Olympian Kern Is Hitting Some Flat Spots

It is a high that can sometimes be hard to come down from. It comes from competing in a frenzied atmosphere for your country against the rest of the world on the ultimate stage.

In September, Sean Kern was on the Olympic stage as a member of the United States men’s water polo team. It was an experience that wasn’t a complete success, in that the team finished sixth and came home without a medal.

But it was something that Kern won’t soon forget, if ever. It is, after all, water polo and the chance to play in front of 15,000 screaming, flag-waving people doesn’t come that often.

“Oh, those games were definitely a lot of fun,” said Kern, the reigning NCAA player of the year and leader of the defending NCAA champion UCLA Bruins. “It wasn’t hard to get pumped up.”

That tournament culminated a period in which Kern made the national team in February and trained for months with the focus of bringing home gold from Sydney.

That didn’t happen but it isn’t the end of his story. Kern returned for his senior season at UCLA. He took one day off after returning from Australia, then in his first game with the Bruins, scored four goals in leading them to a 7-5 victory over USC in a key Mountain Pacific Sports Federation game at USC.

UCLA (14-2, 6-0) has won six in a row since and 11 consecutive overall. It is 7-0 since Kern returned.

Bruin Co-Coach Guy Baker, who also missed part of the season in coaching the U.S. women’s water polo team, said the 6-foot-6 Kern has the ideal combination of strength and quickness to succeed at the two-meter position in front of the goal.

“The unique things about him is, in addition to his great size, he has great hands and a great release on the ball,” Baker said. “He doesn’t rely on his size as much as you’d think. He’s big and strong but he gets his shot off very quickly.”

On the surface, Kern has shown no ill effects from the nonstop schedule. He has 14 goals in seven games and he scored three of them Sunday in UCLA’s 11-9 win over USC in the final of the Northern California tournament in Stockton.

But Co-Coach Adam Krikorian saw his best player not performing at the level he was accustomed to seeing the last three years. Krikorian and Baker gave Kern a couple of days off this week and the senior willingly took them.

“He’s still probably a little rusty,” Krikorian said. “I wish I could say that he was tremendous in that match [against USC] but some of that was he was in the right place at the right time.

“I thought he played better this past week. I think these couple of days are going to do him a lot of good.”

Kern acknowledges the transition back to the college level hasn’t always been smooth. On the national team, he was a reserve playing outside as a driver and operating as a playmaker on offense.

There is also the regular atmosphere of a few hundred vocal fans instead of the nationalistic cries from thousands in Sydney.

“Those first three or four games back, I was definitely tired,” Kern said. “You could afford to stay on the perimeter but in our system, we do a lot of counterattacking and you have to get into position early in front of the cage. I have to get my strength back.

“It’s been a little difficult to get real pumped up for games. I really enjoyed my time at the Olympics. You definitely enjoy it. The more people, the better.

Krikorian understands what Kern is going through.

“The Olympics is the pinnacle of our sport and he was there,” he said. “Anything other than the Olympics is a step down. Sure, there’s probably a little bit of a letdown.

“But with Sean, he’s such a competitor that if he was playing in a rinky-dink pool somewhere, he’s still going to compete and try to win.”

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Two weeks after it was undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the nation, the UCLA men’s soccer team continued its free fall with disappointing losses at California and Oregon State over the weekend.

In the 2-1 loss to the Beavers, the Bruins (9-4-0, 1-4-0) were without senior co-captain Ryan Lee, out with a hamstring injury. Key midfielder Shaun Tsakiris had to sit out because of an accumulation of yellow cards, and another starter, Caleb Westbay, has a strained knee.

Three losses in four matches have dropped the Bruins out of the rankings and into last place in the first year of the five-team Pac-10 Conference.

After finishing fifth in the NCAA Fall Preview tournament, the USC women’s golf team made up for a rough first day by taking second place at the Stanford Intercollegiate on Sunday. The Trojans finished six strokes behind tournament and defending NCAA champion Arizona and were led by junior Leila Chartrand and sophomore Candie Kung.

Chartrand was fourth individually with a two-under-par 214 over 54 holes. Kung finished fifth at one-under 215. Pepperdine’s Katherine Hull finished in a fifth-place tie at one-over 217 in helping the Waves take sixth as a team.

Loyola Marymount equaled the school record for victories in a season with its ninth in a 3-2 overtime men’s soccer victory over Portland. Freshman Kevin Novak’s goal lifted the Lions (9-5-1) into third place in the West Coast Conference behind Gonzaga and San Diego.

COLLEGE DIVISION

La Verne put itself in position for its first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women’s volleyball title since 1997 by defeating second-place Cal Lutheran on Saturday, 15-8, 16-14, 15-11. The Leopards (21-0, 10-0), led all season by outside hitter Amy Brummel and setter Ryan Winn, also kept their undefeated season alive and can move up this week from their No. 11 national ranking in the last American Volleyball Coaches Assn. poll.

Cal State Dominguez Hills will host California Collegiate Athletic Assn. men’s and women’s soccer championships Nov. 2-5. Three divisional winners and the highest remaining squad with the most points will earn berths. The Toros’ men’s team (15-1-1), ranked No. 3 in the nation, clinched the Central Division title.

The Cal State Bakersfield men’s golf team won the National Intercollegiate Match Play Team Championships in Tupelo, Miss., beating Grand Canyon of Phoenix, 9-5. The Roadrunners advanced by defeating Texas Wesleyan, 5-0, in the first round and West Florida, 3-2, in the semifinals of the Division II bracket.