Returning Wrestlers Boost Titans

The Cal State Fullerton wrestling team has started slowly this season, but Coach Ardeshir Asgari believes that will change soon.

“We’ll be a lot better in the second semester,” Asgari said.

The reason? A quick infusion of talent from athletes who have been ineligible.

Juniors Joey Coughran and Maurcio Mora had to spend time on the sideline after transferring from Big Ten schools. Coughran transferred from Purdue and Mora from Minnesota.

Sophomore Jason Webster, who was 11-10 at 177 and 167 pounds last season, also missed the first-semester matches while waiting for his eligibility to be approved by the NCAA.

“Webster has been cleared for the second semester,” Asgari said. “He took a class at Riverside College in the summer that didn’t have prior approval, so we had to get it approved by the NCAA, and the appeal process took two months. We are waiting now for first-semester grades for the other two.”

Asgari is hopeful Shawn Kim, a transfer from Fresno State, also will be able to compete in the second semester, though his eligibility hasn’t been confirmed.

“I talked to the Fresno State coach on the telephone and he said he would release him, but we haven’t received the paperwork yet,” Asgari said. Kim, who has only one season of eligibility remaining, is a younger brother of Titan assistant coach Sheldon Kim. Another brother, Shane, also competes for Fullerton.

“Shawn wanted to be with his brothers this year, and he should help us a lot,” Asgari said. “He’s a three-time [Western Athletic Conference] champion at 118 pounds.”

The Titans are 1-2 in dual meets and finished 29th among 41 teams in the Cliff Keen Invitational at Primm, Nev., but they had to forfeit three matches in their loss to Air Force because of depth problems. That should be helped when the transfers become eligible. Coughran is expected to take over at 126 pounds and Mora at 134.

Despite the team’s early record, Asgari says several wresters have shown promise. Steve Duran, an NCAA qualifier last season, has a 9-4 record at 158 pounds, and Babak Nejadmaghaddam is 8-4 at 177 pounds. Heavyweight Matt LaGrass is 3-4 with two pins.

“With a full team, we should be as good as any team in the [Pac-10] conference,” Asgari said.

The Titans will compete in the 16-team Oregon Classic in Corvallis Dec. 30-31 after a dual meet Monday at Portland.

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The gymnastics career of Alexis Lott could be in jeopardy after she had to undergo arthroscopic surgery after re-injuring her right knee, the same one that needed surgery two years ago.

Lott, who won the Big West championship on the uneven bars and was a co-champion in the floor exercise in 1995, never returned to her old form last season after missing the 1996 season.

“This was a relatively small amount of ligament damage compared to the previous injury, but she’s going to have to be off it totally for at least four weeks,” Coach Lynn Rogers said. “Ultimately, it will have to be a decision between Alexis and her doctor about whether she wants to try to compete again.”

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The men’s basketball team’s games at Wisconsin Green Bay Saturday and at Loyola Chicago Tuesday will be the Titans’ first trip to the Midwest since the 1992-93 season, when they defeated Northern Iowa but lost to Drake.

The trip will give relatives of players from that area an opportunity to see them play. Junior forward Mark Richardson is from Fort Wayne, Ind., freshman center Corey Sanders from Lansing, Mich., and senior forward Wyki Tyson from Troy, Mich.

Sanders, who started one game against Lewis-Clark State, didn’t play in Fullerton’s victory over Portland Saturday night, but Coach Bob Hawking said he wasn’t ill or injured. “It just worked out that way,” Hawking said.

Richardson was limited to a few minutes of playing time in the second half against Portland because of a deep thigh bruise he suffered in practice earlier in the week. DeVaughn Wright, slowed by back problems earlier, replaced Richardson in the starting lineup.

Hawking expects Richardson to be ready to return to as a starter against Wisconsin Green Bay.

“We want to be able to play some games in the home areas of our out-of-state recruits when it’s possible,” Hawking said.

Titan Notes

Five Titans have been named to the Big West academic cross-country team. Erin Remy and Stephanie Scapin were chosen to the women’s team, and Omar Cordero, Andrew Van Note and Francisco Vazquez were selected to the men’s team. . . . The Titan baseball team will begin preseason workouts Jan. 5. The Titans are ranked 10th nationally in Collegiate Baseball’s preseason poll. Baseball America’s rankings have not been announced. . . . Butch Hawking, the son of Titan basketball Coach Bob Hawking, is an assistant men’s basketball coach at Cal State Northridge this season.