CSUN Swimmers on Schedule : Accardy Looks to Division II Nationals With 20 Qualifiers

Pete Accardy, coach of the Cal State Northridge swim teams, was asked how his teams were doing midway through the second day of the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. championships Friday at Cal State Bakerfield.

He smiled sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders. “All right, I guess,” he said.

In other words, he didn’t know and he didn’t really care.

Accardy is more interested in Northridge’s progress in preparing for the NCAA Division II championships in two weeks.

And he is pleased. Twenty Matador swimmers--10 men and 10 women--have met national qualifying standards.

Luigi DiMari, Mike Baele and John Celentano could be added to the men’s list by the time the conference meet ends on Sunday.

DiMari is near qualifying standards in the 400 individual medley and the 200 butterfly, Baele in the 50 and 100 flys, and Celentano in the 50 free and 100 breast.

“We’re doing pretty much what I wanted us to do at this point,” Accardy said.

Both Northridge teams are in second place with two days to go. The men should finish behind defending national champion Bakersfield; the women are expected to overtake front-running Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which has a 306-266 lead.

Bakersfield’s men’s team, which has 17 swimmers who have met national standards, has a 295-161 lead over CSUN, but Accardy dismissed the significance of both figures because Bakersfield swimmers are shaved and rested for the conference meet and his teams are not.

Also, teams are allowed to send a maximum of 18 swimmers to the nationals, making any number over that worthless.

The CSUN women’s team is said to have a good chance of winning a national championship after finishing third last season. The men’s team will be in a tight race with Bakersfield.

Jeff Kubiak, Stacy Mettam and Heather Laurie all won races on Friday.

Kubiak won the 100-yard breaststroke in 58.29, while Mettam turned in a season-best 59.95 in the 100 back.

Laurie, who qualified for the nationals with a 1:08.56 effort in the 100 breast trials, led a CSUN sweep in the finals of the event, winning in 1:08.63.