Palomar Wins Wrestling Title With No Sweat

Just how dominant was Palomar College’s victory in the California Community College Wrestling Championship Saturday?

The Comets didn’t even have to wrestle in the finals to win.

Palomar won its fifth state title, its first under second-year Coach Joe Ismay, with its 112-86 3/4 victory against host Cerritos.

But the championship was the Comets’ before the finals began. With twice as many wrestlers qualified for the final round as any other school--Palomar had four, Cerritos had two--Palomar won in a landslide.

Ismay, a former Palomar wrestler who finished fourth and second at the 1981 and 1982 state meets, said he expected the Comets to be successful, but didn’t think it would be this easy.

“I had seven sophomores in the lineup, most teams only have four or five,” said Ismay, who coached Palomar to a third-place finish last year. “I had seven returning guys and five of them placed (at the state meet) last year.”

Going into the match, because of stronger finishes in the Southern Regionals, Cerritos and Fresno City were ranked ahead of the Comets. But it took an injury to a teammate to spur Palomar to victory.

Sophomore Raul Huerta wrestles at 142. Last year he placed third in this meet and was seeded third this year. But in his first match, Huerta broke his ribs.

“He tried to wrestle but he was in too much pain,” Ismay said. “All the guys on the team knew how much he cared about the team. . . Saturday we had a team meeting and talked about how hard Raul worked, how he’d done everything he could for the team and that we’d better win state or he’d blame us.”

At that point, team members got “emotional and teary eyed . . . and won nine matches in a row. They went out and beat guys that they hadn’t beaten all year,” he said.

Out of 10 wrestling weight classes, eight Comets finished in scoring places and seven finished in the top four, which qualified them for All-American status.

Poway graduate Byron Campbell was a winner at 150 pounds, as was Eddie Luna at 167. Second-place finishers were Serra grad Ikaika Molina at 118 and former Valhalla wrestler Jason Hendrick at 177, the 1991 co-San Diego Section Wrestler of the Year.

Granite Hills grad Mike Wilkey was third at 126 and Poway standout Chris Hafer (134) and Mt. Carmel product Matt Wallace (158) took fourths. Finishing out of All-American honors but with important team points was Phil Martinez, a 190-pound wrestler out of Carlsbad, who was sixth.

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Picking Up Steam: Shortness and inexperience aren’t the best qualities on which to build a women’s basketball team, and Point Loma Nazarene’s 2-3 start substantiated that.

But four consecutive victories later, the Crusaders (6-3) are finding that even a little experience can disguise a multitude of sins.

“We’re making progress,” said Coach Bill Olin. “I wouldn’t want to play a conference game tomorrow, but we’re right there.”

With PLNC’s tallest player 5-foot-10, rebounding has posed a problem.

“Mostly, they need to improve their rebounding. They’re not going to survive without it,” Olin said. “Also, they need to be a little more disciplined in what they do with the ball.”

As a haunting 25 turnovers a game attests.

“Basically, they’re mistakes of being inexperienced, nothing else,” Olin said.

Two returning starters, Christy Stevens and Stacee Eggers, anchor a youth movement of five freshman and one transfer. The presence of Stevens and Eggers helps, but PLNC lost District 3 Player of the Year Rochelle Lightner and PLNC’s second all-time career scorer, Camille Armijo, two players who helped the Crusaders to a three-way District 3 tie in 1991-92.

“They really took charge,” Olin said. “That’s another reason there are more turnovers, there’s not the leadership there was in the past.”

But Olin is relying on junior guard Stevens, the Crusaders’ leading scorer with a 16.4-point average, and senior forward Eggers to mature into leadership roles. He’s also counting on the fast learning of new players, including a handful of freshman who see plenty of playing time. They are Christian High’s Tiffany Stutz, the state Division V Player of the Year, Dallas’ Danielle Phipps and Ft. Bragg’s Pam Peloza.

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Do Or Die: What? The UC San Diego men’s basketball team (3-4) worry? UCSD Coach Tom Marshall put into context the importance of the Tritons’ coming string of eight games that ends Jan. 15: “They will probably make or break our season,” he said.

Seven of UCSD’s next eight games are against Division III opponents. The Tritons must do well or risk being left out of post-season festivities.

“If we haven’t won the majority of them by then, we could be in deep trouble,” he said.

Players who must continue to do well for UCSD are Chris Moore (17 points per game average) and John Spence (11 p.p.g. average).

“Those two are playing well on both ends of the floor,” Marshall said. “Our defense is absolutely stellar, we’re just not scoring enough points to win.”

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Assisting Angie: With her fifth assist Friday against Fullerton, USD senior guard Angie Straub became the Toreros’ all-time assist leader with 246. She had three more to bring her total to 249. Straub broke the record of 245 held by Jane Gilpin (1986-88) and Paula Mascari (1986-90).

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New Mexican Memories: The USD women’s basketball game at New Mexico Tuesday is a homecoming of sort for two Toreros. Coach Kathy Marpe started her collegiate coaching career in New Mexico’s Pit in 1973, where her teams compiled a 87-63 record over seven seasons.

Junior forward Jill Shaver’s memories don’t go back that far. Shaver, out of Eldorado High in Albuquerque, was New Mexico’s Prep Athlete of the Year her junior and senior years, and was a Converse All-American as a senior.

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The Wright Stuff: At the University of San Diego’s women’s volleyball awards banquet Sunday, sophomore Jennifer Wrightson was named the team’s MVP. Wrightson, a 6-1 outside hitter, transferred to USD after her freshman year at San Diego State.