Rogers Enjoys the Elements of a Successful Team

Lynn Rogers of Cal State Fullerton has been around long enough as a gymnastics coach that he can find pleasure in something other than simply winning.

But don’t get the wrong idea. The goals for him and his athletes still revolve around winning the Big West Conference women’s title Sunday at San Jose, doing well in the NCAA West Regional in three weeks and qualifying for the NCAA championships.

“When you’re a young coach, trying to establish yourself and get to the NCAAs, you might take someone just because you think they can help get you there,” Rogers said. “But we don’t do that anymore. We’ve made it our priority to recruit gymnasts who we feel will fit together well as team. Talent alone won’t get you into our program now.”

He is especially pleased by what he calls “the chemistry on this year’s team.” It is his 19th team at Fullerton, including one in 1979 that won a national championship.

“The thing about this year’s team and last year’s, for that matter, is that the chemistry has been really positive. Their goals are in line with each other’s goals and with the goals of the coaching staff,” Rogers said.

That, he says, has made the team particularly enjoyable to coach.

“In the past, I’ve had some teams that were more nationally competitive that weren’t as much fun to coach,” Rogers said. “This is a much more relaxed group. Their attitudes have just been great.”

The Titans already have reached one of those preseason team goals. Friday’s victory over UC Santa Barbara (191.675-186.975) assured Fullerton of a spot in the West Regional April 9 at Boise, Idaho. The winning team score was the ninth-best in school history.

The top seven teams in the region, based on regular-season scoring, will qualify, and it now appears that Fullerton will be seeded fourth. “If we have a good score in the Big West meet, we have a chance to be seeded third,” Rogers said.

The goal of winning the conference meet also appears to be within reach. The Titans, who finished their tough regular-season schedule with a 6-5 record, expect to face their most difficult competition from Idaho State.

“On paper, Idaho State may be favored,” Rogers said, “but we’re really looking forward to competing with them. We’ve established a good rivalry. We’ll be in a neutral gym and I think we’ll beat them.”

The Titans will be relying on the performances of sophomore Cristi Clifford and seniors Celeste Delia and Karena Mills, the team’s top three all-around performers. Alexis Lott, Heather Fritzsche and Natalie Meyer, all freshmen, also have played a significant role. Clifford qualified for the NCAAs as an individual last season and finished 28th nationally in the all-around.

Rogers has been pleased by his team’s consistency in the last few weeks.

“We went up to a higher level for the Michigan meet Feb. 25, and our performances since then have been almost identical,” Rogers said. “That consistency is the most important thing to me right now. Our sport is not one, such as swimming, when you want to peak at a certain time. We want to get there and stay there for the next few weeks now.

“The win over Santa Barbara will allow us to train for this meet without as much pressure, because it will be impossible for Santa Barbara to knock us out of the regional now.”

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Al Mistri, Titan soccer coach, always welcomes a chance to see his players in action; he bubbles with enthusiasm at the mere thought. On Sunday, he will have the opportunity to see them go against the national under-20 team. The game is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Brea-Olinda High, where the national team will be training for a week.

“It basically will be our college team for next season playing,” Mistri said. “It will give us a good look at the new guys on the team.”

The new players expected to strengthen the Titans next season are Adrian Cortes, a transfer from Cal State Los Angeles, and Joshua Stringer, who played last season at Cal State San Bernardino.

Mistri said he is looking forward to evaluating sophomore Mike Kornock , who is in line to replace senior Mike Ammann as the Titan goalkeeper. “We have high hopes for him,” Mistri said. But Ammann won’t be an easy act to follow. He was one of the leaders of the team that reached the NCAA semifinals last season and has been named to the national B team.

“We’ll also be taking a look at (Alfred) Partida in his first try as a sweeper,” Mistri said. “He played most of the time last season as a defensive midfielder.”

Titan Notes

The Titan baseball team has fallen in the national rankings following last week’s loss to Pepperdine. Baseball America has dropped Fullerton from second to fourth; USC (20-6) is ranked first, Georgia Tech (15-3) is second and Florida State (24-6) third. Collegiate Baseball has dropped Fullerton from first to second behind Georgia Tech. Florida State is third. . . . Second baseman Jeff Ferguson leads the Titans in hitting with a .368 average. Among the pitchers, Matt Wagner has a 4-0 record and 0.77 ERA. . . . Kirk Hagge, a shortstop for Crescenta Valley High, has committed to the Titans now that he has scored the NCAA-minimum on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Hagge has a team-leading .615 batting average.