CSUN Track Trio to Redshirt While Biding Time for Move to Division I

In an effort to make Cal State Northridge more competitive in track and field at the NCAA Division I level next year, standout athletes Darcy Arreola, Walt Stewart and Tyrone Jeffries will redshirt this season.

While the absence of Arreola, Stewart and Jeffries will weaken the Matadors at the Division II level this year, their presence as seniors could help the school make an immediate impact at the Division I level in 1991.

Starting in the fall, Northridge will move to the Division I level in all sports except football.

“That wasn’t the only reason for redshirting them,” Northridge Coach Don Strametz said. “But it was the dominant factor.”

Arreola and Stewart have been hampered by recent injuries, and Jeffries wanted to conclude his track career at Northridge at the same time as friend Kevin Hendrix, a sprinter who will be a senior next season.

Arreola, the school record-holder in the 1,500 meters (4 minutes 14.15 seconds) and the two-time defending Division II champion in the 3,000, only recently began training again after missing six weeks because of an injury suffered during the cross-country season.

The injury, initially diagnosed as strained tendons in her left foot, did not prevent Arreola from winning the Division II West regional and national cross-country titles. However, the condition worsened after the Division II championships in November.

“We didn’t want it to become a chronic injury,” Strametz said. “So we just let her take some time off.”

The injury also forced Arreola, bidding to compete in the world cross-country championships in France in March, to scrap plans to run in the U. S. trials in Seattle next month. She hopes to start racing again in April and conclude her track season on the European tour this summer.

“That’s something I definitely want to do,” Arreola said. “But I’m not really thinking about it right now. I’m just running for fun at the moment.”

Stewart, who won the high jump in the Division II meet in Hampton, Va., in May, lost training time last fall because of a possible stress fracture in his lower back. He is expected to have a full season competing at the club level.

“He’s back training full bore,” Strametz said. “But we feel he can do something at the Division I level next season.”

Stewart, a 1986 graduate of Notre Dame High, raised his personal best to 7 feet, 2 1/2 inches last season and ranks second on the all-time Northridge list.

Jeffries, of Pasadena Muir High, is a seven-time Division II All-American. He placed third in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles and fifth in the 110-meter highs in the Division II meet last year.

Despite the trio’s decision to redshirt, Northridge still could field a powerful Division II team, especially on the women’s side.

The Lady Matadors placed fifth in the Division II championships last year, and five All-Americans--including Lolita Pile (second in the triple jump) and Laural Isles (second in the 100)--are expected to return from that team.