Whittier Wants Clout for Lacrosse Teams

Doug Locker and Kwame Lloyd understand the lack of interest in and respect for collegiate lacrosse in the West. Yet the Whittier coaches think their teams are good enough to compete in the NCAA Division III tournament.

The NCAA tournament selection committee may think otherwise.

The Whittier men’s team, coached by Locker, and women’s team, coached by Lloyd, lost only two games, combined, this season. But neither coach believes his team will be named to the tournament when the fields are announced this weekend.

For Lloyd, the problem is mathematical. His team needed to play seven varsity opponents. It played only two. The rest were clubs--teams that are not part of intercollegiate athletics.

In Locker’s case, his team’s season came down to one game, the final regular-season effort against one of the country’s best teams, Trinity College of Connecticut.

Whittier lost, 11-10, in overtime, dropping to 16-1, before winning the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League tournament, finishing 19-1.

“It’s a horrible feeling,” Locker said of his team’s predicament. “It’s frustrating to know you have to win all 20 games before the season even begins. Everybody gets up to play us and everybody we play wants to beat us.”

That’s because the Whittier men have built a 265-62 record since Locker began the program in 1982, with 10 WCLL championships. Since going from club to intercollegiate in 1990, Whittier is 161-27 with six league titles, including three undefeated seasons.

But whereas the figures are impressive, there are only seven varsity teams in the West, and the NCAA isn’t impressed with Locker’s schedule, which includes a lot of clubs from bigger universities in the West. According to the NCAA’s power rankings, similar to the RPI used in other sports, Whittier is 21st. Only 12 teams go to the Division III tournament.

“That’s one issue we’ve had,” Locker said. “They nuke us in terms of strength of schedule.

“One issue we’re going to be addressing big-time in the future is playing almost all intercollegiate teams.”

That’s something both coaches will be trying to do.

The men are going independent next year, hoping to build a strong enough schedule to warrant more national recognition.

The women have a bit further to go. The goal for next year is to move up to the top division in their league, which also includes club teams. They are in the second division now. From there, the number of out-of-state varsity teams must go up before a move out of the conference can be made.

*

Last week’s hiring of former Pepperdine basketball assistant Ken Ammann as an assistant at Azusa Pacific provided the second change this spring for Cougar athletics. Peter Shinnick recently completed his first spring camp as coach of the Azusa football team, which won the NAIA national championship in December under Vic Shealy. Shealy left the school to become an assistant at Air Force.

Shinnick has already determined his No. 1 priority--finding a running back to share the carries with player-of-the-year Jack Williams, who wants to spend more time in the defensive backfield his senior year.

Williams transferred to Azusa from Brigham Young and believes he has a better chance at a pro career as a defensive back.

*

Cal State Bakersfield heavyweight Stephen Neal won the Dan Hodge Award in April, given to the nation’s top wrestler. Neal ended his collegiate career with his second consecutive national championship in March, and won the Pacific 10 championship in the same weight class four years in a row, becoming the first wrestler to do so. He also set school records with 156 victories, 71 pins and 31 pins last season.

*

In the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men and women swept team track titles. Athlete-of-the-year honors went to a pair of Occidental runners--Jason Detwiler, SCIAC champion in the 1,500 and 5,000 meters and 3,000-meter steeplechase, and Christina Soria, champion in the 200, 400 and 1,600 relay.

Cal Lutheran won the SCIAC baseball championship and Claremont won the SCIAC title in softball.

*

The field for the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. baseball tournament was determined last weekend, and with two losses at San Francisco State, Cal Poly Pomona finished 2 1/2 games out of the four-team tournament. UC Riverside, 21-15 in the conference, is the No. 2 seed, behind regular-season champion and tournament host Chico State. The tournament begins Thursday.

Cal State Bakersfield defeated Sonoma State, 1-0, Monday to tie UC Davis for the CCAA softball crown with a 27-5 conference record.

In the Golden State Athletic Conference, Biola won the conference baseball title with a 24-6 GSAC record, and will host the NAIA Far West/Pacific Northwest Regional May 12-15. Azusa Pacific, 20-10 in the GSAC, will host the winner of tonight’s playoff between Cal Baptist and Concordia in a best-of-three series Friday and Saturday, the winner also going to regional.

Senior Regina Csibi of Cal State Bakersfield was named CCAA women’s tennis player of the year.