When Chris Loll graduated from high school...

When Chris Loll graduated from high school in 1991, his options for the future were clear and the choice came easy.

He could have pep rallies, fraternity parties and spring break, or he could have drill sergeants, combat boots and curfew.

He could take a college scholarship to Oregon, Oregon State or Montana, or he could accept an appointment by a branch of the armed forces.

For a 6-foot-5, broad-shouldered basketball player who set a handful of records at Thousand Oaks High, there would be no vacillating. Loll knew exactly how he wanted to spend his Saturday nights.

With Squadron 14, “The Cobras.” At the Air Force Academy.

“I wasn’t really sure what to expect,” said Loll, Thousand Oaks’ all-time leader in points (1,055) and rebounds (463). “I knew basic training was going to be really tough . . . but I wanted the challenge.”

He walked onto a military campus with security as tight as Ft. Knox and the gates slammed shut. Aside from basketball travels, his view of the world last year was limited to “two hallways.”

Televisions, stereos and telephones were forbidden during his “freshman initiation.”

His daily schedule: rise at 5:30 a.m., clean room and vacuum squadron quarters, memorize five current events for breakfast recital.

7--Formation, salute flag, march to mess hall. 7:30--Breakfast. 8--First of four morning classes. Noon--Formation, march to mess hall. 12:30--Lunch. 1--First of four afternoon classes.

3:30--Basketball practice. 7--March to mess hall, dinner. 7:30--Return to squadron, private session with “sirs” (upperclassmen).

Wait a minute. Isn’t this hazing?

“Yeah. The yelling. All the stuff you’ve heard about,” Loll said.

8--Academic call to quarters, study. 11--Taps, lights out.

“But you stay up as late as you need to finish your homework,” Loll said. “And there were nights when we never slept.”

Loll advanced with flying colors. The reserve sophomore guard is the Falcons’ third-leading scorer with an 8.1 average in Western Athletic Conference play and will bid for a starting role next season.

Loll, 19, hopes to become a physician. Pediatrics is his calling.

He was one of only three survivors from a class of 26 basketball recruits. No time for celebration, though.

“I don’t know if I can say I’m proud of myself,” he said. “I still have a long way to go before I get out of here.”

Lauren and Sasha, part 2: Freshmen Lauren Goldstine (Westlake High) and Sasha Scardino (Thousand Oaks), close friends and high school rivals, took nearly opposite roads to arrive at the same place: UC Santa Barbara.

Their profiles:

Goldstine--Southern Section Division II player of the year, second-team all-state, averaged 22.6 points and 13.3 rebounds last season, on scholarship.

Scardino--5-9 center, blue-collar player, overshadowed last season by teammate Michelle Palmisano (UCLA), averaged 8.8 points and 8.9 rebounds, no scholarship to UCSB.

As Gauchos, they have become virtual equals. Scardino, playing a more-natural position, averages 6.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 23.9 minutes in a three-guard rotation. Goldstine’s numbers are 8.4, 4.6 and 24.0.

“I was kind of hoping (Scardino) would come to Santa Barbara,” Goldstine said. “Now she’s starting and I’m sixth man. I’m kind of a fan of hers. She’s really good.”

Said Scardino: “I’m pretty hard on myself, so I’m not in touch with how I’m improving. But sharing this experience (with Goldstine) makes it easier.”

To top it off, they are roommates.

Crissy Mills, a two-time state champion in the girls’ high jump at Campbell Hall High, has been competing for USC this season.

Mills did not jump for the Trojans during her first two years at the school because of conflicts with the coaching staff, but she is “happy and healthy,” according to Advantage Athletics Coach Charlie DiMarco.

“(6 feet 4 inches) is our goal this season,” said DiMarco, who is Mills’ trainer. “I think that’s within her reach.”

Mills, who has a personal best of 6-1 1/2, cleared 6-0 in a meet at USC on Feb. 27 and she jumped 5-10 to win a quadrangular meet at Cal State Northridge on Saturday. . . . When Dan Lange was competing for Northridge, he was known as a thinking-man’s hammer thrower, one who was not always the most physically gifted but who always got the most out of his relatively small frame.

Lange, a coach at USC, is working with a talented athlete in Balazs Kiss, and the results have been sensational.

Kiss, the silver medalist for Hungary in the hammer at the 1990 World Junior (age 19 and under) championships, had a personal best of 231-10 at the start of the year.

He improved on that mark with a then-school-record throw of 241-3 on Feb. 27 before unloading a 249-9 effort to win Saturday’s meet at Northridge. The mark moved Kiss to fourth on the all-time collegiate list and is just the beginning of things to come, according to Lange.

Checking the fax: Guard Chris Walters (Antelope Valley College) had his second-biggest game recently in San Diego State’s loss to Colorado State: 24 points, five three-point baskets. . . . Junior guard Karee Bonde (Palmdale) broke two of her conference records when she hit eight three-pointers in a 61-52 victory at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Bonde (24 points, 68 three-pointers) broke her single-game record of six three-pointers and her season mark of 66 in the game. . . .

San Francisco senior guard Tami Adkins (Santa Clara) finished first in the West Coast Conference in steals (3.0 a game) and third in assists (5.1). She averaged 11 points. . . . Forty-eight points in two games earned Reggie Phillips (Ventura College) CCAA player-of-the-week honors recently for Cal State Bakersfield. The Roadrunners have rolled to a 28-0 record in Division II. . . . Chris Hantgin (Ventura High) finished as UC Riverside’s top assist man (84) and No. 1 free-throw shooter (88.7%). . . . Reggie Bell (College of the Canyons) finished with a 61.9 shooting percentage and averaged 17.6 points and 9.4 rebounds--all team highs at Quincy (Ill.) College. . . . In baseball, Cal State Sacramento outfielder Jon Beauchemin (Alemany) suffered a knee injury Sunday when he ran into the wall on a home run against Northridge.