Parmenter Fails to Make Olympic Cut

Jennifer Parmenter of Granada Hills came within three seconds of earning a spot on the U.S. Olympic swimming team Wednesday, but settled for third place in the 400-meter individual medley finals at the U.S. Olympic trials in Indianapolis.

Parmenter, a freshman at L.A. Baptist, was timed in 4:49.50, 2.62 seconds behind second-place finisher Whitney Metzler. The top two finishers in each event qualify for the Olympics.

The favorite in the race, USC junior Kristine Quance of Northridge, was disqualified in the preliminary round for a technical violation.

Basketball

Pepperdine guard Gerald Brown is expected to undergo an MRI test to determine whether he will have arthroscopic or reconstructive surgery on his right knee, injured Saturday in the Waves’ 63-60 upset of Santa Clara in the West Coast Conference basketball tournament.

The Master’s College is ranked third in the final NAIA Division I men’s poll of the season, its highest-ever ranking.

The Mustangs (27-6) beat Domincan, 95-75, in the Far West Region Independents tournament Tuesday.

The win qualified Master’s for its third consecutive Division I playoff. Bill Oates of Master’s has been honored as the Far West Region Independents coach of the year for the second consecutive time and Mustang players Mike Penberthy, James Mosley and Leo Gorauskas have been named to the all-region team.

Two former Valley-area players were selected first-team All-Golden State Athletic Conference. Senior forward Sean Martin (Agoura High) averaged 14.7 points and six assists for Westmont. Senior guard Tim Sebek (Nordhoff) averaged 12.3 points and 4.5 rebounds for Azusa Pacific.

Nicole Albert and Evi Orologas have been named to the All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women’s team with teammate Melissa Wood earning second-team honors.

Miscellany

Chad Strickland and Beth Burton have been selected as Cal State Northridge’s athletes of the month for February.

Strickland, a 6-1 sophomore outside hitter from Hart High, led the Matador volleyball team in kills (169), digs (81) and service aces (14) in eight matches last month.

Burton, a junior from Downey High, won the 20-pound weight throw and placed second in the shotput in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor championships.

She opened March by winning the 20-pound weight throw with a school record of 58 feet 1/4 inch in the Wyoming Invitational.

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Contributing: Rob Fernas, Dana Haddad, Michael Lazarus, John Ortega.