playing host to a postseason tournament next year that would include eight of the top Division I independent schools in the country. The idea was to eventually get the NCAA to recognize the tournament with an automatic berth in the NCAA playoffs.

The plan has been put on hold because the NCAA does not allow a post-season tournament that is not conference related, and most of the independents are locked into scheduling commitments for next year and do not have three open dates at the end of the season.

The top-ranked University of Hawaii men’s volleyball team had a much tougher time getting to San Diego for the ASICS Grand Prix tournament than winning it.

The Rainbows went 3-0 in pool play and then swept the host Aztecs, 3-0, to win the title.

But Hawaii had tougher obstacles to overcome on the way from San Francisco to San Diego. During the United Airlines flight, a passenger sitting next to Hawaii middle blocker Brian Poppinga suddenly stood up and tried to open a door.

Hawaii Coach Alan Rosehill described the man as 6-feet 4-inches and around 230 pounds. Rosehill said players Gary VanSickle and Damien Hardy led a group that tackled the man and sat on him until two off-duty police men aboard the flight showed up.

The plane was taken back to San Francisco and delayed while authorities searched for any explosives.

Judy Sweet, the UC San Diego athletic director, was elected secretary-treasurer of the NCAA and is the first women to hold such a position. Sweet replaces Thomas Frericks, vice president and director of athletics at Dayton.