Northridge Runners Set Records

Cal State Northridge set two meet and Big Sky Conference women’s records while finishing sixth in the California-Nevada track and field championships that ended Sunday at UC San Diego.

The Northridge foursome of sophomore LaShaunda Fowler, junior Anicia Rimm, freshman Krystal Harris and sophomore Annetta Wells won the women’s 400-meter relay in a meet and Big Sky record of 44.82 on Sunday.

The time broke the meet record of 45.40 set by Nevada Las Vegas last year and lowered the Big Sky best of 45.40 set by Northridge earlier this year.

Wells set the other meet record for the Matadors, winning her 200 qualifying heat in a career-best 23.52 on Saturday.

That broke the meet record of 23.57 set by Juan Ball of Humboldt State in 1995 and the Big Sky record of 23.63 set by Brooke Stinson of Montana last year. Wells finished third in 23.72 in the final on Sunday.

UCLA had 198 points to win its third consecutive women’s title. The Bruins were followed by Nevada (81), California (79), Fresno State (67), Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (61) and Northridge (60).

Northridge tied San Luis Obispo for seventh in the men’s meet with 42 points.

California won the men’s competition with 138 points, followed by defending champion Fresno State (134), UCLA (107), Long Beach State (82), Stanford (53) and UC Davis (52).

Northridge senior Clinton Lane finished fourth in the 400 in 47.15 and seventh in the 200 in 22.08, and ran on the 1,600 relay team that placed sixth in 3:16.26.

* As expected, Bridget Pearson of Hoover High has signed with UCLA.

Pearson, the 1997 state champion in the girls’ pole vault, has trained several years with UCLA assistant Anthony Curran.

She has a career best of 12 feet.

BASKETBALL

* Justin Beach, a freshman on the Moorpark College men’s team last season, will play next season at Quincy (Ill.) University, Moorpark Coach Remy McCarthy said.

Beach, a Chaminade High graduate, averaged 15.7 points and 6.5 rebounds for the Raiders, and was an All-Western State Conference first-team pick.

* Kelly Paige, a 6-foot-2 center at Crescenta Valley, has signed with Cal State Los Angeles.

Paige will join former Times All-Valley guard Kelli Kobayashi of Alemany at Cal State L.A.

* Hart High is the Southern Section’s top All-Academic boys’ team among schools with an enrollment of 1,500 or more students.

The Indians had a cumulative team grade-point average of 3.42. Camarillo (3.23) is second and Moorpark (3.23) is third.

Hart’s 1998-99 squad will be recognized at the Angels’ game on Wednesday at Edison Field.

Hart Coach David Montgomery said it is the first time the Indians have won the all-academic team award.

BASEBALL

* Brady Burrill, an All-Valley catcher at Valencia last season, has decided to play baseball for Michigan State.

Burrill accepted a scholarship to Northridge, but quit the team last fall.

GOLF

* Kyle Thurston of Moorpark placed second in the 12- and 13-year-old division of the 32nd annual Catalina Island Junior Championship on Sunday at Catalina Island Golf Course in Avalon.

Thurston, 13, shot a 69 over 18 holes on Saturday and closed with a final-round of 34 over nine holes on Sunday to finish at 103, one shot behind Adam Nelson of Avalon. Nelson scored 70-32.

AUTO RACING

* Dennis Dyer of Palmdale finished third in the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series’ Las Vegas 100 on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Dyer finished behind winner Kurt Busch of Las Vegas and Craig Raudman of Redding.

* Marc Hart of Ventura finished seventh and Ed Patterson III of Oak View finished eighth in the Sprint Car Racing Assn. 30-lap feature event on Saturday night at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare.

Rip Williams of Yorba Linda was the winner.

Cory Kruseman of Ventura is fourth in the SCRA standings with 415 points, behind Richard Griffin of Silver City, N.M. (543), Troy Cline of Hawthorne (455) and J.J. Yeley of Phoenix (428).