A High-Water Mark for Sutton

You might not think a 2-7 record is any way to start a season, but Mike Sutton, Claremont-Mudd’s water polo coach, isn’t much concerned.

Why should he be? Claremont-Mudd, a Division III school, is ranked 14th in the top 25, which includes teams from all NCAA divisions.

And what makes it nicer is that the second victory was No. 400 in Sutton’s 19 years as the Stags’ coach.

“That shows I’ve been around a long time,” said Sutton, whose record is 400-205-1. “But I’ve had some pretty darn good teams and some terrific players. Once you get that tradition going, it builds on itself.

“It’s not why you coach--you don’t think, ‘Oh, I want to get to 400.’ It’s not about winning. It’s about trying hard, doing it right and trying to be as good a team as we can be each year. I’m mostly proud of being able to sustain it at a high level. I mean, we’re not an elite team, so it’s a real accomplishment.”

Sutton also points out that he has a supportive athletic administration, especially considering that the Claremont-Mudd colleges are expensive private schools that are academically demanding and do not grant athletic scholarships. One obvious example of the support is the 5-year-old aquatics center at Claremont, one of the Southland’s best.

Seems only fitting, because Sutton is one of the Southland’s best. His record in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games is 168-12 and he has won 14 SCIAC titles and three Western Water Polo Assn. championships.

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The men’s soccer team at Cal Poly Pomona skipped from 21st in the polls to eighth by posting a couple of big victories last week.

The Broncos beat Grand Canyon, the defending national champion, 2-1, at home and then beat Cal State Dominguez Hills, 3-2, in overtime. The loss dropped Grand Canyon from 10th to 13th.

Freshman forward Brandon Humphries scored the game-winning goal against Grand Canyon with about 20 minutes left. Humphries also scored against Dominguez Hills, then Matt Johnston’s goal six minutes into overtime won it for the Broncos.

Cal State Bakersfield, 10-1 and No. 2 in the rankings, continues to roll. The Roadrunners beat Cal State San Bernardino, 2-1, Saturday for their ninth consecutive victory since losing their opening game. Kavan Howell scored both goals for Bakersfield, which played before an announced attendance of 1,106.

Bakersfield and Pomona play this afternoon at Pomona.

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Dominguez Hills’ women’s soccer team stayed in the top five of the NCAA Division II poll, despite going 1-2 last week.

Riding a nine-game unbeaten streak, Dominguez Hills rose to No. 4 in the rankings before being upset at Cal State San Bernardino on Wednesday.

Then, against 15th-ranked Cal Poly Pomona, with the score tied, 1-1, senior goalkeeper Brandie Kaake was given a red card for handling the ball outside the box. As a result, she had to leave the game and the Toros had to play short-handed for the rest of the game.

But Heather Rolland, Dominguez Hills’ leading scorer, took Kaake’s place in the goal and had three saves as the Toros won, 3-1.

College Division Notes

Tiffany Winn, a sophomore goalkeeper for Cal State Bakersfield, had two shutouts last week, extending her scoreless streak to 260 minutes--over four games. . . . Cherish Jordan, a four-year starter for Dominguez Hills’ women’s soccer team, was selected by the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. as its 1996-1997 female scholar-athlete of the year. The announcement was made at the CCAA fall meetings in Riverside Oct. 1-3. A psychology major with a sociology minor, Jordan was an honors student for six semesters and had a 3.86 grade-point average. As an athlete, she was named an All-CCAA first-team selection twice and was named to the NCAA Division II All-Far West Region first team in 1996.

Cal State Bakersfield’s Regina Csibi won the women’s NCAA Division II West Regional tennis championship by defeating her teammate, Barbara Valkova, at Cal Poly Pomona. Andrew Csordas of UC Davis defeated teammate Sourin Banerji in the men’s final. . . . In the Division III championships, also at Cal Poly Pomona, Mara Berzins of Trinity defeated her teammate, Christy Wussow, for the women’s title. In the men’s final, Danny Kim of UC Santa Cruz defeated teammate Thomas Oechel.