SPORTSCOPE : Bruins to Send 14 Into the Pool at NCAA Championships

The UCLA men’s swim team, led by Andrea Cecchi and Brian Kurza, will have a 14-man contingent in the NCAA men’s championships today through Saturday in Indianapolis.

The Bruins finished second to Stanford in the Pacific 10 Conference championships in early March as Cecchi was a double winner in the 100-yard and 200 breast stroke and Kurza won the 50 freestyle and finished second in the 200 free.

The UCLA 400 medley relay team of Cecchi, Kurza, Mark Thompson and Dan Kutler also won in 3:14.8, the nation’s second-fastest time this season.

Cecchi’s times of 54.32 in the 100 breast stroke and 1:58.23 in the 200 were career-best marks, and Kurza scored 54 points at the Pac-10 meet, more than any other swimmer that day, and set a meet record of 19.81 in the 50 free.

Thompson led off the relay with a personal-best time of 49.26 in the backstroke split, then improved that mark to 48.97 in finishing second in the 100 backstroke.

The UCLA women’s swim team was fifth at the NCAA championships, its best finish ever.

Sophomore Kris Stoudt led the Bruins, earning All-American recognition in seven events, setting three school records in individual races and swimming on three relay teams that broke school records. She was also third in the 100 freestyle and the 100 butterfly.

Other Bruins who gained All-American honors were freshman Christy Richardson in six events, freshman Jeanne Gibbons in five, senior Sue Potrepka in two and senior Missy Herndon in two.

The Santa Monica College men’s and women’s swim teams, which defeated Long Beach City last week, will defend their titles in the Western State Conference championships March 30 at College of the Canyons.

Against Long Beach, double winners for the Corsair women (4-1, 2-1 in the WSC) were Jeanie Chick in the 200-yard and 500 freestyles, Cecilia Henricksen in the 100 butterfly and 200 individual medley, Lisa Battig in the 50- and 100 breast stroke and Christie Lugo in the 50 butterfly and the 100 IM. Jamie Ament was a double winner for the SMC men (5-0, 3-0) in the 100 and 200 freestyles.

The second-ranked UCLA women’s tennis team (15-2) is idle this week because of final examinations. Last week the Bruins defeated Notre Dame, 9-0, and Texas, 5-4.

A winner of 11 straight dual matches entering the week, the No. 5 Pepperdine men’s tennis team (17-2 as the week began) will compete this weekend in the first Penn National Collegiate Invitational at Arizona State in Tempe.

The Waves will open Friday against No. 13 Northwestern, play No. 4 Miami on Saturday and meet No. 23 Arizona State on Sunday.

Last week Pepperdine defeated Trinity, 9-0; Kansas, 5-1; North Carolina, 7-2, and No. 10 Kentucky (5-1).

The Waves will play host to Harvard at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The No. 8 UCLA men’s tennis team (16-2) will play host to No. 9 UC Irvine at noon Wednesday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on campus.

Last week the Bruins edged USC, 5-4. UCLA junior Jason Netter upset seventh-ranked USC singles player Byron Black, 6-1, 6-4, and the doubles team of Robbie Wendell and Bill Behrens clinched the victory with a 6-4, 7-6 victory over Mehdi Benyebka and Martin Dionne.

The No. 9 Pepperdine women’s tennis team (12-6) will play at 1:30 p.m. today at No. 5 USC, entertain Princeton at 1:30 p.m. Friday and play at No. 16 University of San Diego at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Last Sunday the Waves extended their dual-match winning streak to four by defeating No. 11 Texas, 6-3. Pepperdine’s Ginger Helgeson and Janna Kovacevich upset the nation’s top-ranked doubles team of Susan Gilchrist and Joanna Plautz, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Helgeson is tied for second in the national singles rankings with Andrea Farley of Florida and Meredith McGrath of Stanford, behind top-ranked Sandra Birch of Stanford. Helgeson’s singles ranking is the highest ever for a Pepperdine woman.

The Santa Monica College women’s tennis team (11-1 overall and 8-1 in the Western State Conference) will play at Bakersfield College at 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Last week Santa Barbara City edged the Corsairs, 5-4, taking sole possession of first place in the conference and bumping SMC into second place. SMC also shut out Glendale, 9-0. Corsairs Jackie Baker and Rosa Alvarez are undefeated in conference singles matches.

The Santa Monica College men’s tennis team (8-4 and 5-3 in the WSC at the start of the week) will also play host to Bakersfield at 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Last week The Corsairs edged Glendale, 5-4, but lost to Santa Barbara, 8-1.

