THE COLLEGES : Sullivan Hanging His Hopes on Bears’ Job

For the second year in a row, former Cal Lutheran standout Kent Sullivan will battle Maury Buford for the Chicago Bears’ punting job.

This time, however, Sullivan hopes the outcome will be different from last year when the Bears went with experience (Buford) over youth (Sullivan).

“I think I’ve got a really good chance at making it,” said Sullivan, who signed a two-year make-good contract with the Bears last month. “I’ve heard through various people that they’re pretty high on me. . . . They went with Maury last year, but he didn’t have a very good season, finishing 26th (actually 21st) out of 28 punters, so I think I’ve got a chance.”

Buford, 30, who also has played for the San Diego Chargers and New York Giants during his seven-year NFL career, averaged 39.5 yards for 72 punts last season, including nine touchbacks and 21 punts inside the opposing team’s 20-yard line.

Sullivan, 25, had a 38.8 average during his career (1985-88) at Cal Lutheran. His best seasons, statistically, were in 1985 and ‘86, when he averaged 40.1 yards.

On the road again: Without a home field, the Mission baseball team has gone to ridiculous lengths, and distances, to play its home games.

Typically, the Free Spirit plays home games at Valley College, but it also has played “home” games at Pierce, L. A. City and East L. A colleges.

Mission has overcome this adversity to post a 17-9-1 record, 9-4 in the Southern California Athletic Conference, and contend for the school’s first state playoff berth.

Grounded jumper: Lolita Pile of Cal State Northridge, a three-time NCAA Division II All-American in the triple jump, will not compete in her specialty in the Fresno Relays on Saturday.

Pile’s absence is not because of injury or illness but because of Fresno City College’s short runway, which is only 35 yards (105 feet) long.

Pile’s triple-jump approach is 127 feet. With a landing pit at each end of the runway, the only way she could have jumped would have been to shorten her run, or keep her approach its normal length and start on the grass infield before veering onto the runway.

“She could have (started on the grass),” Northridge Coach Don Strametz said, “but we decided against that. She’ll still be busy with other events.”

Pile will compete in the long jump and run the second leg on the Lady Matadors’ 400-meter relay at Fresno.

Local help: Some might say the key to winning an NCAA basketball title this season was the presence of an All-American such as Jennifer Azzi or Larry Johnson, but astute observers will note the presence of Valley-area reserve guards on both champions.

Stacy Parson, a senior from Kennedy High, is the only Californian on Stanford’s national championship women’s basketball team. She entered the game after Azzi fouled out late in the Cardinal’s 88-81 win over Auburn.

Travis Bice, a sophomore from Simi Valley High, and Stacey Cvijanovich, a senior from Santa Clara High, both played in UNLV’s 103-73 blowout of Duke. Cvijanovich scored five points in 10 minutes and Bice was scoreless in nine.

Double trouble: Percy Knox and Angela Burnham, two former state track and field champions at Valley-area high schools, each rank among the Pacific 10 Conference leaders in three track and field events.

Knox, who won the state long jump title for Antelope Valley in 1987, is ranked third in the 200 meters (20.98 seconds) and fourth in the 100 (10.44) and long jump (25 feet 6 3/4 inches) for Arizona.

Burnham, who won an unprecedented five state sprint titles at Rio Mesa (1986-89), ranks third in the 100 (11.91) and 200 (24.15), and sixth in the 400 (55.23) for UCLA.

Knox and Burnham also run legs on their respective 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams. Both 400-meter relays teams rank first and both teams in the longer relay rank third.

Stated intentions: College of the Canyons has been confirmed as the host of the 1991 women’s state junior college basketball tournament, and Coach Jeff Dunlap is putting together a December tournament that will serve as a dry run for the state event.

The Lady Cougars’ Classic is scheduled for Dec. 13-15 and will include last season’s state qualifiers, Southwestern, Antelope Valley and Desert in addition to Pierce, in the eight-team field, Dunlap said.

Staff writers Brendan Healey and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.