College Division / Mitch Polin : Azusa Pacific Seeks Inside Track in NAIA Meet

With six consecutive national titles, Azusa Pacific University has been the undisputed leader of men’s outdoor track and field in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics in the 1980s.

The same cannot be said of the Cougars indoors, where they have usually finished a distant second at best to powerful Wayland Baptist of Texas, which has won the last four NAIA indoor championships.

But Azusa Pacific is hoping to change that when the NAIA indoor championships are held Feb. 24 and 25 at Municipal Arena in Kansas City, Mo.

Coach Terry Franson said: “This time, I think we’re much stronger indoors than we have been, and we have a legitimate chance to win. We’ve done well indoors, but this is the first year we’ve really had a chance to win.”

Azusa Pacific will bring its largest contingent of athletes into the meet. The Cougars have already qualified 13 individuals, and Franson said 17 will compete in the meet.

Even with more competitors, Franson said winning a national indoor title is not easy for his team.

“The races are on a 160-yard track, and when you haven’t got experience at running on the boards as a West Coast team, we’re at a disadvantage,” he said. “But with the experience Friday night (in The Times/Eagle Indoor Games at the Forum), I think that will help.”

Franson said Wayland Baptist has a built-in advantage because it competes in several indoor meets leading up to the NAIA meet. That especially holds true in the middle-distance events, which the Pioneers have dominated in recent years.

Junior Paul Dennis of Azusa Pacific, one of the favorites in the 800-meter run, said the indoor meet requires a change in strategy for runners in middle distances and beyond.

“I’ve run indoors in the 400 and 800, and if you have not done it before, you may not know how to distribute your efforts,” Dennis said. “ . . . You can’t go out too fast or too slow. You have to be able to hold back a little and know your strengths.”

Franson said his team sets its workout schedule in hopes of peaking for the NAIA outdoor championship. So winning the indoor title has never been a top priority.

“We’re not trying to peak for this at all,” he said. “We always point toward the outdoors. We’re basically competing in this just to do as well as we can.”

Added Dennis: “Although we’re not really peaking, it’s a national meet, and we’ve all come real close the last two seasons, and we all know we have a chance to win or come real close. So it’s something we really want to do well in.”

Franson said the Cougars also are hindered indoors because there are only two weight-throwing events (the shotput and 35-pound weight throw) and there is no decathlon.

“There’s a lot of points that we can’t score in the indoor meet that we do well in outdoors,” he said. “That means we have to do well in certain events.”

Franson said the Cougars especially need to score well in the two weight events and the hurdles.

That will place a heavy burden on junior Ade Olukoju in the weight events. Olukoju, who competed for Nigeria in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, has yet to lose an event in two previous appearances in the NAIA indoor meet. He will be supported by Tommy Daniel, Pat Mair and Ryan McCann.

Another key event is the 55-meter hurdles, in which the Cougars have three solid contenders--Anthony House, Herby Akpom and Ike Mbadugha. Other top competitors include Patrick Nwangwo in the 60-meter sprint, Jack Nance in the high jump, Akpom in the long jump, Felix Sandy in the 400 meters and Dennis in the 800 meters.

A victory would put the Cougars in position to become the first team in 12 years to win the NAIA indoor and outdoor meets in the same year. Texas Southern in 1977 was the last team to accomplish the feat.

“Regardless of how we do, it will not affect the way we approach our outdoor season,” Franson said. “But it’s something we’d like to have.”

At the start of the conference season, UC Riverside was considered the solid choice to win the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. men’s basketball title, and with good reason.

The Highlanders had the best nonconference record among CCAA teams, including a victory over NCAA Division I power Iowa in the final of the Chaminade Christmas tournament in December.

But with four games remaining in the conference season, Riverside has unexpected company at the top of the standings.

Cal State Dominguez Hills is tied with Riverside at 9-1 after defeating the Highlanders, 72-67, last week.

In fact, Dominguez Hills has won a school-record eight straight games, and 12 of its last 13, to improve to 17-6. The Toros only loss during that stretch was a 59-58 defeat to Riverside on Jan. 19.

The Toros have been paced by senior center Anthony Blackmon, who averages a conference-leading 19.4 points and 9.8 rebounds. Another key has been the team’s defense, which has allowed 60.7 points a game and is ranked No. 3 in NCAA Division II. The Toros have allowed more than 62 points in a game only eight times this season.

The Toros appear to have a more favorable schedule than Riverside the rest of the way. Dominguez Hills will play three of its final four CCAA games at home and has already visited third-place Cal State Bakersfield and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Riverside must make the trip this week.

College Division Notes

Azusa Pacific will have several men competing in the Olympic Development Division of The Times/Eagle Indoor Games on Friday. Anthony House, Herby Akpom and Ike Mbadugha will compete in the hurdles, Paul Dennis in the 800 meters and Patrick Nwangwo in the 60 meters, and the Cougars also will run in the mile relay. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal State Los Angeles and Cal Lutheran also will have large contingents competing in the meet. . . . Forward Donna Pollema of Biola had two impressive performances in earning NAIA District III player of the week honors in women’s basketball last week. Pollema scored a career-high 41 points--third most in school history--against Cal Lutheran and 30 against Fresno Pacific as the Eagles won both games. That enabled Biola to stay tied for first with Fresno (10-2) in the District III standings.

Southern California College won a battle for first place in the Golden State Athletic Conference men’s basketball standings with an 82-80 victory over defending champion Westmont Tuesday night at Westmont. Southern California, ranked 19th in the NAIA, is 24-2 overall and 11-0 in the GSAC, and Westmont is 15-10 and 9-2. Southern California also won the first meeting between the teams, 71-69, on Jan. 17. . . . Marlon Sano, who coached Southern California’s women’s volleyball team to a 9-16 record, has resigned to become an assistant coach at Cal State Fullerton. No replacement has been named.