Four Titan Wrestlers Make NCAA Meet, but Coach Wanted Five

This week’s NCAA wrestling championships will be slightly bittersweet for Cal State Fullerton Coach Ardeshir Asgari. He hopes it will be sweeter by the end of the week.

He’s delighted he has four wrestlers qualified for the competition, which runs Thursday though Saturday at the University of North Carolina. That’s the second-highest number for the school; seven Titans made it in 1991.

Jeff Maes (126 pounds) and Laszlo Molnar (167) qualified for the NCAAs for a fourth time. Dwayne Buth (190) also qualified in 1992. Ken Workman (142) will be making his first NCAA appearance. No Titan wrestler had previously qualified four consecutive times, and Asgari takes pride in the way that reflects on the program.

The lone disappointment for Asgari: One of his strongest wrestlers and another senior, Christian Holiday, didn’t make it.

“I really feel bad about that,” Asgari said. “He came so close to making All-American last year and didn’t. He won three matches in the nationals but didn’t wrestle well in the fourth, and that was the one he needed. I sure wish he could have had another chance this year.”

That loss cost him a spot in the top eight, which affords All-American recognition. But Holiday, who had 26 victories in 35 matches and finished fourth at 158 pounds in the Pac-10 championships, still has an outside chance. He’s the second alternate, which means he could still get in if two wrestlers withdraw because of illness or injury.

Asgari, however, is optimistic the other four will represent the school well. None of them won at the Pac-10 meet, but Workman (23-11) was second in his division. Workman surprised the top-seeded wrestler, Tony Evans of Boise State, with a 5-2 decision but was beaten in the final, 5-4, by Cory Sonnen of Oregon. Buth (23-10), Maes (27-6) and Molnar (20-6) all were third.

“I think all four of our guys have a good chance to make All-American, but so much depends on how they wrestle on the given day and what kind of draw they get,” Asgari said. “If they get one of the top two seeds in the early rounds, it will be rough.”

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Mike Ammann, goalkeeper for Al Mistri’s soccer team that reached the NCAA final four last season before losing to South Carolina in a semifinal, has been selected for the U.S. national B team that will train and compete in Bermuda, March 26-April 2. The B team will play against Bermuda’s Olympic squad and a select team picked from Bermuda club and soccer league players. Ammann was one of two goalkeepers chosen in tryouts this month at Seminole, Fla.

The selection keeps Ammann in contention, although probably as a longshot, for a spot on the 22-man team that will compete in the World Cup. That squad will be picked in May. “It will be good experience and some travel for me, but beyond that, we’ll just have to see,” Ammann said.

Ammann, whose brother Bob is a goalkeeper for the Salsa, gave up only 20 goals in 21 games for the Titans. He had 67 saves and nine shutouts.

“We were really impressed with Mike,” said John Ellinger, who is coaching the B team. “We’d seen him in the NCAA semifinals, and he had been highly recommended to us by several coaches who had seen him play in California.”

Ammann is 6 feet 3 and 190 pounds, and Ellinger commented: “I really didn’t realize how big he is until I saw him in our training camp. He has great quickness for a big man. He’s very quick when it comes to getting to low balls. This is his first time in a national team situation, but he appears to have all the tools to do well down the road.”

According to Mistri, three other Titan players will be in contention for future national teams. He regards Adrian Cortes, a recent transfer from Cal State Los Angeles, as a possibility for the 1996 Olympic team. Demian Brown and Alfred Partida also are future age-group national team possibilities.

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Titan track Coach John Elders is enjoying having his own home facility this season after the problems of a year ago. All meets last spring had to be held at away sites because the Fullerton track was mistakenly designed and built to incorrect specifications, 440 yards rather than 400 meters.

“Now that it’s fixed, it’s a first-rate facility,” Elders said.

The only problem with the first two home meets of the spring: Hurdles and steeplechase barriers had to be borrowed from UC Irvine. Fullerton’s still hadn’t arrived last weekend from the New York company from which they were ordered. Elders said the company’s shipments have been running behind because of the bad weather in the East.

Last weekend’s Titan Invitational produced two school records. Zaylore Stout cleared 6 feet 10 inches to finish second in the high jump, and Greg Thewes ran 21.86 in the 200 meters in finishing sixth in his heat.

Titan Notes

The Titan baseball team remains No. 1 in the national rankings by Collegiate Baseball. Florida State (20-5) is second and Georgia Tech (13-3) third. Baseball America has Florida State ranked first, Fullerton second and Georgia Tech third. Fullerton is 18-4 after the three-game sweep of Grand Canyon during the weekend and has a home game at 7 p.m. tonight against Pepperdine. The Titans play at UCLA at 7 p.m. Friday and meet the Bruins at home at 1 p.m. Saturday. . . . Jason Gill, who replaced Craig Skyberg at third base when Skyberg quit the team for personal reasons, was four for nine with two doubles against Grand Canyon. He had one error in 11 chances at third in the series. He’s five for 12 (.417) at the plate for the season. Skyberg was hitting .228 when he left the team. . . . Coach Bill Reynolds’ women’s tennis team will be the host for the third Titan Classic Friday through Sunday. Also entered are Idaho State, Cal State Northridge, New Hampshire, Montana State, Sacramento State, St. Mary’s and Nebraska. . . . The softball team plays Saturday in its Mini PONY tournament. Ohio State and Kansas also will compete in round-robin play. The regular PONY-Louisville Slugger tournament begins March 23.