BYU Claims Track Titles, But Aztecs Triumph, Too : Track: Vaughn, a winner in two sprints and on a relay team.

When the meet was finally over, Jim Cerveny had to wipe away the tears.

The Western Athletic Conference track and field championships--both men’s and women’s--were won handily Saturday by Brigham Young, but it was San Diego State that stole most of the post-meet spotlight during the awards presentation at SDSU”s Choc Sportsman Track.

BYU’s men had 279 points, finishing well ahead of Texas El Paso (127) and SDSU (92). BYU’s women had 245 points, easily outdistancing SDSU (139) and Colorado State (127 1/2).

But . . .

* SDSU’s Cerveny and Rahn Sheffield were named WAC co-coaches of the year in the women’s division.

* SDSU Coach Gary Stathas was named WAC men’s co-coach of the year. He shared the honor with BYU’s Williard Hirschi.

* SDSU’s Darla Vaughn was named women’s co-athlete of the meet with BYU’s Anu Kaljurand.

Cerveny, who has been coaching at SDSU since 1982, was one of eight in the SDSU athletic department who lost their jobs during last month’s budget cuts. He officially will be out of a job July 1, when the new fiscal year begins.

As he dabbed at his eyes after accepting the award voted to him by fellow WAC coaches, several of his women athletes came by for hugs.

“We’ve been planning (the WAC championships) for three years,” Cerveny said. “We redshirted people . . . We wanted to show the conference we would hold a good meet and do well.

“I get people, other coaches, saying to me, ‘We wish we had some of your kids on our team. They never quit.’ That’s why I moved Gary and Rahn up (into head coaching positions)--I knew they could do the job.”

Vaughn, a junior who graduated from Mira Mesa High School, is one of those kids. Saturday, she won the 100- and 200-meter dashes (11.98 in the 100; 24.02 in the 200), ran the first leg of SDSU’s victorious 1,600-meter relay and was second to Kaljurand in the 100-meter hurdles.

Kaljurand did set a stadium record in 13.32. Vaughn came in at 13.52.

“I was pleased,” Vaughn said. “I didn’t make any mental mistakes. I ran hard the entire race.

“Anu ran an excellent race. I think it was her day.”

Said Sheffield: “(Vaughn) had a great day. She’s the type of person who doesn’t get mad, she gets even. She was second in the hurdles but came back in the 100, 200 and relay.”

Both Vaughn and Sheffield spoke were quick to point out the SDSU women team’s performance. They entered Friday’s preliminaries with 19 athletes, and 18 qualified for Saturday’s finals.

“That tells you a lot about San Diego State,” Sheffield said. “Money ain’t everything.”

The Aztecs, with their budget constraints, offer 1 1/2 track scholarships for women and 1.29 for men. The NCAA allows 16 for women and 14 for men. WAC champion BYU, for example, offers the maximum in both men’s and women’s track; Cerveny said the average for other WAC schools is between five and seven in each division.

That is likely a contributing factor to why BYU won so easily in both divisions. Plus, the Cougars ran well. Hirschi, BYU’s men’s coach, figured that at least 12 of his runners recorded season-bests Saturday.

“The kids performed extremely well,” he said. “We’re delighted with what we see.”

The best races of the day were the men’s 100- and 200-meter dashes, which BYU’s Frank Fredericks Texas El Paso’s Olapade Adeniken once again used as their personal showcases.

They tied in the 100 in 10.15, surpassing the stadium record of 10.20 despite running into a 4.5 meters-per-second headwind. Adeniken got the edge in a photo finish.

But, Fredericks came back to win the 200 in 20.52 (into a 1.6 headwind). Adeniken was second in 20.71.

WAC Notes

Keith Williams, a wide receiver on the SDSU football team who only went out for track three weeks ago, had a decent day--third in the 100 (10.77) and fourth in the 200 (21.88). . . . Williams also teamed with Patrick Rowe, Jerome Gross and Floyd Barco to finish second in the 400-meter relay in 40.62. . . . BYU’s Jason Pyrah, who won the 1,500-meter run (3:45.07) and 800-meter run (1:48.52) was the male athlete of the meet. . . . The high jump had a basketball flavor: BYU guard Scott Moon finished first (7-2 1/4), and SDSU forward Terrence Hamilton was third (6-9 1/2). It was only Hamilton’s second meet, and his first since an event at UCSD two weeks ago. In fact, other than these two meets, he hasn’t even practiced.