Wilson Supports New Plan

Cal State Northridge President Blenda J. Wilson on Tuesday officially threw her support behind a student referendum next week that will decide the future of the Cal State Northridge athletic department.

A three-day election that begins Tuesday will decide whether semester fees are hiked $27 per student, with the funds earmarked for athletics. Two similar referendums failed in 1994.

If next week’s plan is defeated, football, women’s basketball, soccer and men’s swimming have been targeted for elimination. Wilson said that after weighing the “benefits and risks associated with the referendum,” she believes the fee hike is in the school’s best interest.

“I share little with those who describe the campus in deprecating terms as ‘only a commuter school’ or a campus that ‘can’t expect to have the same kind of activities as UCLA or USC,’ ” Wilson said in a release.

If the referendum fails, school officials plan to field only 14 teams, the minimum needed for membership in NCAA Division I.

Basketball

Paul LaMott of Cal Lutheran has been honored as the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men’s player of the year.

LaMott, a 6-foot-6 senior forward-center from Laguna Hills High, averaged 14.1 points and 6.7 rebounds a game for the Kingsmen (17-8, 10-4) this season. He was particularly effective in conference play, averaging 18.4 points--while making 54.5% of his shots--and 8.0 rebounds.

Cal Lutheran clinched its first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women’s title last week, yet the Regals will play at SCIAC runner-up Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in a first-round game of the NCAA Division III playoffs at 7:30 tonight.

Cal Lutheran (22-2, 11-1) finished a game ahead of the Athenas (21-4, 10-2) in the conference standings and split a pair of games with them this season. Nonetheless, the women’s Division III playoff committee seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps third and the Regals fourth in the West Region pairings.

Santa Paula High guard Manuel Escamilla has been named Ventura County player of the year by the Ventura County Coaches Assn.

Escamilla, a 6-foot-2 senior, led the Cardinals to a share of the Frontier League title and the quarterfinals of the Southern Section III-A playoffs. He averaged 18.1 points and 5.0 assists per game.

Mike Hamelin of Palmdale High has been named the Golden League player of the year. Hamelin, a 6-foot-1 senior guard, led the Falcons to the league title and the second round of the Southern Section Division I-A playoffs.

Baseball

The producers of the “Earthquake Kids” instructional video were ordered to pay a public relations firm $5,000. Fisher and Associates were awarded the judgment--the maximum allowed in small claims court--after the coaches of the Northridge Little League team who produced the tape failed to pay a bill.

The coaches claimed that the public relations firm did not deliver promised services and failed to provide an itemized bill.

Contributing: Steve Elling, Steve Henson, Michael Lazarus and John Ortega.