11th in a Line Helps Pomona in Title Quest

Michelle Kerzie had no idea what she was getting into when she joined the Cal Poly Pomona basketball team.

She should have.

Kerzie, a reserve freshman for Pomona, is the 11th in her family to attend the school.

Her older brothers Mike and Mark started the Kerzie streak when they graduated in 1983. Since then, Matthew (1985), Martin (1985), Tom (1987), Theresa (1990), Todd (1991), Tim (1992) and Ted (1992) have graduated from Pomona. That’s nine. Michelle’s older sister Mary is a junior.

So there was a Kerzie enrolled during each of Pomona’s 12 consecutive conference championship and three national championship seasons.

But no one said a word about it to Michelle.

Maybe it was because none of them played at Pomona. It seems they weren’t concerned about the basketball team’s streak as much as the family streak.

“After 10 people, where else are you going to go?” Kerzie said. “I actually had no idea (about Pomona’s success).”

She does now. The Broncos will play host to the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament semifinals Thursday. Pomona (23-2) will play Cal State Dominguez Hills (15-10) at 8 p.m. Cal State San Bernardino (17-9) will play UC Riverside (18-9) at 6.

Despite the parade of Kerzies through Pomona, and despite averaging a school-record 23 points a game at Paraclete High in Lancaster, Michelle had to recruit Pomona, rather than vice versa.

“I didn’t even contact them during my high school basketball season, and my dad said ‘What are you going to lose?’ I said, ‘Well, um, I don’t know.’ Then he said, ‘Why don’t you just send them a letter?’ and I did. I called and they said send us a game tape, so I did.

“So I came as a freshman, but I was a redshirt because my SATs weren’t high enough. I came on as a walk-on. I actually am the only walk-on on the team.”

This year, Kerzie receives athletic aid for being a playing member of the team. She is the third small forward, averaging 17 minutes, three points and three rebounds.

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The Claremont-Mudd men’s swim team won its 12th consecutive conference title by winning the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship meet last weekend.

Claremont-Mudd edged Redlands at the Cerritos Aquatics Center, 597 1/2-585. Pomona-Pitzer was third with 392 1/2.

“It’s way better than going into the meet knowing that you’re going to win,” Claremont-Mudd Coach Mike Sutton said. “We know we won’t win forever, but we got this one.”

The Stags needed to win the championship meet to have a chance to continue their string of titles because they trailed Pomona-Pitzer and Redlands in regular-season points.

Teams get one point for each SCIAC dual-meet victory and seven points for winning the championship meet. The conference championship goes to the team with the most points.

In dual meets, Redlands and Pomona-Pitzer had four victories and tied each other, so they were tied at 4 1/2 points. The Stags, who lost to Redlands and Pomona-Pitzer, had three points. At the championship meet, Claremont-Mudd earned the seven points and Redlands got five for second place.

So Claremont-Mudd edged Redlands, 10-9 1/2, in the conference standings.

The Stags’ Erik Zech was voted outstanding swimmer of the meet after winning the 200-yard individual medley, the 200 backstroke and the 100 butterfly.

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La Verne defeated Cal Lutheran in the SCIAC men’s basketball playoff Saturday, 83-79, earning the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs. The teams tied for the conference title to force a playoff.

Cal Lutheran (20-6) earned an at-large bid and will play at La Verne (19-7) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the second round of the playoffs. Both teams received first-round byes.

It will be their fourth meeting of the season. Each team won on the other’s home court, and La Verne won the playoff at Occidental College.

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Lindsay Strothers, Chapman women’s basketball coach, checked into the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center of Anaheim last Tuesday because of stomach pain and missed Thursday’s defeat by Cal Poly Pomona.

Strothers’ condition was diagnosed as possibly Crohn’s disease--a blockage of the intestine where the large and small intestines come together--and he was released Thursday. The condition is not believed to be serious and can improve by diet and exercise.

Strothers was well enough to sing the national anthem before coaching in Chapman’s 71-59 defeat by Cal State San Bernardino Saturday. He sings the anthem before all Chapman home games.

Assistant Coach Jennifer Uecke coached the team in Strothers’ absence.

College Division Notes

Cal State Bakersfield, 26-0 and the top-ranked Division II team in the nation, will play host to the CCAA men’s basketball tournament, starting Thursday. Bakersfield will open against Cal State Dominguez Hills. Second-seeded UC Riverside will play Cal Poly Pomona. . . . In the SCIAC women’s swim meet, Pomona-Pitzer scored 680 points to Redlands’ 390, easily winning its 17th title in the last 18 years.

Christ College Irvine center Gitte Mejer was voted the women’s basketball player of the year in both the Golden State Athletic Conference and the NAIA District 3. It’s the second-consecutive season she has won the GSAC award. Mejer, a 6-foot-2 junior from Aahrus, Denmark, led the District in scoring with 18.9 points per game and was third in rebounding at 8.3. Christ College Irvine went undefeated in District 3 regular-season games before losing to Fresno Pacific in the District 3 final. Irvine’s Kent Schlictemeier was voted the NAIA District 3 coach of the year.