NOTEBOOK : After a 4-Game Pause, Tigers Get Their Paws and a Victory

The Lincoln High football team has a new coach this season. And a new look thanks to a $250 contribution from the school’s alumni association.

When first-year Coach Joe Silva walked into the equipment room this summer, he found 65 orange helmets without team emblems. None had been ordered prior to his arrival and no additional funds were available.

The Tigers played the first four games of the season with blank helmets. The decals, however, were purchased by the alumni association for Lincoln’s next game.

The decals feature a paw print with Tigers inscribed across it. In previous seasons, the team had stickers with Lincoln in block letters.

Lincoln not only dressed well, but played the part in its first game with its new logo, defeating Marshall, 22-0, for its first victory of the season.

“The alumni association has really helped me out a lot this year,” Silva said. “I was thinking of striping our helmets like the Cincinnati Bengals, but that was too expensive. The new design looked pretty good, though. It’s a new era and I wanted a different look. Now, if we can only start winning more games.”

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Arizona run--Marisa Avendano placed second in the Arizona State cross-country invitational as Cal State Los Angeles placed three runners among the top nine to win the Oct. 14 meet.

Avendano clocked 17 minutes 32 seconds over the 5,000-meter course, seven seconds behind winner Mirsada Buric of Yavapai Community College (Ariz.).

Marisol Cossio and Martha Pinto were fifth and ninth in 17:54 and 18:10 for the Golden Eagles team, which totaled 72 points. Northern Arizona and Utah were second and third with 89 and 97 points.

Mary Ann Martinez and Marisol Pedraza, both timed at 18:54, finished out Cal State L.A.’s scoring in 27th and 29th place.

Auria Roberto, the 1993 City Section runner-up for Belmont High at 3,200 meters, was 42nd in 19:13. Tanya Acosta, formerly of Crenshaw High, was 79th in 20:22 for the Golden Eagles.

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Double vision--The East L.A. College mens’ cross-country teams has two sets of twins--Luis and Victor Hernandez and Cesar and Saul Hernandez.