Redlands Continues Run in Women’s Water Polo

Tom Whittemore has turned the Redlands women’s water polo program into a Division III dynasty. Earlier this month the Bulldogs won their fifth consecutive Division III national championship tournament.

Those titles must be put into perspective: There are only 10 schools in Division III that sponsor women’s water polo, 37 in Divisions I, II and III combined.

But Whittemore says that doesn’t diminish his team’s championships, especially this year.

“This was the most competitive championship tournament and conference season we’ve ever had,” Whittemore said. “Every year before this one, the [Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference] champion was undefeated in conference.”

This year, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps won the SCIAC title with two conference losses. Redlands also had two, but lost the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The tougher competition, and subsequent Bulldog losses, led people to question Whittemore’s team. “We lost to good, competitive teams, and people were like, ‘What happened? What’s wrong?’ ”

Instead, those losses have made Whittemore more optimistic about the future of his sport at the collegiate level.

There is a proposal for women’s water polo to play for an NCAA-sponsored national championship beginning in 2001. But because there are so few schools, the teams would compete for one championship--no divisions.

“We would compete for a national championship with USC, Stanford, UCLA,” Whittemore said. “After a couple of years, we’d see what happens to the championship structure.

“Hopefully, we can build membership up enough to have two championships.”

There’s no question which is the best Division III team under the current system.

Over the last six years, Redlands is 42-4 with four undefeated seasons, four SCIAC titles and five national titles.

This year’s SCIAC winner and national runner-up, Claremont, had the conference’s player of the year, senior Darcy Burton. Redlands’ Teri Lawson, one of two seniors Whittemore is losing, was the national tournament most valuable player.

Said Whittemore of the chances the dynasty will continue with so many players returning: “I don’t want to make any predictions, but am I excited about next year’s possibilities? You bet.”

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Even with Jonathan Rouwenhorst, the Golden State Athletic Conference player of the year, the Biola baseball team was unable to advance out of the NAIA regional it hosted, losing to top-ranked Lewis-Clark State of Idaho, 9-6, Thursday.

Rouwenhorst was selected player of the year after leading the GSAC with a 1.77 earned-run average and 115 strikeouts, posting a 9-1 record. The sophomore also finished seventh in the conference with a .380 batting average and fourth with 48 runs batted in. His coach, John Verhoeven, was selected coach of the year.

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This weekend’s NCAA Division III track and field championships at Berea, Ohio, will be the final meet for Occidental Coach Bill Harvey, who is retiring after 18 seasons. In his tenure at his alma mater, Harvey has coached 194 All-Americans in cross-country and track and has nine competitors in this year’s championships.

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In the SCIAC, La Verne senior first baseman Russ Riehl was selected player of the year after hitting .450 with conference-highs in home runs (10), runs (39) and RBIs (45). But Cal Lutheran finished the season on top with a 17-4 conference record, and will be at Georgetown, Texas, on Thursday when the Division III West regional begins.

The SCIAC softball player of the year was Kristine Zoch of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. The junior pitcher had a 0.45 ERA and her 70 strikeouts were more than 40 ahead of anyone else.

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Whittier named Anthony Almeida women’s tennis coach and Jim Emerson men’s coach. Almeida was the men’s coach the last nine years; Emerson just completed his first year as men’s assistant. Also, Redlands named graduate assistant women’s tennis coach Darcy Kyle coach.

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Forrest Jones of Redlands will be the SCIAC’s lone representative at the Division III men’s golf championships at Williamstown, Mass., this week.

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The men’s and women’s tennis teams from Westmont and Azusa Pacific have advanced to the NAIA championships at Palm Beach, Fla., Monday through May 29.