CLU’s Harper to Pull Brief Double Duty

Football Coach Joe Harper will be interim athletic director at Cal Lutheran effective June 1, the school announced Wednesday.

Cal Lutheran will hire a permanent replacement in the fall after conducting a national search over the summer.

Harper, 57, succeeds Bob Doering, who in March announced his resignation as athletic director and chairman of the university’s physical education department.

Harper has been Cal Lutheran’s football coach the past four years, posting a 15-24 record, including a 5-4 mark last fall.

Before coming to Cal Lutheran, Harper worked five years in private business. He was football coach at Northern Arizona from 1982-84 after spending the previous 14 years at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Harper had a 96-43-3 record at Cal Poly from 1968-81, and he was the school’s athletic director from 1968-73.

Doering, the Cal Lutheran athletic director for 14 years, is taking a sabbatical next fall. He is expected to return to the school in the spring as a part-time instructor.

Nena Amundson, a long-time Cal Lutheran instructor, was selected to replace Doering as chairman of the physical education department.

Basketball

Joey Ramirez, Ventura College point guard who committed to play at Pepperdine next season but backed off when Coach Tom Asbury resigned to coach at Kansas State, has signed with the Waves after all, Ventura Coach Philip Mathews said Wednesday.

Ramirez, a 5-foot-10 sophomore from Santa Paula High, decided to attend Pepperdine after talking to Tony Fuller, the school’s newly appointed coach.

“(Ramirez) likes Fuller,” Mathews said. “It’ll be good for him. Tony needs a point guard and he really wanted Joey.”

Ramirez, the Western State Conference North Division co-player of the year with teammate Brandon Jessie, averaged 15.9 points 5.7 assists during the 1993-94 regular season.

Baseball

Adam West, a left-handed sophomore at Pierce College, has been selected the pitcher of the year in the Western State Conference South Division.

West is 10-4 with a 2.95 earned-run average and 89 strikeouts in 113 innings. West, who played at Thousand Oaks High, has won his last nine decisions.

Marty Slimak was voted coach of the year, and six players from conference champion Cal Lutheran were named to the All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference first team--pitchers Sam Arroyo and Marc Weiss, center fielder Jason Wilson, third baseman Scott Sebbo, first baseman John Becker and designated hitter Chris Fick.

Arroyo, a senior from Buena High, has a record of 8-1 with a save. He was 5-1 with a 2.49 ERA in SCIAC games. Weiss, a junior transfer from Cal State Los Angeles, is 9-1 and was 6-0 with a 2.70 ERA in conference games.

Wilson, Sebbo, Becker and Fick batted better than .400 in SCIAC games. Fick had nine home runs and 35 runs batted in; Sebbo had three homers and 34 RBIs; Becker added six home runs and 19 RBIs; and Wilson had 19 stolen bases and scored 34 runs.

Right fielder David Chapman (.379) was a second-team pick.

Cal Lutheran dropped from six to seventh in this week’s American Baseball Coaches’ Assn. NCAA Division III poll after losing, 11-9, to Pomona Pitzer in the final of the SCIAC tournament.

Cal Lutheran (29-6-1) will learn Sunday whether it has been invited to play in the best-of-five NCAA Division III West Regional, beginning May 20. The Kingsmen are ranked second in the West region behind UC San Diego.

The Master’s College catcher Jeff Tomlinson was selected to the All-NAIA District 3 baseball team. Tomlinson, a senior from Seattle, batted .340 and was among the league leaders with 54 hits, three triples and 12 stolen bases.

Azusa Pacific shortstop Jon Chaparro, a junior from Oxnard, also was chosen to the first team. Chaparro was third in the league with a .364 batting average.

Outfielder Kenya Hunt and pitcher Chris Beck of The Master’s received honorable mention.

Azusa Pacific third baseman Mike Regan, a senior from Glendale, also received honorable mention. Regan batted .331 with 52 hits, 44 RBIs and seven home runs.

Regan also was named District 3 player of the week after going 10 for 16 with three doubles, two homers and 10 RBIs in three games.

Softball

Cal Lutheran sophomore Heidi Stevens was a unanimous selection as SCIAC player of the year.

Stevens, a right-hander from Salem, Ore., had a record of 11-1 with one save in 13 conference appearances. She also batted .479.

Joining Stevens on the all-conference first team were teammates Shani Smyth and Laree Reynolds.

Smith, a junior first baseman from Thousand Oaks, batted .470 in conference games. Reynolds, a senior outfielder from Newbury Park, batted .493.

Selected to the second team were pitcher Xochitl Castillo, a sophomore from Santa Paula, infielder Tracy Little, a freshman from Newbury Park and shortstop Aimee Snider, a sophomore from Salem. Catcher Deonna Olson, a freshman from Reseda, received honorable mention.

Cal Lutheran finished 29-8, including a 23-1 SCIAC mark.

Football

Crespi High football assistant Joel Wilker is leaving the school to move to Michigan, Coach Tim Lins said. Wilker, dean of students at Crespi, was offensive coordinator last season. He has been part of the football program since 1982.

Harvard-Westlake High is seeking assistant football coaches at the varsity, junior varsity or freshman levels.

Information: (818) 762-3301.

Track and Field

The Asics Twilight Distance Classic is scheduled for Birmingham High May 20-21.

The meet, which annually features some of the nation’s top distance runners, will include races ranging from 800 through 10,000 meters for men and women.

The invitational portion of the meet will be held May 20 and the collegiate-open competition May 21. Events begin at 7:30 p.m.

Information: (213) 730-9617.

Swimming

Christopher Walden and Candace Olson have signed letters of intent with Cal State Northridge, according to Coach Barry Schreifels.

Walden is a two-time all-state selection from Scottsdale, Ariz. Olson, who has competed on the junior national level, is from Monticello, Minn.

Steve Liljeberg and Jennifer Kunishima received most valuable athlete awards at Northridge’s banquet last week. Jason Wilmot and Andrea Stevenson were elected team captains for next season.

Pierce College Coach Fred Shaw has been selected men’s coach of the year by the California Community College Aquatic Coaches Assn.

Volleyball

Tim Koth, an assistant coach at Cal State Northridge the past six seasons, has been hired as top assistant for the women’s team at Eastern Michigan.

Koth, a 1989 Northridge graduate, has been a men’s assistant for six seasons and also spent one season as a women’s assistant.

Soccer

The Valley United Wild Things, a team of under-16 girls, won their third consecutive California Youth Soccer Assn. state championship Sunday with a 1-0 victory over Crusader Spirit of San Diego.

Tennis

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo freshmen Rafael Huerta and Casey Wood, former area high school stars, will play in the Division II college tennis championships today in Kansas City. Huerta is from Chatsworth; Wood from Granada Hills.

Miscellany

Athletic director Randy Parker of Saugus High is the 1994 recipient of a state award of merit from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Assn. Parker was selected Southern Section athletic director of the year in 1993 and was awarded the National Federation Citation in December.

Troy Collins and Shannon Jones have been selected Cal State Northridge athletes of the month for April by a vote of the school’s Student-Athlete Congress.

The Ventura County Condors, a team handball club based in Camarillo, won its first U.S. Team Handball Federation championship Sunday in Atlanta. The Condors defeated Hani Sushi of Colorado Springs, 31-29, in the final. Jim Cox of Reseda was selected most valuable goalkeeper.