Wright Suffers Wrong Ending

Adam Wright was having the kind of year athletes dream about.

As one of the key performers for the UCLA men’s water polo team, Wright took on a starring role this year, leading the Bruins while Sean Kern was competing for the U.S. in the Sydney Olympics.

He led UCLA to a No. 1 ranking, scored a team-high 39 goals, and was named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation player of the week for his three goals in a victory over USC on Nov. 18. And as one of six seniors, Wright was relishing the chance to defend the Bruins’ NCAA title.

The Bruins are back in the NCAA championships. But Wright won’t be there.

He’ll be in the stands at Pepperdine this weekend, cheering loudly and seething quietly. Wright was declared ineligible by the Pacific 10 Conference and the NCAA last week, who said he had exhausted his eligibility last season.

Wright still finds it all hard to believe. He injured a shoulder in the first game of the 1996 season and sat out his freshman year. Wright thought he had been red-shirted but co-Coach Guy Baker mistakenly assumed the conference and NCAA would grant the exemption automatically without filing necessary paperwork.

Therefore, his freshman year counted. And this one didn’t.

And Wright seethes.

“I can’t even describe how bad I feel,” he said. “That’s the whole thing. If I would have hurt myself or did something stupid to cause this, I could have accepted it.

“I feel I’m taking the brunt for all of this.”

Wright turned to the courts to salvage his dream, getting a temporary restraining order and playing against USC.

“That was the best feeling,” he said. “I felt like justice was saved.

“Going into that USC game, I thought I’d play every game as if it was my last because you never know what can happen to you.”

Baker, the respected coach who led the U.S. women’s team to a silver medal in Sydney, has taken the blame for the oversight and said, “There’s a definite level of sadness around our program. I’m not happy about Adam not going to play.”

If the Bruins win another NCAA title, it will be no surprise if the smiles aren’t so bright, the feelings not so jubilant.

“Any time you win, you would be happy,” Baker said. “But I can’t tell you how sorry I am that Adam is not a part of this,”

The irony is that Wright continues to rack up awards as he sits on the sideline. He was named to the All-MPSF second team this week.

Wright is angry, but not to the point of distancing himself from the program. He has been at all the games he has had to sit out. He helps out at practice.

Besides, Wright couldn’t just leave, even if he wanted to. He lives with Kern and goalkeeper Brandon Brooks.

“These guys didn’t do it to me,” Wright said. “They had nothing to do with it. If I don’t show up at the pool, I feel like I’m letting them down.”

Baker sympathizes.

“He’s a great guy and a great person,” he said of Wright. “I think you find out a lot about people when they’re in tough times. This can’t be a worse situation for Adam as an athlete but he’s handled it extremely well.”

They plan to talk in detail when everything dies down. Wright still plans to train for the U.S. national team, with an eye toward playing in the 2004 Olympics.

But he can’t hide the disappointment of how his college career ended.

“I can honestly say this is the toughest time I’ve ever gone through, other than losing a family member or a friend,” he said. “This sport, there’s no real money involved. . . . For somebody to take it away from me, it’s the most frustrating thing ever.”

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Long Beach State pulled off one of the upsets of the women’s volleyball season in stunning undefeated and second-ranked Hawaii in four games in the 49ers’ tournament over Thanksgiving weekend.

Before 3,025 at the Pyramid, junior outside hitter Cheryl Weaver had 29 kills and a career-high 12 blocks in the 49ers’ 15-13, 15-8, 13-15, 15-10 victory. Tayyiba Haneef had 21 kills and Brittany Hochevar added a career-best 17 kills and 20 digs.

Weaver was named co-Big West player of the year Monday with Pacific’s Kara Gormsen.

No. 1 Nebraska is the only remaining undefeated team. Long Beach became the only undefeated NCAA champion, going 36-0 in 1998.

COLLEGE DIVISION

It takes a lot to get people fired up on the Cal State Dominguez Hills campus but the Toros’ men’s soccer team has done that with its run to the NCAA Division II national championships.

Students and faculty members are stopping players between classes to offer congratulations. President James Lyons is joining the team in Miami to assume his new role as cheerleader.

The Toros (21-1-1) play Lewis University of Illinois in the semifinals today at Barry University. They defeated West Texas A&M; in the quarterfinals, 2-0.

“For probably the past month, the campus has really started to get excited,” Dominguez Hills Coach Joe Flanagan said. “I’m getting e-mail from instructors saying, ‘Congratulations. It’s been a great year.’ ”

Senior forward Juan Carlos Bolanos, the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. player of the year, said the year has been almost unbelievable. He scored the Toros’ first goal against West Texas A&M.;

“Oh, man . . . it’s just a dream come true for me,” Bolanos said. “As a senior, this was my last chance to prove to people how good we are and now we’re in the final four.”

NCAA Men’s Water Polo Championships

Where: Pepperdine University’s Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool

Saturday: Semifinals, No. 1 UCLA (17-7*) vs. No. 4 Navy (24-10), 1 p.m.; No. 3 UC San Diego (20-8) vs. No. 2 USC (22-4), 2:30 p.m.

Sunday: Third-place game, 1 p.m.; championship, 2:30 p.m.

Tickets: Two-days, $15 adults, $10 seniors and students and $7 for children under 12. Daily $10 adults, $7 seniors and students and $5 for children under 12.

HOW THEY GOT THERE

UCLA: Earned an automatic berth by winning the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Tournament, defeating California in the title game, 6-5.

USC: Awarded the lone at-large berth despite finishing fifth at the MPSF Tournament.

UC San Diego: Downed Loyola Marymount 10-5 in Honolulu to claim the automatic berth from the Western Water Polo Assn.

Navy: Secured the automatic berth from the Collegiate Water Polo Assn., defeating St. Francis in the championship game, 13-12, in sudden death overtime.

*--Record includes four forfeits