Hawking Ready for His New Start

The Cal State Fullerton men’s basketball team will start practice this weekend, and Coach Bob Hawking is calling it “a new beginning” for all the players.

Hawking, named interim coach after Brad Holland’s move to the University of San Diego, says he has no preconceived notions about a starting lineup.

“Every spot on the team is wide open, and I really mean that,” Hawking said. “That’s the easy part of our job as coaches because the players will determine that themselves in practice. We’ll keep a close eye on how the players are competing and how hard they’re working. I really believe in working hard in practice. I want our players to come away from every practice a little bit better.”

Hawking said there will be some minor changes from the way Holland did things, but nothing major.

“We’ll be doing a few different things from an X and O standpoint, both offensively and defensively, but nothing that drastic,” Hawking said. “Most of these players have extensive basketball backgrounds, and I don’t think they’ll be seeing much that they haven’t been exposed to before.”

Winston Peterson, who averaged 15.3 points as a junior, is the top returning player from a team that was 8-19 and 6-12 in the Big West Conference. Senior guard James French started all 27 games last season and averaged 9.3 points, and junior center David Frigout started 18 games and averaged 5.3 points.

Several newcomers could play key roles this season. That group includes three community college transfers: forward David Harrison of Mt. Hood (Wash.) College, guard Ali Nayab of Southwestern College in San Diego and guard Chuck Overton of Salt Lake College.

Hawking has been pleased with the team’s effort in preseason conditioning. “We’ll put a real emphasis on that in this program,” Hawking said. “There are so many games that are won in the last two minutes that it has to be a priority.”

The men’s team will be part of a “Midnight Madness” promotion, along with the women’s team, Friday night at Titan Gym, then they’ll get down to serious business in their first regular workout Saturday afternoon.

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Fullerton soccer Coach Al Mistri says there’s no question about it. “We need to go 2-0 this weekend . . . end of discussion,” Mistri said.

The men’s team split two Mountain Pacific Soccer Federation games last weekend, losing to UC Santa Barbara, 3-2, and beating Cal State Northridge, 1-0. That makes it even more important for the Titans to do well in home games Friday against Nevada Las Vegas and Sunday against New Mexico.

“We’re still very much alive in our division,” Mistri said. “UC Santa Barbara is 2-0, but everyone else has lost at least one game. And this weekend we’ll be at home. It will be great just not having to travel.”

Mistri feels the victory over Northridge could be pivotal. “It was one we really felt we had to win after losing to Santa Barbara,” he said.

The loss to UC Santa Barbara was disappointing to Mistri because the Titans were ahead, 2-0, with little more than a minute to play in the first half. At that point, Titan goalkeeper Mike Kornock had a goal kick opportunity, but decided instead to try a pass to Ricky Rodriguez, instead of kicking it deep downfield. The pass was intercepted and UC Santa Barbara scored a goal before the half ended. Two second-half goals gave UC Santa Barbara the victory.

Kornock, however, played superbly against Northridge, including getting a key block on a penalty kick.

Mistri has been encouraged by Eddie Soto’s strong play the last two games. Soto, the team’s top returning player, had been slowed by illness and injuries earlier in the season.

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Everything is moving along in high gear for the anniversary dinner and exhibition that will celebrate 20 years of women’s gymnastics at Fullerton.

The event is Nov. 2 beginning at 6 p.m.

“It started as an idea for something fairly small, but it really has grown fairly large,” Coach Lynn Rogers said. “We’ve had a good response from both on the campus and off. One of the toughest jobs is converting our practice room into a banquet facility, but we think everything will be fine.” In addition to the awards dinner, there will be a gymnastics exhibition.

Former university President Don Shields has indicated he will attend, as have former Athletic Director Neal Stoner and former associate director Leanne Grotke.

Among the former gymnasts planning to attend include All-American Tammi Elliott, who also was a Miss America contestant. She will be coming from Virginia. The school’s first All-American in the sport, Karilyn Burdick, who lives in Palo Alto, also is scheduled to attend.

“There have been a lot of great people go through our program, and many of them will be coming back for this night,” Rogers said. “We’re really pleased that so many of them can be involved.”

Titan Notes

The fourth Faculty-Staff tennis tournament, which raises money for the Fullerton women’s tennis team, will be Nov. 4. . . . Titan assistant softball coach Michelle Gromacki participated in the dedication of the Olympic softball field in Atlanta on Monday. Gromacki, a catcher, is expected to be selected to the Olympic team.