Sports ‘95: A Look Back : Starts, Stops, and People in Motion : The top stories: Two eras end, CSUN makes a flurry of moves and a pair make national news.

A year ago, who would have guessed . . .

That the region’s only Division I college would be looking for an athletic director, a baseball coach, and players to fill 40 football scholarships?

That two runners--one on a football field, the other over a cross-country course--would have made the national spotlight?

That the oldest motor-racing track in the West would have closed with virtually no notice to the racers or fans?

That a fiery high school baseball coach who was second to none on the field would finally succumb to pressures off it?

It all happened in the past 12 months. These stories, good and bad, became the media high-water points of 1995. They filled newspaper pages for days--sometimes months.

Here’s a quick rundown on the five most-significant stories in 1995, listed chronologically.

HE’S OUT

Mike Scyphers finally buckled under the strain of two nightmarish seasons of scrutiny, and resigned as baseball coach at Simi Valley High.

Scyphers, who led the Pioneers into national prominence and developed a reputation as one of top high school coaches in the country, tendered his resignation under pressure from administrators in March, though word did not leak to the public until days before the season ended in May.

At times during a 12-month period, Scyphers read his name in the paper almost daily, and the stories weren’t about baseball. They were about alleged financial and disciplinary improprieties or police investigations or allegations of undue influence over players.

In the end, no charges were filed against him and the only sanction was that the Simi Valley baseball program was placed on probation by the Southern Section. But Scyphers was still asked to resign, angering many parents who had been his staunchest supporters.

Scyphers had an offer to coach at a high school in Idaho, but he did not accept it. Instead, he has been teaching at Simi Valley, coaching his son’s youth baseball team and continuing as a college basketball official.

BIG SKY, BIG PLANS

In the spring, Cal State Northridge students approved a fee increase that saved the school’s athletic program. By the fall, Matador coaches were looking forward to rising to new levels and joining the Big Sky Conference in 1996.

The changes started at the top: athletic director Bob Hiegert was asked to resign in July after 17 years in that role.

While upper administrators seemed to feel Hiegert lacked the vision to lead a Division I athletic department, friends and colleagues came from all corners to decry the manner in which his tenure ended. Paul Bubb, an associate athletic director, was hired to replace Hiegert on an interim basis.

In the first weeks after Bubb’s appointment, Bill Kernen, the baseball coach who led Northridge into Division I, abruptly resigned to pursue a writing career in New York. Assistant Mike Batesole took Kernen’s job, also as an interim.

Weeks later, though, came the most-positive announcement of the year: the Big Sky Conference accepted Northridge for a three-year trial period, starting next fall.

While the Big Sky gave Northridge the instant credibility it lacked in the four-team American West Conference, it also created problems such as trying to triple the number of football scholarships without overextending budgets or violating gender-equity regulations.

STOP YOUR ENGINES

To understand what Saugus Speedway meant to motor racing in Southern California, one need not look back at a typical Saturday night in which 4,000 fans filed onto its bleachers for racing, but at a Wednesday night in July, when cars circled the track in front of empty stands.

The racers were making their final laps in tribute to a track that stood for 56 years, but would be abruptly closed because of a structural engineer’s report that indicated the grandstands did not meet 1994 safety standards.

Just like that, the oldest racetrack operating in the Western United States was closed, angering many in the community.

Jo Anne Darcy, Santa Clarita mayor, speculated that the owners of the track, descendants of William G. Bonelli, have other plans for the land, which local developers estimate to be worth $20 million.

RUN RONNEY, RUN

Hueneme High running back Ronney Jenkins was simply a local phenom for most of his high school career, known only to those around Ventura County and to college football recruiters.

But on Nov. 9, as he played his final high school game, Jenkins splashed onto a much bigger scene by rushing for a national-record 619 yards against Rio Mesa.

Besides making the cover of several sports sections, Jenkins was shown on ESPN and pictured in Sports Illustrated.

It took 30 carries for Jenkins to break the 21-year old record of 608 yards, set by John Bunch of Elkins, Ariz. Jenkins scored seven touchdowns, including one on a 93-yard run.

At that point, Rio Mesa Coach George Contreras realized his team ought to just forget trying to stop him, and try to hold him under the county record of 415 yards.

No such luck.

FORGET 2ND PLACE

When Kim Mortensen, a senior from Thousand Oaks High, won the Foot Locker national cross-country championships earlier this month, she even surprised herself.

After all, wasn’t everyone there to race for second? Julia Stamps of Santa Rosa, the 1994 national champion, was expected to take away another title. And Stamps had beaten Mortensen by at least 19 seconds in each of their four previous meetings during the year.

Dec. 9 was Mortensen’s day, though. Stamps was bothered by a cold, and although she got off to a quick start, Mortensen caught her at the two-mile mark.

Mortensen finished the 5,000-meter race--Stamps did not--in a time of 17 minutes 12 seconds. She became the first girl from the region to win the national cross-country title.

Mortensen, who set seven course records and won 10 races this fall, is spending the winter taking college recruiting trips. Then she’ll be chasing more records during track season.