Violence in L.A. Alters Area College Schedules

The continuing threat of violence in Los Angeles has increased the field for today’s UC San Diego Open at the Triton track and field complex.

A triangular meet scheduled for today at UCLA featuring USC and Brigham Young was canceled, and the schools are bringing members of their teams to UCSD. BYU is bringing its entire team.

A meet at Cal State Northridge was also canceled and teams and individuals from that meet also made arrangements with UCSD Coach Mark Stanforth to attend. Among the schools who will be represented are Northridge, Azusa Pacific, Claremont, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Long Beach and Manitoba (Canada).

Stanforth said his meet originally had about 300 athletes and 500 entries, but has grown by about 400 entries and another 150 to 200 athletes. The need for competition is because many schools will not have another opportunity to compete before their conference championships and they are trying to qualify for the NCAA championships.

“The concern on our part is how many of them will actually get here,” Stanforth said. “There’s always that possibility, too. We’ve set up all the events (filling lanes and adding races), then if people can’t come, you have empty lanes. But we’re excited about having that caliber of people added to the meet. In some events, we had good people already. Our field events were a little slim, but with UCLA and USC bringing their field people, those events skyrocketed.”

Among those who will be added to the competition are decathlete Dave Johnson, who gained national exposure from his Reebok commercials opposite Dan O’Brien and is one of the top decathletes in the world. Johnson will compete in the discus and shot put. Nigeria’s Innocent Egbynike, who ran in the 1988 Olympic Finals in the 400, will compete in the 200 meters, and Amadou Ba from Senegal, the Olympic silver medalist, will compete in the 400 hurdles.

The field events are to begin at 11 a.m. and the track events at noon. The last event was set to go off at 6 p.m., but Stanforth said now that he is hopeful the meet will end by 7 p.m. Admission is free, but there is a $3 parking fee.

The volatile situation in Los Angeles also affected events in San Diego. The University of San Diego’s three-game baseball series against Loyola Marymount has been postponed indefinitely. Lost was Friday’s single game at Cunningham Stadium and today’s scheduled doubleheader.

Although Hollywood Park is closed because of Los Angeles riots, the Del Mar Satellite Wagering Facility will be open today and simulcast the Kentucky Derby from Churchill Downs, as well as other races on the Churchill Downs racing program. Del Mar opens its gates at 7 a.m., windows open at 7:30 a.m. Post time for the first race is about 8:30 a.m., with the Kentucky Derby going off at 2:30 p.m.

WOMEN’S TENNIS

Point Loma Nazarene had four players reach the NAIA District 3 quarterfinals, but PLNC’s Monica Clancy was the only local player to advance, winning two matches in straight sets to reach today’s finals at the Marina Tennis Center in Marina del Rey.

MEN’S TENNIS

San Diego State got victories from Kerri Safdie, Chris Numbers, Michael Sass, Jeff Belloli and Scott Hansen to score a 5-1 victory over Brigham Young in the semifinals of the Western Athletic Conference Championships in Salt Lake City. Top-seeded SDSU (17-7) plays No. 2 New Mexico today at noon. SDSU defeated New Mexico earlier this season, 5-4.