NCAA DIVISION II SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS : CS Northridge Falls Short by 4 Points in Final Event : Women: Oakland (Mich.) wins title after beating Matadors in 400 freestyle relay.

Coach Pete Accardy did not have to say the Cal State Northridge women’s swim team was in trouble.

His choice of wardrobe said it for him.

Accardy wore jeans the first three days of the previous three NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships, in which the Lady Matadors had won three consecutive titles. On the final day, he wore shorts.

Asked last year to explain the switch, he replied: “Because shorts dry faster than jeans.”

It was clear that CSUN’s coach was counting on a ceremonious victory dip in the pool.

On Saturday, the final day of this year’s meet at State University of New York at Buffalo, Accardy showed up in jeans. It proved to be a bad omen.

Oakland (Mich.) University defeated Northridge in the 400-yard freestyle relay, the meet’s final event, to squeeze past the Lady Matadors, 423-419, and earn the women’s title. North Dakota, the leader after three days of competition, fell to third with 405 points.

In CSUN’s final season of competition at the Division II level--the school will compete in Division I beginning this fall--Oakland, a team that had never won a team championship, played the role of spoiler.

“I don’t want to take anything away from Oakland,” Accardy said. “Their girls swam great and they have a good program. But are they really national champions?”

Yes, indeed, they are. But as Accardy spoke, his head shook an emphatic “No.”

In Accardy’s opinion, one shared by his team and several opposing coaches, the Lady Matadors were robbed of the title by the meet’s officials.

That contention stems from Wednesday’s disqualification of Toady Kimble in the 50-yard freestyle and Friday’s ousting of CSUN’s 400-yard medley relay team.

The disqualifications--Kimble’s for a false start and the relay team’s for an illegal turn--probably cost Northridge 44 points.

Kimble, who later won the 100-yard freestyle, was a heavy favorite in the 50. A victory would have been worth 20 points. In the relay, CSUN placed seventh, earning 24 points, before learning an infraction had been called.

Oakland’s 200-yard medley relay team was disqualified Wednesday, a 34-point swing. But the 10-point difference in penalties would have put CSUN in front at the end.

“Our girls have to feel like (the championship) was taken away from them,” Accardy said. “It would have been one thing if they were outswum. But they weren’t.”

Meet officials met Saturday morning to consider a Northridge protest of its relay disqualification. However, the decision was upheld.

At least that’s what Accardy was told by other coaches.

“None of the officials have said anything to me about it,” Accardy said after the meet. “I heard through the grapevine that (the protest) didn’t go through. It would be nice to know why.”

The call was made by lane judge Matt Dembrow, who said that Mara Morgan, on the backstroke leg, had broken the vertical plane of her shoulders before touching the wall on her turn.

Accardy disputed that Morgan’s turn was illegal, and he claimed that Dembrow’s call had been influenced by another official.

A raised hand is a judge’s signal for disqualification. Witnesses said that Dembrow raised his hand halfway, then conferred with head referee John Pat Bourassa.

After a short conversation, Dembrow fully extended his arm.

Accardy’s claim that Bourassa had influenced Dembrow’s call was backed by Wisconsin-Milwaukee Coach Dave Enzler, who said he heard Bourassa tell the lane judge to place his hand in the air.

“What bothers me,” Enzler said, “is that I had just sat through a meeting in which they told everyone that disqualification calls would be done immediately and without discussion.”

Bourassa on Friday said the call was Dembrow’s. Dembrow declined comment, referring all questions to Bourassa.

Dembrow was conspicuous by his absence Saturday.

Even with its two infractions, Northridge would have defended its title with a stronger showing--make that a ny showing--by its diving team.

Oakland picked up 39 points in the one- and three-meter diving competitions. CSUN has a diving coach--Dennis Taylor--but no divers.

Northridge had a four-point lead over Oakland going into the 400-yard freestyle relay, the meet’s final event.

But Accardy knew his team’s fate likely was already sealed. Oakland’s qualifying time was more than two seconds faster than CSUN’s.

Lisa Guilfoyle gave Oakland a one-second lead after the first 100 yards and Kerry Leavoy and Dana Kennedy extended the lead to 2.42 seconds--about three body lengths--with 100 yards to go.

Kimble, swimming the anchor leg for CSUN, trimmed one-third off Lyn Schermer’s lead by covering the first 50 yards in 23.2. She couldn’t continue that pace, however, and faltered markedly in the final 25 yards and was out-touched by Kirsten Silvester of Northern Michigan, which finished second.

Oakland was in strong contention for the team title after Northridge fell short of its scoring expections in the 200-yard backstroke.

Mara Morgan of CSUN finished third in the finals, scoring 16 points, but Carole Eisele, who Accardy hoped would challenge for the consolation championship, finished last in her race.

Going into the finals of the 200-yard breaststroke, the meet’s last individual race, the Lady Matadors needed an upset victory from Kathy Ruiz.

Ruiz, the third-fastest qualifier, finished third in 2:22.79 behind Carolyn Bentley of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (2:20.64) and Colleen Criscillo of Army (2:21.45).

Northridge started the day in third place, 30 points behind front-running North Dakota and five shy of Oakland.

Strong finishes by Michelle Sulak and Lisa Dial in the 1,650-yard freestyle put CSUN within a point of North Dakota after the night’s first event.

Sulak lopped nine seconds off her personal best to finish third in a school-record 16:58.01. Dial turned in an effort of 17:07.70 to place sixth.

Northridge picked up 29 points in the event to take a 16-point lead over Oakland. North Dakota was shut out in the 1,650 but temporarily clung to a 330-329 advantage.

Oakland vaulted over both opponents with a 2-4-8-11 finish--worth 49 points--in the 100-yard freestyle.

Kimble won the event for Northridge in 51.10, but the 20 points she earned for the victory were CSUN’s only ones of the race.

The victory, Kimble said later, took its toll on her leg strength for the relay.

“I was trying to come back,” she said of her relay effort, “but my legs were gone.”

However, her sense of humor wasn’t.

On the way back from accepting CSUN’s third-place award for the relay, Kimble offered an alternative to CSUN’s usual post-meet celebration.

“I think maybe we should just throw the officials in the pool,” she said.