CSUN Men, Women Post Track Wins at Long Beach

The coaching staff of the Cal State Northridge track and field teams is far from thrilled with the scoring system that has been used at the Cal State Long Beach Collegiate Classic for the past two seasons.

But after winning the men’s meet for the second year in a row and the women’s for the first time Saturday, it will be difficult for the Matadors not to return next year to try to defend their titles.

The scoring system at the meet is based on the one that was used in the now-defunct World Cup meets.

Only the top finisher per school in each event--through 13th place--scores under this system. Even if a team finishes first and second in an event, as Northridge did in the men’s shotput, the team is awarded points only for first. The third-place finisher, in this case Shawn Larcher of Air Force, moves up to second for scoring purposes.

Northridge Coach Don Strametz said this system discriminates against teams with depth, such as Northridge.

Nonetheless, the Matadors totaled 216 points to defeat runner-up Air Force by two points in the 13-team men’s meet.

Army finished third with 163 points, followed by Utah State (150) and Cornell (130).

Northridge scored 219 points to win the nine-team women’s meet after finishing fifth last year. Long Beach placed second with 192, followed by San Diego State (184), Army (143) and Air Force (140).

Although Northridge junior Nate Wright did not know it at the time--because no one knew the score of the meet--he clinched the men’s title when he anchored the Matadors to a second-place finish behind Air Force in the 1,600-meter relay, the meet’s final event.

Air Force, which timed 3 minutes 12.04 seconds, received 14 points for the win, and Northridge (3:14.28) was awarded 12. But if Wright had not passed two runners in the homestretch, Northridge would have finished fourth, received 10 points, and tied for the title.

Wright had plenty of motivation for his 46.7 anchor leg after placing third in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles in 52.61.

“I wasn’t pleased with my time at all,” Wright said. “I wanted to go much faster. I was shooting for something in the 50s, but the wind bothered me some on the backstretch and especially on the curve. It threw my steps off.”

Northridge won six of the 20 events in the men’s meet, and the Matador women were victorious in four of 18.

Senior Sasha Vujic (3:52.27 in the 1,500 meters), junior Gil Carrillo (221 feet 8 inches in the javelin) and freshman Derek Scurry (25-2 in the long jump) recorded the most impressive victories for the men.

The Northridge women’s 400-meter relay team of Dee Dee Small, Joy Polk, Erin Morris and Charlotte Vines won in 45.83, moving the foursome to fifth on the all-time Matador list.

Other Northridge winners were Kirsten Dunn in the javelin (147-8), Tanya Lynch in the triple jump (37-11 1/4) and Persephone Lowery in the 800 (2:16.34).