COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Arreola Approaches Racing Form

Darcy Arreola of Cal State Northridge reckons that she is at least a month away from being in top shape, and Coach Don Strametz says she is only performing at about 75% of her potential right now.

But the Lady Matador junior stamped herself as one of the favorites for next month’s NCAA Division II cross-country championships by finishing third in the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Invitational on Saturday.

Arreola, who redshirted last cross-country season, ran 16 minutes, 41 seconds over the 5,000-meter course to lead Northridge to an eighth-place finish in the team standings.

UC Irvine defeated San Luis Obispo, 82-83, for the team title, followed by Air Force Academy (133), the Reebok Aggies (154) and UCLA (179). Northridge had 282 points.

Sasha Vujic led Northridge to a 10th-place finish in the men’s race, placing 22nd in 24:43 over the five-mile course.

The Reebok Aggies defeated the Gardena Valley Runners, 67-74, for the team title, followed by the Long Beach Track Club (97), Cal (147) and Fresno State (177). San Luis Obispo, the No. 2-ranked team in Division II, was sixth with 192 points, and Northridge totaled 269.

Arreola’s time was 18 seconds faster than her previous best on the course but left her 9.1 seconds behind winner Laura Cattavera (16:31.9) of the Nike Track Club.

Jill Wood (seventh) of Air Force and Teena Colebrook (eighth) of San Luis Obispo were two top Division II runners that Arreola beat.

Wood placed second in last year’s Division II cross-country meet and Colebrook won the 800 and 1,500 meters--defeating Arreola--in this year’s Division II track championships.

Jorge Castro was Northridge’s No. 2 men’s runner in 29th (24:52). Jeff Gilkey placed 63rd (25:21) and Richard Gitahi finished 74th (25:26) for CSUN, and Derik Vett, running with a sprained left ankle, rounded out the Matadors’ scoring in 81st (25:37).

In another meet:

Mustang Roundup--Andy Yaeger ran 28:04 over the five-mile course to lead host Master’s College to victory.

The Mustangs totaled 37 points, followed by Cal State San Bernardino (42) and Pepperdine (44).

Master’s--paced by Marlys Newey’s second-place finish--also won the women’s race with 22 points. Newey ran 18:24 over the three-mile course.

Men’s Soccer

Occidental 1, Pomona-Pitzer 0--Ron Rothenberg scored the game’s only goal on an assist from Will Price in an SCIAC game at Pomona.

The Master’s 2, Westminster (Colo.) 1--Master’s, ranked 15th in the NAIA, ran its record to 10-3-3 at Master’s.