Loyola Marymount Pair Takes Different Route in Water Polo

The Loyola Marymount men’s water polo team is different from most.

The Lions have two African Americans playing in one of the least racially diverse sports in NCAA Division I.

A.J. Baucum and Will Fontenot are the only seniors on a 14-13 team but have traveled different paths to the sport and LMU.

“I grew up in a predominantly African American neighborhood, and all my friends were like, ‘Why swimming?’ ” said Fontenot, who grew up in Texas.

“Now, I see this as an advantage,” he said.”Even [at LMU], more African Americans approach me and want to learn to swim or they want me to teach their kids.

“I’ve taught aunts and uncles to swim, and a couple of my cousins want to build a pool so I can teach more people to swim.”

For Baucum, water polo seemed a natural sport.

“I grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood in Oregon,” Baucum said. “My dad swam in college and I tried out for basketball as a freshman [in high school] and got cut.

“I never had problems because I was the only African American out there. But I was real overweight in high school and heard a lot about that.”

The differences in their backgrounds may mirror their futures.

Fontenot hopes to establish a business career, whereas Baucum has applied for a Rhodes scholarship, which would take him to Oxford, England.

“I want a PhD in pharmacology,” Baucum said. “If I make it to Oxford, I want two more bachelor degrees, one in Spanish and one in biochemistry.”

But that doesn’t mean Baucum doesn’t have a future in the water. He wants to do research in marine pharmacology. And he says coaching at the high school level is intriguing. Fontenot, too, is thinking about coaching.

For now, though, Baucum and Fontenot have work to do together, as the Lions play in the Western Water Polo Championships this weekend.

They are seeded fifth in the tournament.

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The UCLA men’s soccer team, defending national champion, will play host to Fresno State in the first round of the NCAA tournament at 1 p.m. Sunday at the North Athletic Field. The Bruins (16-3) finished the season ranked fifth nationally, and in third place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Bruins defeated the Bulldogs, 3-1, Sept. 15. . . . Dietta Huber of USC won the Intercollegiate Tennis Assn. regional women’s tennis tournament at UC Irvine Sunday. She went 6-0 in the tournament, defeating Christina Popescu of UCLA, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6, in the championship match. In the men’s ITA Regional Nov. 6, Gustavo Marcaccio of Arizona State defaulted to Kelly Gullett of Pepperdine in the championship match. Marcaccio was hospitalized for dehydration Saturday night and chose not to continue after Gullett won the first set on a tiebreaker.

The Long Beach State women’s volleyball team closed out a perfect Big West season, defeating Nevada Thursday, 15-7, 15-8, 15-8, and Pacific Saturday, 15-12, 15-9, 17-15. Next for the 49ers (26-0, 14-0) is the conference title match, a rematch against East Division winner Nevada, Friday at 7:30 at the Pyramid. Against Nevada last Thursday, the 49ers got a triple-double--10 kills, 12 digs, 38 assists--from player of the year Misty May. Benishe Dillard had 30 kills in the two matches. . . . The Pac-10 women’s volleyball season ends this weekend, with USC and UCLA playing host to Friday-Sunday matches against Stanford and California. The 11th-ranked Trojans (19-4, 14-2 Pac-10) are two matches behind No. 4 Stanford in the conference. They play the Cardinal Sunday at 1. The Bruins (13-10, 12-4) need to win one of their final three matches to finish over .500, which is required for play in the NCAA tournament. The Bruins, No. 16, finish the regular season against Pepperdine (16-9) Tuesday at Pauley Pavilion. At Washington State last week, USC Coach Lisa Love collected her 200th victory, beating the Cougars, 15-5, 15-10, 15-10, and senior Jennifer Kessy became the Trojans’ all-time leader in kills, passing Tracy Clark’s mark of 1,680. Kessy has 1,686 and counting. . . . USC golfer Jennifer Rosales, the top-ranked collegian, won the Golf World/Palmetto Dunes Collegiate Invitational Nov. 8 at Hilton Head, S.C., with a 214 over three rounds. The Trojans lost the tournament to Arizona in sudden death. . . . The UCLA women’s cross-country team qualified for the NCAA championships Nov. 23 at Lawrence, Ka., with a fifth-place finish at the Western Regional qualifying meet at Fresno Saturday. UCLA’s Mark Hauser qualified as an individual.