Bakersfield’s Neal Still on Top at End

Competing as a Division II school, Cal State Bakersfield is allowed to have one men’s program at the Division I level. And this year, the Roadrunners got a lot from that one program.

After winning the Pacific 10 Conference wrestling title for the second time in school history in February, Bakersfield finished eighth in the NCAA championships last weekend at Penn State.

“This was real big,” heavyweight Stephen Neal said. “This put us back up there in the national picture.”

This season was particularly big for Neal.

Along with winning his second consecutive national title, he ended his career with an 82-match winning streak, going 44-0 this year. His victory at the Pac-10 championships also made Neal the only wrestler in conference history to win the same weight class four times.

His 3-2 victory over Minnesota’s Brock Lesnar in the NCAA final not only gave him the title, but made him perhaps the most popular man outside of Steve Alford in Iowa City, as it gave the Hawkeyes a 100 1/2-98 1/2 victory over the Golden Gophers.

But the end of Neal’s collegiate career is only the beginning for the 6-foot-5, 260-pounder. He has his eyes on the 2000 Olympics.

“He could dominate the world,” said Bakersfield Coach T.J. Kerr, who also coached Neal as a freshman in 1996, the other year Bakersfield won the Pac-10 title.

Neal plans to stay in Bakersfield to train for the Olympic trials next summer. Neal also has entertained some thought of playing football professionally.

“When I was a kid I played football; I didn’t know about wrestling,” Neal said. “I think I have the talent and ability [to play in the NFL], I just need to find someone to work with me on my techniques. I’m definitely getting bigger after 2000.”

“I’ve gotten calls from coaches, from scouts, even a referee after a match told him he should play football,” Kerr said before the NCAA championships. “But I keep all that away from Steve. I want to keep him focused on wrestling and keep away things like agents.”

It doesn’t appear that a dream of playing football will get in the way of Neal’s preparation for the Olympic trials.

“I thrive on beating people up,” he said. “I’ve made a commitment to be the best in the world.”

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Long Beach State’s David McKienzie set a Division I men’s volleyball record with 58 kills as the No. 3 49ers upset previously undefeated and top-ranked Brigham Young at Provo, Utah, 15-13, 15-9, 7-15, 9-15, 16-14. This week, the 49ers, 16-1 and 13-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, are ranked No. 1, and McKienzie was named American Volleyball Coaches Assn. national player of the week for the second time in three weeks.

The 49ers also ended Loyola Marymount’s school-record seven-match winning streak March 16. The No. 9 Lions (9-6, 8-5) are in fourth place in the MPSF Mountain Division.

Also, UCLA learned how valuable middle blocker Adam Naeve is. After Naeve went down with an ankle injury against UC Irvine on Feb. 25, the Bruins blew a 2-1 lead and lost in five for the first time in 37 matches against the Anteaters. UCLA then went on a school-record four-match losing streak, ended when Naeve returned March 5. The fifth-ranked Bruins (16-6, 10-5) haven’t lost since and are in third place in the Mountain Division. Second-ranked Pepperdine is in first place in the Mountain with a 13-1 conference record, 17-1 overall.

Tenth-ranked USC is 10-8 overall and 7-6 in the Pacific Division, 5 1/2 games behind leader Long Beach State.

UC Santa Barbara is in sixth place in the Mountain, 6-11 overall and 3-10 in the conference.

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Led by Lindsay Benko’s 500-yard freestyle title and two third-place finishes, and Karen Campbell’s two third-place finishes, the USC women finished sixth at the NCAA swimming championships at Athens, Ga., last weekend. Katie Youngblood’s fourth place in the 200 butterfly was the best finish for UCLA, which finished 16th.

The men’s NCAA championships begin Thursday at Indianapolis.

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At the NCAA indoor track and field championships the first weekend in March at Indianapolis, UCLA’s Jess Strutzel, Brian Fell, Michael Granville and Mark Hauser set an American indoor record in the distance medley relay with a time of 9 minutes 13.17 seconds. Strutzel also set a school record, indoor or out, with a 1:46.48 in the 800 meters. The Bruin men finished 13th; the women, led by Seilala Sua’s third-place finishes in the weight throw and shotput, finished tied for eighth.

On March 6, USC freshman Sultan McCullough, a tailback on the football team, ran the 100 meters in 10.17 seconds, the fifth-fastest in school history and the fastest by a Trojan freshman.

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The UCLA gymnastics team won the Pac-10 title last weekend at Oregon State, scoring a 197.775 to defeat the Beavers by .375. Bruin Kiralee Hayashi was named conference gymnast of the year, and teammate Heidi Moneymaker won the meet’s all-around title with a 39.675.

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The USC men’s tennis team picked up the program’s 1,000th victory, against Arizona State, on March 13.

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UCLA sophomore catcher Stacey Muveman broke the school home run record with the 31st and 32nd of her career Feb. 28. The record was 30 by Kim Wuest in 1995-98. The No. 1 Bruins are 29-0.