Loyola’s Veteran Harriers Will Have to Keep Up With ‘Young Lions’ This Season

When first-year Loyola Marymount cross-country Coach Mike Sheehan talks about his “young lions,” he’s doing more than making a play on words on the school nickname.

He’s issuing a challenge to the six veterans on his 11-man team. “The young kids are kind of making the elder statesmen take notice,” Sheehan said after an impressive season opener Saturday. “The young Lions are gonna put us on top. The older guys, I’ve put it to ‘em: I’m taking my top seven (to major meets).”

The men’s team opened with a home victory in an 8-kilometer race in Westchester, soundly defeating the University of San Diego, a conference rival, and a partial team from Santa Clara. Loyola had 21 points to San Diego’s 34.

A thinner Loyola women’s team placed second among four schools on a 5-K course, also around Loyola’s campus. The San Diego women won with 20 points, followed by Loyola (52), Mt. St. Mary’s (64) and a partial Santa Clara team.

Santa Clara’s Dan Fisher won the men’s race in 26 minutes, 40 seconds. But the Lions’ top three ran in a cluster to place 2-3-4. The big surprise was freshman Mike Thom, who ran second in 27:29. Sophomore Eric Merk (27:41) and freshman Kevin Delaney (27:47) were close behind. Another sophomore, Dan Martinez, was 10th (29:11), and junior Mike Roach was 11th (29:40).

“We’ve got a couple of young guys who are really gonna do it, especially Mike Thom,” Sheehan said. “He’s done three marathons and a triathlon. He’s looking very good. Merk was a surprise. He didn’t look that impressive in workouts. But on meet day--he’s a racer. Delaney was his high school (Pasadena) mile, two-mile and cross-country champ. They ran well together, and ran well as a pack.”

There’s more good news on the horizon for the men: Junior Mike Rauner, one of the team’s top two runners last year, was sick in August and is still regaining his stamina but is nearly ready to return to competition. And Mark Malone, who was Loyola’s No. 1 runner a few years ago, is enrolled again at Loyola after attending Santa Clara.

It’s a competitive situation, thanks to Sheehan, an enthusiastic 27-year-old whose first task was to set up a sign-up booth during orientation week to seek out runners. Loyola doesn’t offer any cross-country scholarships. “We set up next to the cycling club, figuring we’d attract some biathletes and triathletes,” he said. “We looked for people who looked like runners.” The effort was a success, with three dozen people trying out.

Sheehan’s first-year goal is to place second in the West Coast Conference behind perennial power Portland, which gives several scholarships. He’ll get a look at Santa Clara’s full team as well as Pepperdine’s this weekend at a meet in Whittier.

The goals for the women aren’t quite as ambitious yet. Sheehan found he was competing with the successful crew program for walk-on athletes, and he has only two returners on his eight-woman roster. Still, sophomore Jackie Creedon managed to finish third Saturday--San Diego placed 1-2-4--and Sheehan has high hopes for her. “I hope we can take at least her to the regionals, and a full men’s squad,” he said.

To that end, Sheehan isn’t just giving the team pep talks and standing on the sideline with a stopwatch. An avid competitive runner and marathoner, Sheehan is in training for next month’s Athletics Congress nationals, and the San Diego International Marathon in December. Sheehan runs with both the men’s and women’s teams when they do speed work, and alternates distance workouts.

“I try to cater to both. I don’t expect them to do anything I can’t,” he said. “It’s a team effort from the coaches on down. I’m in training, so this is helping me. I’m not gonna let these young guys beat me.”

He’s Ba-a-a-ack: Former San Pedro High and Cal State Dominguez Hills basketball player Victor (Vico) Nomaaea has returned to the Southland after serving a two-year Mormon mission in Samoa. But Nomaaea, who just got home last weekend, said he will probably not return to college before next semester--if at all--and may not play basketball if he does.

And it may not be at Dominguez Hills.

Nomaaea, a guard who was the Toros’ top three-point shooter in the 1986-87 season, hasn’t played organized ball in more than two years. He said he planned to drop by Dominguez Hills this week, then drive up to Brigham Young University in Utah to look around. He took several weeks of missionary training in Provo before he went to Samoa.

Toros Coach Dave Yanai’s attitude has been that if Nomaaea goes back to school and shows up for the team, he’s welcome, but nobody is counting on him. Chances are, if he re-enrolls he won’t play ball this school year.

With All-American forward Billy Thompson out for several weeks because of injury, the UCLA soccer team has had to look elsewhere for offense, and has found some in defender Dana Keir.

The junior from South Torrance High, shifted to forward as a fill-in, scored three goals in a 7-0 victory over UC Irvine on Sunday, surpassing his career total of two coming into the season. He leads the undefeated Bruins with four goals. His hat trick Sunday came after halftime.

UCLA Coach Sigi Schmid said of Keir, “The same attributes he has as a defender--being good in the air, his aggressiveness and his strength--make him a good forward. He’s our power forward.”

UCLA’s fourth-ranked soccer team, hoping to increase its attendance with some night games, is playing a handful of evening contests using Murdock Stadium at El Camino College as its post-sundown home field.

The Bruins, who beat the University of San Diego there Tuesday, 2-0, to improve to 5-0, will entertain UC San Diego on Sept. 26, UC Berkeley on Oct. 6 and Wisconsin-Green Bay on Oct. 20 as part of a double header, after San Diego State vs. Rutgers. All the UCLA games begin at 8 p.m.

The Bruins have a strong South Bay influence, starting with Keir and Schmid, a Torrance resident and former coach at Bishop Montgomery High. Regulars include junior Ray Fernandez of Torrance at forward and senior Chris Roosen at midfield. Transfer Mark Sharp--out of Rolling Hills by way of El Camino--is expected to see considerable time at forward. The roster also includes freshman defender Matt Arnett from Bishop Montgomery.

College Notes: Paul Krumpe, former UCLA soccer star and a member of the U.S. national team, is serving as an assistant to Dominguez Hills soccer Coach Marine Cano. The Torrance resident, a starting fullback on the U.S. team, is sitting out with an injury, and volunteered when he heard about Cano’s need for coaching help.

Carolyn Hueth, a West Torrance High graduate, is a returning starter for the Pepperdine volleyball team, which is defending its West Coast Conference title. The 5-11 sophomore earned all-freshman honors as an outside hitter. After five matches she’s fifth on the Waves with 37 kills and second with 69 digs. Kevin Gilmore has been named sports information director at Cal State Dominguez Hills. He has been assistant sports publicist at Cal Poly Pomona for two years. Pepperdine basketball Coach Tom Asbury and women’s tennis Coach Gualberto Escudero were named the school’s co-coaches of the year for the 1988-89 season.

(Paul McLeod contributed to this column.).