THE COLLEGES : Kernen Criticizes Format That Grouped Northridge With UC Riverside in West

Before the first pitch was thrown in last week’s NCAA Division II West baseball regional, Northridge Coach Bill Kernen expressed dissatisfaction with the playoff format that groups teams largely on geography.

Cal State Northridge and UC Riverside, two of the divisions higher-ranked teams, were co-champions of the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. and wound up together in the West regional. Northridge defeated Riverside in the regional final to advance to the Division II World Series that starts today.

In Division I, top West Coast teams are placed in other regionals in order to balance the field.

“Northridge and Riverside are probably two of the top three or four teams in the country, but only one of us is going to go,” Kernen said.

In head-to-head competition with Riverside, Northridge won five games in a row after dropping the first two, so Kernen is confident that the best in the West advanced to the World Series.

“Riverside controlled us pretty well the first time we played,” he said. “You could see their experience level and we were just floundering around. When we came back to beat them we had to do some special things because they’re a quality team. But you don’t win five in a row against somebody--whether it’s L. A. State or Riverside--unless you’re better than them, period.

“I guess it’s easy to say after it’s over, but we feel like we dominated this league in the second half. After a month or so of seasoning we just mowed through the thing.”

Cursed again: Rancho Santiago and Moorpark are going to have to stop meeting like this.

Rancho Santiago has beaten the Moorpark football team in bowl games in each of the past two years, and Rancho ended the Moorpark baseball team’s season last Saturday with a 5-3 win over the Raiders in the Southern California regional.

Rancho didn’t knock Moorpark out of the state basketball tournament but did go on to win the state championship after Moorpark was beaten in the final eight.

Tenderness: Before last weekend’s state junior college track and field championships at Santa Barbara City College, Melanie Clarke of Valley had been nursing a sprained ankle she sustained in the Southern California preliminary meet two weeks ago.

The injury forced her to pull out of the long jump, high jump, shotput and 400 meters. However, while the ankle didn’t affect her in the heptathlon last weekend--she won with 5,043 points--another ailment did.

The freshman from El Camino Real High experienced soreness in her lower back after her effort in the high jump during the first day of the heptathlon.

Clarke, who has qualified for The Athletics Congress junior nationals in the high jump, long jump, 400 and heptathlon, cleared 5 feet 8 inches. That mark would have given her first place in the open high jump, which was won at 5-5 3/4.

She became the first athlete since Shann Kern of Mt. San Antonio in 1985 to exceed 5,000 points in the heptathlon in the state meet.

“The (ankle) didn’t bother me,” she said. “That was my primary concern, but (my back) hurt more. I knew it was sore when I woke up. I just tried to block it out.”

Plan B race: At the start of the season, Cal State Northridge junior Jorge Castro had every intention of competing in the NCAA Division II track and field championships at Hampton (Va.) University.

But he figured it would be in the 5,000 meters, not the 1,500.

A series of injuries, however, forced Castro to concentrate on the shorter race. He has responded surprisingly well, running a personal best of 3 minutes 49.60 seconds last weekend to qualify for the Division II meet.

Castro, a two-time Division II All-American in cross-country, crashed on his bike during a training ride two days before the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in April.

Because of a bruised right hip suffered in the crash, Castro ran the 1,500 instead of the 5,000 at Mt. SAC. Two days later, however, the hip swelled and kept him from running for three weeks. He rode a bike and worked out in a swimming pool to maintain his fitness.

“We were hoping the workouts would be enough,” Northridge assistant Coach Bob Augello said. “But you never know. No matter how hard you work, it’s not the same as running.”

Castro ran for just a few days before the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. championships at UC Riverside but placed fourth in the 1,500 in 3:54.86 before running 3:49.60 last Saturday.

“It just shows you what can be done if you have the right attitude,” Augello said. “When he got injured, he was very determined not to fall out of shape. . . . I think he’s capable of shaving a couple more seconds off his best.”

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