CSUN Track Team Makes a Believer Out of Its Coach

So what’s with the pessimistic attitude?

That’s what several members of the Cal State Northridge men’s track and field team were good-naturedly asking Coach Don Strametz after they had won their third consecutive Collegiate Classic title at Cal State Long Beach on Saturday.

Strametz, an optimist about 99% of the time, had told his men’s team before the meet that it would be lucky to place third, but he could only offer a sheepish shrug after Northridge had rolled up 140 points, 29 ahead of runner-up USC. Long Beach placed third with 91 points and Utah State fourth with 90.

“I honestly thought Utah State and USC were going to beat us,” Strametz said. “I really thought we would be hard-pressed to finish third.”

Strametz had no doubts about Northridge’s title chances in the women’s meet, and the Matadors showed why by totaling 148 points to repeat as champion. Long Beach placed second with 89 points, with Cornell and San Diego State tied for third with 80.

Nine men’s teams and seven women’s teams competed in the third annual meet.

Superior depth and the fact that USC’s decathletes were competing elsewhere were the keys to Northridge’s victory in the men’s meet as the Matadors won only two of the 20 events.

“Thank heaven for depth,” Strametz said. “We couldn’t have won today without a lot of people coming through. It seemed like every time someone had a down performance, there was always somebody else to pick up the slack.”

Senior Garrett Noel (230 feet 10 inches in the javelin) and junior Joe Hicks (185-4 in the hammer throw) were the Northridge victors in the men’s meet. Hicks added a second-place finish in the shotput (55-2 1/4) and the Matadors placed among the top three in seven other events.

Brian Godsey, a sophomore from Taft High, timed 3 minutes 55.06 seconds to place third in the 1,500 meters and later finished second in the 5,000 with a personal best of 15:04.45.

“(The 5,000) was a major, major breakthrough for him,” Strametz said. “To come back with a big (personal record) in that race after running a good race in the 1,500 is a big plus.”

Northridge’s biggest disappointment came in the 400 intermediate hurdles when senior Nate Wright fell after clobbering the 10th--and final--barrier while in the lead.

Sophomores Kristin Dunn, Teresa Stricklin and Tannel House got Northridge off to a great start in the women’s meet and the Matadors were not seriously challenged after that.

Dunn won the women’s javelin with a personal best of 164-0, Stricklin placed first in the shotput at 47-9 1/4, and House spanned 18-4 1/4 to win the long jump.

Dunn, a 5-foot-11 southpaw, moved to second on the all-time Northridge list and moved closer to reaching the automatic qualifying standard (170-7) for the NCAA championships in June.

Stricklin finished second in the discus with a season best of 153-4, and House was second in the triple jump with a mark of 37-7 3/4.

Senior Kim Young and the Matadors’ 1,600-meter relay team also were victorious. Young ran a wind-aided 14.05 in the 100 low hurdles and teamed with Dorothy Byron, Tamika Bradfield and Janine Stewart for a time of 3:50.22 in the 1,600 relay.

Byron had run a personal best of 2:13.56 to place second in the 800 earlier in the meet, and Stewart finished second in the 400 (55.62) and fourth in the 200 (24.78).