Northridge Pair Claim Track Titles

Walt Stewart ended a losing streak and Darcy Arreola extended a winning streak for Cal State Northridge in the NCAA Division II track and field championships at Hampton University on Friday.

Stewart, a junior from Notre Dame High, became the first Northridge athlete to win a men’s Division II title in five years when he took the high jump at 7 feet, 0 1/2 inch. Arreola won her second consecutive title in the women’s 3,000 meters with a time of 9 minutes, 26.11 seconds.

Stewart’s victory was worth 10 points and moved Northridge into a tie for eighth in the men’s standings after the second day of the three-day meet.

The Matadors, ninth in 1988, had 13 points after seven of the 21 men’s events.

Angelo State of Texas led with 40 points, followed by St. Augustine’s (Raleigh, N.C.) with 28 1/2 and South Dakota State with 19.

Northridge--paced by Arreola’s victory and Lisa Gill’s fourth-place finish in the heptathlon--was fourth in the women’s standings with 15 points.

Seattle Pacific led with 26 points, followed by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (25) and Southeast Missouri State (16).

While Arreola’s victory came easily--she won by more than six seconds--Stewart had to struggle for his, defeating defending-champion Bob Sundell of Northwest Missouri State in a jump off.

Stewart, Sundell and Darrin Moore of St. Augustine’s all cleared the winning height, but Moore placed third because he cleared the bar on his second attempt while Stewart and Sundell cleared it on their first.

After missing three times each at 7-1 3/4, Stewart and Sundell missed a fourth attempt at that height to start the jump off.

The bar was then lowered to 7-0 1/2, but both jumpers again missed. Finally, Stewart won by clearing 6-11 1/2 after Sundell missed.

“I’m really glad it’s over,” said Stewart, the third Northridge athlete to win the Division II high jump and the first since Jerry Saunders in 1980. “I had good height all day--especially at 7-1 3/4--but I was just a little off in my approach. My speed wasn’t as good as it has been.”

Dave Stephens, a member of the 1988 U. S. Olympic team, was the Matadors’ most recent individual men’s champion, winning the javelin in 1984.

Stewart’s victory was a triumphant ending to an event that began in a disastrous way for Northridge.

Matador junior Ken Burke was the first jumper in the competition, but his participation in the national meet lasted all of three seconds.

That’s how long it took between the time he started his approach to the time his left Achilles’ tendon snapped.

“I felt like I was ready to fly,” said Burke, a 1985 graduate of Westlake High. “But it just popped . . . . I told Walt right before I jumped that I was ready to pop one, but I didn’t mean this way.”

Although Stewart was one of the first people to come to Burke’s aid, he said that he had to block the incident out of his mind during the competition.

“I was definitely upset when it first happened,” Stewart said. “But you can’t let it get to you. You have to put it out of your mind and keep jumping.”

Burke, who was on crutches after the meet, is expected to undergo surgery early next week.

Arreola’s number No. 1 goal entering the 3,000 was victory, but she also wanted to run a respectable time. That’s why she took the lead after a pedestrian first 400 (80 seconds) and broke the race open at the 1,600-meter mark (5:06).

“I was supposed to stay behind for the first three laps, but I couldn’t stand running that slow for that long,” said Arreola, who has a personal best of 9:13.34. “I wanted to win, but I wanted it to be a decent time. I didn’t want to win in a real slow time.”

Arreola was, however, saving herself for the the 1,500 final today, in which she will attempt to win her second consecutive title.

Her competition in that event figures to be stiffer--Teena Colebrook of Great Britain and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo ran 4:09.69 at Santa Monica City College last Saturday, almost six seconds faster than Arreola’s best of 4:15.35.

“I expect it to be fast,” Arreola said. “And, hopefully, I’ll be right there.”

After scoring a personal best of 2,973 points on the first day of the heptathlon, Gill faded in the last three events Friday but placed fourth with 4,825 points, 70 points shy of her best.

Gill leaped 18-5 1/4 in the long jump, threw 120-5 in the javelin and ran 2:45.37 in the 800.

In other events, Mary Coleman ran a personal best of 55.07 to finish third in her heat of the 400 and qualify for today’s final, and Tyrone Jeffries qualified for the final of the 110-meter high hurdles with a third-place effort of 14.25 in his heat.

Jeffries also ran the second leg on the Matadors’ 400-meter relay, which placed third in its heat (in a season best of 40.90) to qualify for the final.