Azusa Pacific on Track for Another Title

Azusa Pacific, which has dominated men’s track and field in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics since the early 1980s, is expected to continue its success when the national championships start today.

Only this time the Cougars, who have won eight titles in the past nine seasons, will have to leave the country to accomplish the feat.

For the first time, the NAIA is holding its national meet in Canada. The competition will be at Simon Fraser University in Abbotsford, British Columbia.

“It’s sort of interesting that we would be going out of the country for a national championship,” Azusa Pacific Coach Terry Franson said. “We’ve had to get passports and visas for this, but we’re really looking forward to it.”

Franson said the meet will serve as a prelude for the Canadians, who will play host to the British Commonwealth Games at nearby Victoria in 1993.

“Track and field is very big in Canada, and a lot of people come to the meets,” sprinter Osmond Ezinwa added. “It’s going to be very exciting for us.”

Ezinwa and his twin brother, Davidson, are two of the reasons the Cougars are expected to successfully defend their title. The juniors form the nucleus of the team’s excellent sprint corps.

Davidson is the British Commonwealth, African and Nigerian record-holder at 100 meters with a 1992 world best of 9.91 seconds. He is also defending NAIA champion at 100 and 200 meters and will be joined in the 400- and 1,600-meter relays by Osmond.

“Mentally and physically I think we’re ready,” Osmond said. “I think we’re in good shape going into the meet.”

Among the other talented Azusa Pacific athletes are Benjamin Koech in the long and triple jumps, Vince Beresford in the pole vault and Jason Wyatt in the shotput. Koech, a senior from Kenya, is defending NAIA champion in his specialties with bests of 24 feet 9 inches in the long jump and 51-11 in the triple jump this season.

Wyatt, a sophomore, is two-time NAIA indoor champion in the shotput. He also won the outdoor title last season. Beresford, a junior who won the indoor pole vault title in March, has a top performance of 17-1.

The Cougars will also rely on David Pope and Vaughn Mealy in the decathlon, Larry Johnston in the hammer throw and Ben Beal in the high jump.

“I think nationally it’s as strong a team as we’ve ever had,” Franson said.

More important, he said, the team is in its best physical shape.

“We’re excited because we think we have a good bunch of kids and we’re healthy,” Franson said. “We weren’t healthy the last three weeks, but we’re healthy now.”

Pomona-Pitzer achieved a couple of firsts when its women’s tennis team won the NCAA Division III title last week.

It not only was the first women’s tennis title for the Sagehens, but also the first national team title in any sport for the school.

The Sagehens were seeded No. 1 in the women’s tournament last season before finishing fifth.

Seeded first again this year, Pomona-Pitzer didn’t let the opportunity slip away. The Sagehens defeated Kenyon of Ohio, 5-4, in the title match.

The Sagehens finished with a 22-3 record, losing only to Division II powers Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Los Angeles and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Pomona-Pitzer was led by senior Shelley Keeler, who took the Division III singles title with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over defending champion Caroline Bodart of Menlo. Keeler also teamed with senior Erin Hendricks to win the doubles title, 6-2, 6-4, over Debbie Frisk and Jill Tobin from Emory of Georgia.

It was Keeler’s third consecutive doubles title. She combined with Hendricks for the title in 1991 and with Caryn Cranston for the championship in 1990. Keeler also teamed with Karen Nilson to finish third in doubles as a freshman in 1989.

Coach Lisa Beckett’s teams have finished no worse than sixth in the division during her five seasons at Pomona-Pitzer and have yet to lose a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference dual match. However, five of the Sagehens’ top six players are graduating.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is hoping history repeats when it competes in the NCAA Division II World Series, which starts Saturday in Montgomery, Ala.

In its last appearance in the World Series, in 1989, the Mustangs won their first Division II baseball title.

The Mustangs (38-17) will enter the eight-team, double-elimination tournament seeded first. San Luis Obispo, ranked No. 3 in the division at the start of the playoffs, defeated eighth-ranked UC Riverside, 10-5, Sunday to win the Division II West Regional.

San Luis Obispo, which will play eighth-seeded Sacred Heart of Connecticut in its opener, was seeded No. 1 after top-ranked Florida Southern and Armstrong State of Georgia lost in regional play.

Pitching has made the difference for the Mustangs, who tied with Riverside for the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. title. Paul Souza is 8-2, Eric Hill 7-2 and Dan Chergey 7-5.

Offensively, first baseman Mike Oakland has a .339 average with three home runs and 58 runs batted in.

Cal Lutheran, ranked No. 1 in the NCAA Division III baseball poll most of the season, will be favored in the Division III World Series, which starts today in Battle Creek, Mich.

It is the first appearance in the World Series for the Kingsmen, who are completing their first season in Division III after competing as an NAIA school.

Cal Lutheran (39-4) advanced to the eight-team tournament by defeating UC San Diego, 10-0, Sunday.

In its opening game of the Division III finals, Cal Lutheran will face defending champion Southern Maine (30-9) Thursday night.

Cal Lutheran’s four-team bracket also includes Wisconsin Oshkosh and Methodist of North Carolina. The other bracket consists of William Paterson of New Jersey, Marietta of Ohio, Ithaca of New York and Aurora of Illinois.

The teams will play a double-elimination format to determine the bracket winners. The title game will be Tuesday.

College Division Notes

The SCIAC fared well at the NCAA Division III men’s tennis championships in Atlanta. Claremont-Mudd finished third, Pomona-Pitzer fourth and Redlands eighth. Claremont defeated Pomona-Pitzer in the third-place match, 5-2. . . . Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and UC Riverside, which tied for the CCAA baseball title, dominated the top awards on the all-conference team. Steve McFarland of San Luis Obispo and Jack Smitheran of Riverside were named co-coaches of the year, Eric Hill of San Luis Obispo and Daron Kirkreit of Riverside were honored as pitchers of the year, and first basemen Mike Oakland of San Luis Obispo and Chad Townsend of Riverside shared the player-of-the-year award. San Luis Obispo and Riverside each put 10 players on the All-CCAA first and second teams.

Junior outfielder Darrell McMillin of Cal Lutheran has been named SCIAC player of the year. McMillin led the conference with 19 home runs and 49 RBIs and ranked among the batting leaders with a .428 average. Cal Lutheran, which won the SCIAC title with a 20-1 record, placed 13 players on the all-conference first and second teams. . . . Tom Isaak of Claremont-Mudd, who paced his team to the SCIAC title, has been named the conference player of the year in golf for the second year in a row. . . . Former Cal State Dominguez Hills soccer players Joe Flanagan and Kristi White have been named assistant coaches at the school. Flanagan was a graduate assistant on the men’s team last season and White was a women’s assistant at Golden West College.