SCC’s Carlsons Get Jump on Competition

It’s becoming something of a late winter ritual for the Carlson brothers: finish basketball season, practice high jumping a couple of times and then immediately start soaring in competition.

Kevin, a senior at Southern California College, and Brian, a sophomore, each cleared 6 feet 10 1/4 inches last Saturday at the Easter Relays in Santa Barbara, their first meet of the season. The mark qualified them for the NAIA national track and field championships, May 23-25 in Atlanta.

The Carlsons, who helped the SCC men’s basketball team advance to the final four of the Golden State Athletic Conference tournament early this month, were All-Americans in track last year. They cleared 6-11 3/4 at the national championship meet, where Kevin finished third and Brian fourth, based on fewer misses.

Last season, Brian practiced more than Kevin and therefore has better technique than his brother, but they have told SCC Coach Bryan Wilkins that this year they plan to dedicate themselves to training.

“They are really working hard this year because they both have some big goals for themselves,” Wilkins said. “They both want a shot at the national title.

“I think they both will have a good shot at it.”

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Add track: SCC middle distance runner Nikee Pool also qualified for the national meet. Pool, a junior from Great Bend, Kan., improved her personal best in the 1,500 meters by about nine seconds, finishing in 4 minutes 38.88 seconds at the Easter Relays. She finished second, one second behind UC Santa Barbara’s Mary Crane.

Pool finished fourth in the 800 at the NAIA championships last season.

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Thievery: Concordia baseball player Eric Velasquez tied a school record for stolen bases in a game with four against Wisconsin La Crosse last week, despite never coming to the plate.

Velasquez, a freshman from Paramount, is the Eagles’ designated runner and was put on the base paths when catcher A.J. Applefield reached.

“He is our first legitimate designated runner,” Concordia Coach Jackie Schniepp said. “It’s nice to have him because we could use A.J. as a leadoff man if we wanted to.”

However, the Eagles (12-11-1, 5-6 in the Golden State Athletic Conference) already have a decent leadoff man in Jeff Stodgel, a junior from Cypress College. Stodgel has stolen 16 bases in 19 attempts. Velasquez, who scored three runs in the 9-2 victory over Wisconsin La Crosse, has been caught only three times in 11 attempts.

Tuesday, Concordia lost a conference game to Westmont, 5-4, after leading, 3-0, going into the eighth inning. Westmont scored five in the eighth, and the Eagles loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the inning but scored only once.

Concordia third baseman Derrick Bly extended his hitting streak to 21 games--in his last at-bat. Bly, who was walked, walked intentionally and hit by a pitch in the game, singled with two outs and no one on in the ninth. Bly extended the streak to 22 Thursday in a 17-1 victory over Western Baptist.

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Concordia’s softball team won the Redlands tournament last weekend, helped by Lisa Lefebvre, who was named the outstanding pitcher, and Geodi Sunabe, the most valuable offensive player.

Lefebvre, a sophomore from Ridgecrest, was 2-0 for the tournament, giving up six hits in an 8-3 victory over Redlands in the title game. Sunabe, a junior who has started every game at third base the last three seasons for the Eagles, had nine hits in 14 at-bats with seven runs batted in.

Concordia (17-11, 2-2 in conference) has split with Southern California College and Cal Baptist, which consistently are among the top three teams in the conference. Tuesday, Concordia won the first game with Cal Baptist, 6-1, but lost the second, 2-1, when Cal Baptist scored twice in the sixth. “We gave one away,” Concordia Coach Curt Cattau said. “That’s one of our downfalls.”

Even so, the Eagles are in good position. Tuesday, they will host Azusa Pacific, another perennially strong conference team.

“We feel we’re in the hunt to make it a very competitive race,” Cattau said. “I don’t know about the title, but we certainly feel we are in a position to change the makeup of the top three.”

Notes

The Chapman softball team, which has been plagued by bad California weather early in the season, is in Orlando, Fla., this week, and its first two games there were rained out. The Panthers, top-ranked in NCAA Division III, played two games Tuesday, however, and beat No. 2-ranked Trenton (N.J.) State, 2-1, and No. 8 Illinois Wesleyan, 7-0. . . . Natalie Neat, Makela Theriault, Mary Folino and Christy Carvin broke the Chapman sprint medley record by more than two seconds at the Easter Relays in Santa Barbara. Neat and Theriault ran 100 meters, Folino ran 200 and Carvin 400. They finished in 1 minute 56.21 seconds to take second.