NOTEBOOK / GARY KLEIN : Claremont Runs Win Streak in Conference Games to 100

It’s a streak that began in 1982 and there apparently is no end in sight.

The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps water polo team won its 100th consecutive Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game last weekend by defeating Pomona-Pitzer, 5-4. The victory clinched a 10th consecutive SCIAC title for the Stags and qualified them for the Western Water Polo Championships that begin Friday at Chaminade University in Hawaii.

“I’m just glad to have that over with,” Claremont Coach Mike Sutton said of reaching the century mark. “The other schools in our conference have elevated their programs in the last two years. It’s just a matter of time (before we lose).”

Claremont hopes to continue its winning ways this weekend in the eight-team regional tournament that also includes UC San Diego, Air Force, UC Davis, UC Riverside, Chaminade, Loyola and Pomona-Pitzer. The winner of the tournament gets an automatic bid to the NCAA championships Nov. 29-Dec. 1 at Long Beach.

Sutton, who played at Claremont from 1972-76, took over the Stags’ program in 1982. This season, Claremont played a schedule full of Top 20 teams and finished the regular season with a 17-12 record.

“When you get beat up by the big guys, it doesn’t seem so bad when you get in there with your peers,” Sutton said. “Also, our players have been really clutch throughout the years, and this one has been no different.”

Chris Powell, a junior from Rowland High, leads the Stags with 89 goals. Powell had three goals--including the game-winner with 2:10 left in the final quarter--in Claremont’s victory over Pomona that clinched the SCIAC title.

In the running: Kim Ojeda, a junior cross-country runner at Cal State Los Angeles, has qualified for the NCAA Division II National Championships Nov. 23 at Edwardsville, Ill.

Ojeda, who graduated from Eagle Rock High, finished sixth at the West Regional in Sonoma last weekend, covering the 5-K course in 17:38.

Cal State L.A. finished fourth in the women’s competition behind co-champions UC Davis and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. UC Riverside was third. Cal Poly Pomona finished eighth.

John Kenfield of Pomona qualified for nationals by finishing 20th in the men’s competition.

Awards time: Brian Wiesner of Cal Poly Pomona was named women’s soccer Coach of the Year in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.