NOTEBOOK : Occidental Sidetracked at NCAA Meet

The Occidental men’s and women’s track teams expected tough competition at last week’s NCAA Division III national championships, but nothing like the performance turned in by Wisconsin Oshkosh.

“I thought the women’s competition was going to be a five- or six-way go-round,” Occidental Coach Bill Harvey said. “But it was a one-way go-round.

“Frankly, they crunched everybody.

Indeed, Oshkosh rolled up 75 points, defeating eighth-place Occidental by 44 points.

Occidental finished 10th in the men’s competition (22 points), won by Lincoln University (Pa.) with 49 points.

Occidental’s Glenda Mitchell, the defending national champion in the heptathlon, struggled the first two days of competition and finished sixth. Occidental’s Jenny Lawrence was fourth.

“We got pretty good performances from everybody,” Harvey said. “Glenda just wasn’t dialed in the first few days, but she made a comeback.

“When you do as well as she did as a junior, it’s hard to duplicate that.”

The Tiger women’s 4 X 400 relay team was second in a school-record 3 minutes 47.60 seconds. Trisha Hine was second in the 800 in 2:13.72. Pam Childs placed fourth in the long jump with a leap of 18 feet 3 inches.

Ron Cunningham was the top men’s finisher for the Tigers, placing second in the 100 in 10.74 seconds. Ben White was fourth in the long jump (24-6) and Greg Garcia was fifth in the javelin (202-0).

Wake-up fall: Creighton Harris of Hoover High placed fifth at the Masters Meet last Friday in the 1,600 meters at 4:16.72 to qualify for the state track and field meet Friday and Saturday at Cerritos College.

Harris had been hoping to run in the 3,200 meters instead, but a fall from the top of a bunk bed a week before the Pacific League finals early this month altered those aspirations. The senior sustained contusions on his left leg and a laceration that required stitches.

Harris was able to advance to the Southern Section 4-A Division finals in the 1,600 at the preliminaries May 12, but didn’t qualify in the 3,200.

Harris’ teammate, Eliazar Herrera, advanced to the state meet in the 3,200 after placing third in the Masters in a personal-best 9:00.29, more than six seconds faster than his previous best of 9:06.43 set at the 4-A finals.

Bound to be a Bruin: Herrera has given an oral commitment to UCLA, choosing the Bruins over Northern Arizona.

Herrera placed third in the 4-A cross-country championships and 11th in the Kinney National championships this fall.

“(UCLA) is closer to my house and offers a great academic program,” Herrera said. “I’m looking forward to my future because I’m know that I’m not going to be running forever.”

Still going strong: The junior college track and field state championships have passed, but Glendale College’s Dave Swanson and Rick Provenzano made good showings at the The Athletics Congress Southern California championships at Mt. San Antonio College on Saturday.

Swanson won the high jump at 6-11 3/4 to earn a spot in the Northern vs. Southern California championships in Berkeley in June while Provenzano, who has qualified for the TAC junior nationals in the 800, placed sixth at that distance in 1:52.72.

Honor roll: The Marshall High baseball team, which won the Northwest League championship, placed six players on the all-league team, including second baseman Vic Marrufo, who was selected Player of the Year in voting by coaches.

Marrufo batted .509 for the Barristers, who finished 11-6 overall and 6-2 in league play.

Other all-league players from Marshall included senior catcher Butch Umemoto (.391), junior shortstop Richard Martinez (.286), senior outfielder Jamie Chavez (.351), and senior pitcher Bobby Anguiano (7-1).

Kirby Lee contributed to this notebook.