Fresno St. Needs No Invitation to Sweep Matadors

In a era when the invitational meet has become the mainstay of college track and field, there is still plenty to be said for a good old-fashioned dual or double-dual meet.

Coaches Don Strametz of Cal State Northridge and Red Estes of Fresno State have expressed that opinion for years and Saturday, their teams, along with the San Diego State women, engaged in the intense competition for points that doesn’t exist in invitationals.

“This is the way track used to be,” Estes said. “Just a lot of blue-collar kids going at each other for points.”

Fresno State defeated Northridge, 93-90, in the men’s meet and the Bulldogs swept the women’s meet by scores of 97-88 against Northridge and 117-63 over San Diego State, but Strametz was happy with his team’s performances.

“You don’t need an invitational to have great competition,” he said. “All you need is a rivalry and that’s something we have with Fresno.”

Although Northridge has yet to defeat the Bulldogs in a dual meet, the Matadors came closer than ever.

The Northridge men led, 79-75, after 15 events, but Fresno State outscored them, 18-11, over the final three events.

Northridge junior Jeff Beam had the best performance in the men’s meet by clearing a career-best 17 feet 3 inches in the pole vault.

That vault lifted Beam to second on the all-time Northridge list behind Dion Guiliano, who cleared 17-4 in 1984. It equaled the provisional qualifying standard for the NCAA championships in Bloomington, Ind., on June 4-7.

Provisional qualifiers will be invited to compete in the meet if the number of athletes who have exceeded the automatic standard of 18-1 1/4 is below the desired level.

Beam, who placed seventh in last year’s state junior college championships for Moorpark, had a best of 16 feet entering the meet, but he topped that mark three times.

After clearing his opening height of 15-11 3/4, Beam went over 16-5 1/2, 16-9 1/4 and 17-3, each on his second vault, before missing three times at 17-6 1/4.

“I cleared 17 feet in practice earlier this week so I thought I was ready for a big meet,” Beam said.

Vaulting with a slight tail wind and against a trio of 17-footers from Fresno State also helped.

“I was pretty fired up about who I was vaulting against,” he said. “And once I started clearing [personal records], I got amped. I was really pumped.”

Marquis Jones won the 110-meter high hurdles in 14.33 seconds and the 400 intermediates in 53.22 for the Matador men (3-2).

Freshman Cheree Hicks won the shotput at 47-3 1/2 and the discus at 164-6 for the Northridge women (5-2).

Clinton Lane, Erika Bowling and Nancy James used gritty homestretch runs to win races for Northridge.

Lane, a redshirt freshman from Patrick Henry High in San Diego, won the men’s 400 in 47.19 to edge Fresno State’s Chris Jones, who finished in 47.55, and moved to third on the all-time Matador list.

Bowling, a sophomore, won the women’s 400 in 55.00 to defeat Fresno State’s Cynthia Nau (55.11) and Tammy Simpson (55.22) and move to fifth on the all-time school list.

James, a 400 specialist during her high school career at Hart, has made a made a smooth transition to the 800 during her sophomore season, as evidenced by her 2:11.18 to 2:11.47 victory over Brenda Stewart of Fresno State.

The time improved on James’ previous best of 2:12.35, which she ran to win the Big Sky Conference indoor title last month.