The No. 2 UCLA men’s volleyball team (18-2 overall and 12-2 in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn.) is idle this week. The Bruins clinched first place in the conference’s DeGroot Division last week by defeating UC Irvine in three games and San Diego State in four.

All-American Trevor Schirman was named conference player of the week. Against Irvine and San Diego State he had 20 kills, 16 blocks and hit .472. In the two matches, UCLA freshman Rich Bland had 23 kills, and senior teammate Mark Tedsen added 22.

The No. 8 Pepperdine men’s volleyball team (9-8, 4-7 in the WIVA as the week began) will play host to No. 3 Cal State Long Beach (16-4, 8-2) at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Last week the Waves lost to top-ranked USC in three close games.

The Santa Monica College men’s volleyball team will play at Santa Barbara City at 6 p.m. Friday.

The Pepperdine baseball team (15-12-1 overall and 8-4-1 in the West Coast Conference at the start of the week) will play host to the University of San Diego in a three-game series this weekend at Eddy D. Field Stadium. There will be a single game at 2 p.m. Friday and a double-header starting at noon Saturday. The Waves will entertain Cal State Dominguez Hills at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Last week Pepperdine dropped the first game at Nevada Reno, 7-6, but came back to win a double-header, 6-3 and 7-5, in extra-inning games.

Senior shortstop Chris Martin leads the Waves with a .363 batting average, 26 runs, 37 hits, 32 runs batted in, 10 home runs, 80 total bases, a .784 slugging percentage and 13 stolen bases.

The Santa Monica College baseball team (16-12 overall, 4-4 in the Western State Conference) will play at Oxnard at 2 p.m. today and play host to Cuesta at 1 p.m. Saturday at Marine Park.

Last week the Coarsairs lost to Moorpark, 5-2, but defeated Los Angeles Valley, 8-6, and Glendale, 8-5.

In conference games, SMC third baseman Kenny Woods is hitting .609 and outfielder Ed Campaniello .400.

The No. 6 UCLA women’s gymnastics team (16-3) will compete at No. 9 Cal State Fullerton (15-6) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the last regular-season meet for both teams. The NCAA West Regional will be held April 7 at 7 p.m. at UCLA’s John Wooden Center.

Last week the Bruins won their fourth straight Pac-10 championship. The scores: UCLA, 191.5; Arizona, 189.3; Arizona, 188.9; Oregon State, 185.45; California, 185.4; Washington, 185.1, and Stanford, 183.45.

UCLA senior Jill Andrews was named the conference gymnast of the year after winning the all-around title with a 38.7. She also tied for first on the vault at 9.8 and the bars at 9.7 and tied for second on the beam at 9.65. UCLA freshman Carol Ulrich was second in the all-around at 38.55. UCLA Coach Jerry Tomlinson was named conference co-coach of the year, the third time in the last four years that he has won or shared the honor.

The No. 2 UCLA women’s softball team (27-4) will play host to Oregon State in a 1 p.m. double-header Monday and to Oregon in a twin bill at 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Sunset Canyon diamond on campus.

Last week the Bruins defeated Hawaii, 3-0 and 5-0. In the first game, UCLA freshman Heather Compton pitched her first collegiate no-hit game, striking out 12.

The Santa Monica College women’s softball team (5-4 overall and 3-0 in the WSC as the week began) will play at Cuesta at 3:30 p.m. Friday.

Last week the Corsairs defeated Bakersfield, 1-0, and Canyons, 3-1. Ginger Atencio pitched a two-hitter against Bakersfield and a four-hitter against Canyons.

UCLA’s Tracie Millett was a triple winner and Caryl Smith a double winner as the women’s track team defeated Fresno State, 97-66. Millet won the discus in 174-3, the shot put in 49-4 3/4 and the javelin in 157-1. Smith took the 200 meters in 24.46 and the 400 in 55.77.

The Santa Monica College men’s and women’s track teams will compete Friday in the Santa Barbara Relays at Santa Barbara City College.

At last week’s Cal Poly Pomona invitational, the SMC men’s relay team of Mark Ricks, Marlon Singleton, Aaron Echols and Adelbert Baylis won the 4-by-100-meter race in 42.46.

The Pepperdine men’s golf team shot 883 to win the Boise State invitational, beating the second-place host school by 14 strokes. Bob Jacobson of the Waves finished second among individuals with a 54-hole total of 219, one stroke behind Jon Linstrom of Washington State.