Cloudy Future Despite NCAA Gymnastic Titles

With mixed emotions, two UCLA gymnasts received their awards for winning individual events at the NCAA meet Sunday at Lincoln, Neb.

Steve McCain won the vault with a score of 9.675 and placed second on the parallel bars with a score of 9.40. Jim Foody won the high bar with a score of 9.45.

The titles don’t take away the pain of knowing the program probably will be eliminated.

UCLA announced last August it was dropping men’s swimming and men’s and women’s gymnastics after the 1993-94 academic year, but reinstated women’s gymnastics two weeks later when threatened with a gender-equity lawsuit.

Members of the men’s swimming and men’s gymnastics teams were awarded a temporary restraining order on April 18, barring the school from cutting the programs. But the order also required lawyers representing the parties to return to Superior Court in Los Angeles on May 16 for further argument.

If the men’s gymnastics program is eliminated, McCain and Foody will be the last of a long list of NCAA champions from the school.

McCain and Foody, sophomore roommates, are undecided about what they will do if the program is dropped. Both would like to continue training at the school.

“I really don’t want to leave, but if the school. . . takes away our gym and we have no coach and no place to work out, I’ll have to leave,” Foody said.

It is unclear what status the men’s gymnastics team would have next year if it continued.

There may be offers for Foody and McCain, who also won the high bar title last year, should they decide to transfer.

However, NCAA men’s gymnastics is in danger of being eliminated altogether because of dwindling participation, so it is uncertain that they would be any better off at another school.

A fine fix for a couple of NCAA champions.

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Long after most fans had left the Ojai Valley tennis tournament Sunday, USC and UCLA played well into the evening for the Pacific 10 Conference men’s doubles championship.

USC’s Wayne Black and Jonathon Leach defeated Robert Janecek and Sebastien LeBlanc, 6-7, 6-3, 7-5, giving the Trojans the doubles title and a share of the Thacher Cup, emblematic of the Pac-10 title, with Stanford.

“I think the key was, even though they were behind all the time, just staying in the match,” said USC Coach Dick Leach.

USC battled back from two match points and a 5-3 deficit in the third set to win the match.

Black, who played despite being ill during the early rounds, also won the Pac-10 men’s singles title.

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The sixth-ranked UCLA softball team will play host to top-ranked Arizona in a Pac-10 doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m. at Easton Stadium.

The Bruins (32-8, 13-3 in the Pac-10) are led by DeeDee Weiman, a senior who led the nation averaging 12.22 strikeouts through April 18.

Weiman is 16-4 with an earned-run average of 1.09 in 135 innings.

Offensively, UCLA is led by Jennifer Brundage, a junior who is hitting a Pac-10 leading .465.

Arizona (48-2, 16-0 in Pac-10 play) is led by Laura Espinoza, a junior from Wilmington Banning High.

Espinoza has broken numerous NCAA Division I records this season. She has hit 25 home runs, breaking the record of 19 set by Marcelina Smith of Florida A&M; last year, and has 84 runs batted in, breaking the previous record of 70 set by Danielle Yearick of Manhattan College.

In her three-year career, Espinoza has 43 homers, breaking the NCAA record of 34 set by Liz Mizera of Texas A & M from 1985-88, and has 176 RBIs, breaking the record of 150 set by Gina LoPiccolo of Fresno State from 1988-91.

Arizona defeated UCLA, 11-2, and, 7-1, at Tucson on April 2.

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Danielle Scott, a three-sport athlete at Cal State Long Beach, is the 49ers’ top competitor in every sport she plays. Consider:

--She was named the Big West player of the year for the second consecutive year and also was named the NCAA’s most valuable player after leading the volleyball team to the NCAA title. She won the Honda Award for volleyball on April 8, making her a finalist for the prestigious Honda-Broderick Cup.

--Six days after the volleyball season ended, Scott joined the basketball team. She led the Big West in rebounding, averaging 10.4 rebounds a game, and was the first Big West athlete to receive first-team all-conference honors in two sports in the same year.

--Four days after the basketball season ended, Scott joined the track team. In her debut April 2, a four-way meet at UC Irvine, she won the long jump with a leap of 17 feet 3 3/4 inches, making her the school’s top long jumper this season.

Scott placed second in three events at the Irvine Invitational on Saturday. Her long jump of 18-9 3/4 ranks second in the Big West this season behind Tracy Dulmage of Utah State (19-5). Scott ranks ninth on Long Beach’s all-time list.

She also placed second in the high jump at 5-2, and second in the triple jump at 35-11 1/4. It was her first competition in the triple jump and her mark ranks fourth in the conference this season.

Scott has completed her eligibility in volleyball but has a season left in basketball and track.

Long Beach will compete in the California-Nevada Collegiate championships on Saturday and Sunday at UCLA’s Drake Stadium.

Notes

Glenn Bassett, former UCLA men’s tennis coach, will have his allegiances divided Sunday when UCLA plays host to Pepperdine at 1:30 p.m. In 27 years as Bruin coach, Bassett led UCLA to seven NCAA team championships before retiring after last season. He is working as a volunteer assistant for Pepperdine Coach Allen Fox.