Teams of 2 Colleges May Merge

Four team sports--football, volleyball, golf and track--now offered separately at City and Mesa colleges would be consolidated into single San Diego Community College District teams under a tentative plan announced Wednesday by district chancellor Augustine Gallego.

The plan would both save the district at least $200,000 annually at a time of money shortages and allow it to field more competitive teams in the four sports, which do not now attract many students at the separate campuses, Gallego said.

Students from any of the district’s three colleges--Mesa, City and Miramar--would be eligible to compete on the four teams, Gallego said. Already, students at Miramar, the district’s new college with no intercollegiate athletic program, can participate on teams either at City or Mesa.

Gallego said separate teams would continue at City and Mesa in soccer, softball, baseball, basketball, cross country and tennis.

Although Gallego will present a detailed plan to the board of trustees in January, he stressed that budget cuts in many areas continue to be necessary in spite of a $7-million trimming the district made for the current academic year.

“What I am proposing will allow us both to save money and also to continue to allow any student who wants to be able to compete to do so. . .,” Gallego said. “But, with our changing demographics, with older students now a large percentage of our student population, we are seeing a smaller number of students going into some sports.”

On Tuesday night, trustees in the MiraCosta College district in Oceanside voted to cut their intercollegiate program by two-thirds.