SPORTSCOPE : UCLA Women Win First NCAA Golf Title

The UCLA women’s golf team won its first NCAA championship last week at Ohio State University.

Coach Jackie Steinmann’s Bruins made up six strokes on leader San Jose State on the last two holes of regulation play and won the title on the first playoff hole on a birdie putt by senior LaRee Sugg.

Junior Christy Erb led the Bruins in individual competition, shooting 291 for 72 holes to finish second, a stroke behind Arizona’s Annike Sorenstam.

Other Bruins and their totals and places included Sugg, 300, 13th; freshman Lisa Kiggens, 301, 16th; senior Debbi Koyama, 308, 33rd, and sophomore Elizabeth Bowman, 315, 58th.

The UCLA men’s golf team qualified for the NCAA tournament by finishing in a three-way tie for third place last week at the NCAA West Regional at the University of New Mexico. The NCAAs are Wednesday through June 8 at the Poppy Hills Golf Club in Carmel.

The NCAA track and field championships began Wednesday and continue through Saturday at the University of Oregon.

Defending NCAA champion Louisiana State is the women’s favorite, and UCLA, Oregon and Texas are rated as contenders. The men’s favorite is Pacific 10 Conference champion Washington State.

Leading the Bruin women are senior Janeene Vickers, two-time defending NCAA champion in the 400-meter hurdles who will also run the 100 hurdles, and senior Tracie Millett, defending national champion in the shot put and the discus. Other UCLA women and their events are senior Lisa Coleman in the high jump, freshmen Dawn Dumble and Melisa Weis in the shot and discus and senior Tonya Sedwick in the heptathlon.

The men will be led by senior Eric Bergreen, 1991 NCAA indoor and Pac-10 shot champion. Other Bruins are junior McArthur Anderson in the triple jump, junior Marty Beck in the 400 hurdles, junior pole vaulter Jay Borick, junior javelin thrower David Bunevacz, sophomore Tony Miller in the 100 and sophomore javelin thrower Erik Smith.

The UCLA women’s and men’s crews will compete June 7-8 in the National Collegiate Rowing Championship at East Fork Lake in Cincinnati. The Bruin women recently won their second consecutive Pacific Coast Championship and the UCLA men finished second to Washington.

Bill Zaima, UCLA women’s tennis coach, was named the Pacific 10 Conference coach of the year, and Bruin sophomore Kimberly Po was selected to the all-conference team.

Zaima, in his ninth year at UCLA, led his team to second place in the NCAA championships and a 23-5 record. Since 1987 the Bruins haven’t finished below third in the NCAAs.

Pepperdine baseball Coach Andy Lopez, whose team won the West Coast Conference championship this year, and Don Jamerson of St. Mary’s, which finished third in the conference, were named WCC co-coaches of the year.

Pepperdine outfielder Jorge Paz and Santa Clara infielder Adam Melhuse were named conference co-freshmen of the year. Paz batted .329 with 11 doubles and two home runs and drove in 29 runs.

Members of the All-WCC first team from Pepperdine were sophomore second baseman Steve Rodriguez and pitchers Patrick Ahearne, a junior, and Steve Montgomery, a sophomore.

Waves on the second team, all sophomores, were first baseman Dan Melendez, shortstop Eric Ekdahl, outfielder Chris Sheff, catcher Scott Vollmer and pitcher Steve Duda.

Pepperdine players who received honorable mention were Paz, junior pitcher Jerry Aschoff and pitcher David Lowall.

UCLA seniors Natalie Britton and Renee Kelly were selected to the All-Pac-10 women’s gymnastics team.

Athletes who have signed national letters of intent to attend UCLA and their sports include:

Baseball--Riverside City College pitcher Gary Adcock, El Cajon Valhalla High infielder Anthony Carrasco and Santa Monica High infielder Brett Schaefer.

Basketball--Long Beach Poly High guard Tyus Edney and Ephrata, Wash., High center Amy Jo Silva.

Golf--Billy Faeth of West Bakersfield High, Lance Graville of Corcoran (Calif.) High, John Segelke of Cherry Creek High in Englewood, Colo., Jenny Park of Acalanes High in Lafayette, Calif., and Kristyl Sunderman of Palm Desert High.

Gymnastics--Michael DeNucci of Wilbraham & Monson Academy of Somer, Conn., Israeli national champion Ron Kaplan, Megan Fenton of Hillcrest High in Salt Lake City and Kareema Marrow of Platt High in Meriden, Conn.

Soccer--Hemet High striker Eric Chaisongkram and Anaheim Canyon High goalkeeper Chris Snitko.

Softball--Catcher-infielder Joanne Alchin of Downer, Australia; infielder Jenny Brewster of Cerritos High; pitcher-outfielder Jennifer Brundage of Irvine High; outfielder Kathy Evans of Charter Oak High, Covina, and catcher Cindy Valero of Moon Valley High, Phoenix.

Swimming--Kerrie Gibbons of Germantown Academy, Wayne, Pa.; Jamie Marion of Norcross, Ga., High; Natalie Norberg of San Marino High; Megan Oesting of Mercer Island, Wash., High; Mary Petry of Walnut High, and Lori Walker of McCullough High, The Woodlands, Tex.

Tennis--Jenny Baker of Palmer Academy, Wesley Chapel, Fla.; Lee Ann Rostovsky of La Jolla High, and Paige Yaroshuk of Killian High in Miami, Fla.

Track and field--Hawthorne High sprinter Erik Allen; Mount San Antonio College long and triple jumper Charles Rogers, and Esperanza High weight thrower Mark Parlin.

Volleyball--Setter Stein Metzger of Punahou High, Honolulu; outside hitter Annett Buckner of St. Anthony High, Long Beach, and middle blocker Michelle Mauney of El Toro High.