SportsScope : Bruins Run Out of Dual Track Triumphs at 42; Mt. Sac Meet Next

The UCLA men’s track team’s streak of victories in dual meets was stopped last week at 42, but the Bruins remain unbeaten in 43 meets dating to the end of the 1984 season.

In a triangular meet with dual scoring last week, the Bruins defeated Houston, 97-57, to tie the school record of 42 straight dual-meet victories, set from 1972 through 1976. But UCLA tied Louisiana State, 77-77, and had to win the last event, the 1,600-meter relay, to gain the tie. The Bruins won the triangular with 73 points to 70 for LSU and 49 for Houston.

Michael Marsh and Steve Lewis were held out of individual events because of hamstring injuries, but both ran legs on the 1,600 relay team as UCLA turned in a season-best 3:06.2 to win.

Derek Knight also was nursing a hamstring but still won both hurdle events and set a personal record of 50.54 in the 400 hurdles. Other Bruins who did well included Christian Cushing-Murray, who won the 1,500-meter run in a personal-best 3:42.81, and David Wilson, who set meet records in winning the hammer throw at 218-1 and the shot put at 61-2.

The Bruins (4-0-1 in dual meets this season) will compete Saturday and Sunday in the 31st annual Mt. San Antonio College Relays. Marsh, Lewis and several others may be held out to rest injuries.

In a double-dual meet last week, the UCLA women, who will also be in the Mt. Sac relays, defeated LSU, 85-51, and Houston, 94-43, running their dual-meet record to 6-0.

Qualifying for the NCAA championships last week were Bruins Kris Larson, Janeene Vickers and Julie Johnson. Larson had a mark of 175-2 in winning the discus, Vickers ran a 58-flat 400 hurdles and Johnson did the 800 in 2:05.7.

The Santa Monica College men’s and women’s track teams will compete today in the Mt. Sac relays and be in a triangular meet on Friday with Santa Barbara City and Valley at Santa Barbara.

The Santa Monica College men’s and women’s swim teams (both 7-0 and 5-0 in the Western State Conference) will end regular-season competition at Pierce at 2:30 p.m. Friday.

Last week the teams posted wins over Ventura, the women by a 76-51 margin and the men by 54-46.

Corsair Robert Hudek won three events, taking the 200-yard freestyle in 1:47.59, the 500 free in 4:52.78 and the 1,000 free in 10:32.06.

SMC’s Cecilia Henricksen and Andrea Bardin were double winners. Henricksen took firsts in the 50-yard butterfly (27.38) and the 100 fly (59.27), and Bardin won the 50 freestyle in 25.4 and the 100 free in 53.46.

UCLA’s women’s softball team, ranked second nationally, will play Pacific 10 Conference double-headers Friday at Arizona State and Saturday at Arizona.

Last week the Bruins (29-2 overall and 9-1 in the Pac-10) swept double-headers from U.S. International and No. 3 Fresno State.

The Pepperdine baseball team (28-13-1 overall and 13-3 in the West Coast Athletic Conference) will take a break from conference play this week and next. The Waves will play host to U.S. International in a double-header at noon Saturday and play at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Cal State Fullerton.

Last week the Waves, winners of 11 of their last 12 games, won three of four conference road games against Nevada Reno.

Pepperdine pitcher Britt Craven, after losing his first two starts, has won seven straight and has a 3.72 earned-run average.

The Santa Monica College baseball team (14-21 overall, 5-10 in the WSC as the week began) will play today at Moorpark and play host to Glendale at 1 p.m. Saturday at Marine Park.

Last week the Corsairs lost to College of the Canyons, 14-12; Santa Barbara, 6-5, and Ventura, 12-4.

Ernie Soto leads the Corsairs with a .430 batting average, and teammate Travis Woods is hitting .409.

After running its win streak to 15 matches with a 5-3 victory over USC, the top-ranked UCLA men’s tennis team will be in the Bay Area this weekend. The Bruins (23-1, 8-0 in the Pac-10) will play No. 2 Cal (18-5, 3-4) Friday and No. 7 Stanford (12-4, 5-2) Saturday.

