Northridge Dominates a Low-Key Track Meet

It didn’t take long to figure out that Saturday’s track and field meet matching Cal State Northridge, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and host Cal State Los Angeles was going to be a low-key affair.

One clue was that Cal State L. A. men’s Coach John Tansley was announcing the results instead of coaching his team. Another was that San Luis Obispo coaches Tom Henderson (men) and Lance Harter (women) were absent from the proceedings.

It was obvious that the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. meet wasn’t going to be a down-to-the-wire nail biter.

Even when it was mistakenly announced that Northridge and Cal State L. A. were tied in the men’s meet, 50-50, with one event--the 1,600 relay--left, no one seemed too concerned.

Northridge entered a mediocre team in the 1,600 relay--which finished second to Bakersfield--and Cal State L. A. didn’t bother to run at all.

As it turned out, Northridge could have blown off the relay, too.

That’s because the Matadors actually held a 17-point lead over Cal State L. A. entering the final event on their way to a 68-48 victory over the Golden Eagles. Bakersfield finished third with 44 points, followed by San Luis Obispo (37).

In the women’s meet, Northridge dominated the sprints and the jumps to score 67 points. Cal State L. A. was second with 48 points, followed by San Luis Obispo (36) and Bakersfield (18).

Paul Albers turned in the top performance for the Northridge men, leading a 1-2 Matador finish in the hammer throw, while Lolita Pile and Charlotte Vines won two events each for the Lady Matadors.

Albers, who placed sixth in the hammer at last year’s NCAA Division II championships, won the event Saturday at 182 feet, 10 inches, while teammate Dave Youngberg finished second at 178-10, which qualified him for next month’s Division II meet.

Albers had already qualified for the Division II meet.

Pile, a previous nationals qualifier in the triple jump, qualified in the long jump by leaping 19-9 1/2 to move to sixth on the school’s all-time list.

The CSUN record-holder (42-1 1/4) in the triple jump, Pile used just three of her allotted six jumps but still won at 39-5.

“She was just too banged up,” CSUN assistant Coach Tony Veney said. “I think most of the kids were tired this week. I probably should have rested them a little bit more than I did.”

Vines showed no signs of fatigue in the 100, lowering her personal best to 11.75 seconds and moving to eighth on the all-time Northridge list.

Fourth in the 100 for San Marcos High at last year’s state championships, Vines on Saturday dominated a field that included Laural Isles of Northridge, the Division II runner-up last year. Isles was second Saturday in 12.23.

Vines also led a 1-2-3 Northridge finish in the 200, clocking an eased-up 24.92.

Cela Taylor, another Northridge freshman, finished second in the 200 (25.29), and won the 400 (56.6) ahead of teammate Michelle Barga (57.0).

Other Northridge winners included Kevin Hendrix in the men’s 100 (10.58) and Russell Jenkins in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles (53.72). Freshmen Chris Perry and Erick McBride won the long jump (23-9) and 800 (1:53.56).