WAC Adopts 8-Game Football Schedule

The Western Athletic Conference on Wednesday announced the 1992-93 schedules for football and basketball which include the league’s newest member, Fresno State.

Fresno State officially becomes a WAC member on July 1, 1992.

The 1992 football schedule will be an eight-game format where each team will play all but one of the other WAC teams.

Men’s basketball will be a double round-robin format with an 18-game conference schedule, beginning Jan. 2. Women’s basketball also adopted a double round-robin 14-game format with the WAC season beginning Jan. 14.

The WAC directors also voted to keep an eight-team basketball tournament for both men and women.

SAILING

Defense trials for the America’s Cup will start Jan. 14 off San Diego, the America’s Cup Organizing Committee has announced.

Bill Koch’s America-3 syndicate is expected to enter two boats. Team Dennis Conner, the only other defense syndicate, has only one boat. Four rounds of trials are scheduled Jan. 14-26, Feb. 8-18, March 3-17 and March 28-April 12 leading to the best-of-13-race finals starting April 17.

The survivor will defend the Cup against the winner of the challenger trials in a best-of-seven series starting May 9 off San Diego.

SOCCER

Dave Byrd scored two second-half goals to lead Christian Heritage’s men’s team to a 3-0 NAIA District III victory against Point Loma Nazarene at CHC.

Byrd scored the final goals for the Hawks, late in the first half and with four minutes remaining in the second.

Patrick Smith, on an assist by his brother Paul, scored CHC’s first goal, 21 minutes into the game, and had an assist on the final goal.

Christian Heritage is 4-3-2, 1-0; PLNC is 0-4, 0-1.

Brian Craft-Negrete scored a goal and assisted on another as San Diego State’s men’s team took a 3-1 decision from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Dan Lafond opened scoring for the Aztecs (5-0-0) at 41:50, with Jevin Albuquerque on the assist. Willie Franklin scored at 66:20, Craft-Negrete assisting, and Craft-Negrete completed scoring at 69:25, unassisted. CP SLO is 2-1-2.

UC San Diego women’s team handed Westmont a 2-0 loss at UCSD, and the Tritons chalked up their third consecutive shutout for the season. Jody Robertson and Cheryl Parker scored for UCSD (3-0).

VOLLEYBALL

UCSD was almost perfect in a three-game nonconference sweep against UC Santa Cruz (5-6). UCSD defeated the visitors, 15-0, 15-2, 15-1 to improve to 4-2.

Liz Vesanovic had six kills; Julie Fabian had 16 assists for UCSD.

Undefeated USC kept its winning streak alive, at the expense of University of San Diego, which fell to the Trojans, 15-2, 15-2, 15-6, at USC’s North Gym. The Toreras fell to 8-5; USC is 6-0.

APPOINTMENTS

USD has hired former UCSD assistant swimming coach Dave Johnson and former Grossmont Junior College diving coach Karen Jewel to its women’s swimming staff. They will join head coach Gary Becker.

TENNIS

USD seniors Jose Luis “Tato” Noriega and Sakolwan “Tuck” Kacharoen were included in the Volvo Intercollegiate individual rankings, the first of the 1991-92 season. USD men didn’t make the team rankings, but the women, the West Coast Conference runners-up last year, are ranked No. 18.

Lima, Peru, native Noriega, a three-time NCAA All-American, is ranked fourth in men’s singles and 16th in doubles, with partner Kevin Bradley, a junior out of Las Vegas.

Kacharoen, a native of Thailand, Bangkok, is ranked No. 24 in singles. Sophomores Julie McKeon of Northbrook, Ill., and Laura Richards of Vista are the 19th-ranked women’s doubles team.