Against the Trojans, All-American senior Pat Galbraith had a big day. He won his 20th straight singles match, defeating Eric Amend, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5). He and Brian Garrow then remained unbeaten in 16 dual doubles matches with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Murphy Jenson and Kent Seton.

UCLA’s women’s tennis team (18-3, 6-2), ranked 11th nationally, will play at Cal and Stanford. The Bruins will face the Bears on Sunday and the Cardinal on Monday.

Last week, UCLA defeated Brigham Young, 6-1, and No. 3 USC, 6-3. Against the Trojans, sophomore walk-on Debbie La Franchi won at No. 6 singles and was in on a victory at No. 3 doubles.

A winner of nine straight matches, the No. 12 Pepperdine women’s tennis team (16-7 at the start of the week) will defend its WCAC championship in the conference tournament, which starts Friday at the University of San Diego.

Wave Coach Gualberto Escudero said he thinks that No. 13 San Diego should give his team “a real battle” for the conference crown. The Waves and the Toreros have split two matches.

On Monday, Pepperdine defeated BYU, 6-3. The Waves will play Monday at San Diego State.

The No. 13 Pepperdine men’s tennis team (13-9 as the week began) will play host Friday through Sunday for the men’s WCAC championships. On Wednesday the Waves will entertain No. 2 Cal.

Pepperdine has won 16 straight conference championships but will be tested this year by No. 15 San Diego, which defeated Pepperdine last Sunday, 5-1. The Toreros have also defeated Cal and USC. The Waves defeated UC Santa Barbara on Monday.

Coming off a 7-2 loss at Cuesta College, the Santa Monica College women’s tennis team will play at Ventura at 2 p.m. today and at Glendale at 2 p.m. Tuesday. Against Cuesta, Karen Imber won to remain unbeaten in singles.

The SMC men will play host to Ventura at 1 p.m. today and to Glendale in a WSC finale at 1 p.m. Tuesday.

The top-ranked UCLA men’s volleyball team (26-4 overall and 16-2 in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. at the start of the week) will end its conference season when it plays host to No. 4 USC (27-9, 12-6) at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Pauley Pavilion.

Last week the Bruins defeated No. 2 Stanford on the road in four games. Matt Whitaker led the Bruins with 24 kills, and All-American teammate Trevor Schirman added 22.

The No. 7 Pepperdine men’s volleyball team (16-13 overall, 8-11 in the WIVA) will finish its season by playing host to No. 2 Stanford at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Firestone Fieldhouse. Last week the Waves lost to USC in three games.

Santa Monica College’s men’s volleyball team will play at El Camino at 7 p.m. Friday.

The UCLA women’s gymnastics team finished second and the Bruin men were fourth in last week’s NCAA meets.

The women lost in the nationals to Georgia by 192.65 to 192.6. UCLA’s Kim Hamilton won her third straight floor exercise title with a 9.9 and captured the vault with a 9.75. Teammate Jill Andrews won the beam at 9.8 and was second in the vault at 9.725. Tanya Service was second in the all-around competition at 38.7.

Marty Wilson, senior point guard, was named the Pepperdine basketball team’s most valuable player. Other awards went to senior center Casey Crawford, best on defense; freshman forward Geoff Lear, most improved, and junior guard Shann Ferch, most inspirational and scholar-athlete.

Wilson missed all of the 1986-87 season with a back injury and about half of the 1987-88 season with a knee injury. But he came back last season to lead the Waves to a 20-13 overall record and to a 1-1 mark in the National Invitation Tournament.

The UCLA women’s crew will play host for the annual Miller Cup competition starting at 8 a.m. Saturday and ending with the finals at 1:30 p.m. at Ballona Creek. The Bruin men will row against USC Saturday at San Pedro.

Jean Zedlitz of the UCLA women’s golf team finished second last week at the Arizona State Invitational, and the Bruins placed fifth in team competition. Zedlitz shot a 222.

UCLA senior Tanya Service was named Gymnast of the Year in the Pacific 10 Conference by a vote of coaches. Other UCLA performers on the all-conference team are juniors Jill Andrews, Kim Hamilton and Amy Lucena.