COLLEGE DIVISION NOTEBOOK : Poor Attendance Forces Christ College Runners to Take an Incomplete : COLLEGE DIVISION NOTEBOOK / MARTIN BECK

Christ College Irvine is again having trouble rounding up enough runners to score in a cross-country meet.

Last season it wasn’t until the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics championships--the final meet of the season--that the CCI men’s team scored. The women never did.

This year, the men’s and women’s teams each have five members--the minimum to field a team--but because of various injuries and illnesses the Eagles have yet to score after four meets.

Amanda Houlton, the CCI sports information director who helps her husband, Coach Dave Saltin, with the team, said the Eagles won’t have full teams at the Golden State Athletic Conference championships Saturday at Fresno’s Woodward Park.

“We’ve had a guy who has mono, so obviously he’s not going to be running,” Houlton said. “It’s just been that kind of year. We’re hoping that everybody will be able to drag themselves to the district championships (Nov. 2).”

Christ College dropped its track and field program last year, and although some athletes kept track going as a club, the already shallow pool of cross-country talent didn’t get any deeper.

“At registration we hung out and looked for runners” Houlton said. “We had a guy come through with an L.A. Marathon T-shirt on and we said, ‘Hey, come over here,’ but he didn’t want to run.”

Tera Fricke, a freshman from Olympia, Wash., and the team’s only true recruit, is expected to run at the conference championships Saturday after missing all but the first meet of the season with a virus.

The men’s team is led by Brian Aschbrenner, a junior from San Ramon who has yet to miss a race.

The Southern California College cross-country teams are faring better but still aren’t in a position to challenge Point Loma Nazarene, whose men’s and women’s teams are favored to win titles Saturday.

The Vanguards’ top performer has been Amber Coley, a junior from Dana Hills High School. Although she fell during the race, Coley was SCC’s first finisher Saturday at the Stanford Invitational, running 5,000 meters in 19 minutes 22 seconds and finishing 46th in the field of 175. As a team, SCC was 17th out of 23 schools in the open women’s division. The men’s team, which finished last among 20 teams, was led by Chad Heaton, a freshman from Ruth, Calif., who ran 27:56 for 8K, finishing 103rd.

For the first time in three seasons, the Vanguards won’t have a front-runner at the conference championship race. Sherri Hall, who won her second conference title in three years last season, graduated, but Coach Bryan Wilkins said Coley should do well.

“She’s got a shot to be in the top five, but there is some stiff competition there and she’ll have to run well to do that,” Wilkins said.

Not only does Gregg Murphy coach the Chapman University men’s and women’s soccer teams, but he also coordinates the schedule for the school’s athletic facilities, runs the equipment room and oversees the athletic work-study program.

“It’s about four full-time jobs,” Murphy said. “It gets hectic at times, but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do so you can coach, I guess.”

Murphy, in his second year as men’s coach and fourth as the women’s, isn’t complaining. Although he has no scholarships to offer and his teams have struggled at times this season, he sees a bright future for the Panthers.

One reason for his optimism was that he was able to bring in 14 new players for the men’s team, including freshman Eddie Soto, a graduate of Cerritos High School who is the second-leading scorer in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.

Soto has 10 goals and two assists for 22 points in 12 games. Todd Henry of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo has 24 points (11 goals and two assists).

The Panthers (5-6-1, 1-2 in the CCAA) lost two conference road matches last week--4-3 to No. 16 Cal State Bakersfield and 6-0 to No. 18 Cal Poly SLO. On Monday, the Panthers, who were 2-15-1 last season, lost to Division I Cal State Los Angeles, 5-1.

“It’s been a long week around here but compared to last year and looking to next season, we’re all optimistic and positive that we are going to do something good,” Murphy said.

College Division Notes

Although the Chapman women’s volleyball team dropped out of the NCAA Division II poll for the first time in Mary Cahill’s three years as coach, the Panthers remain among the top 20 teams in the nation in the Tachikara-American Volleyball Coaches Assn. poll. Chapman, which plays host to Cal Poly PomonaFriday, is ranked 16th this week by the coaches. Cal Poly Pomona is No. 8 in the NCAA poll. . . . Mike Fleischly, a senior on the Christ College men’s soccer team, suffered a stress fracture of his pelvic bone during a 2-1 loss to Fort Lewis (Colo.) Friday. Fleischly, a defender who played at Orange Lutheran, is out for the season. . . . A handful of spots remain for the Chapman Athletic Foundation golf tournament, Monday at Newport Beach Country Club. The event is Chapman’s biggest fund-raiser of the year and proceeds help fund athletic scholarships. The $250 fee includes cart and greens fees, refreshments and lunch on the course, an awards banquet and an auction. Included in the auction will be Rose Bowl and Super Bowl tickets, a U.S. Open golf tournament excursion and a Pebble Beach golf package. For information call, 997-6691.