Small Colleges / Alan Drooz : Living Isn’t Always Easy During the Summer

It’s been a busy and successful year at Claremont-Mudd, and for the coaches, the summer should be just as hectic.

Tennis coach Hank Krieger will coach the U.S. team in the Pan American Maccabiah Games, baseball coach Pat Murphy will spend the summer coaching the Netherlands’ national team and football coach John Zinda will take his team to Japan for a July 31 game against Nippon University.

Murphy will coach the Dutch baseball team in the European Championships in July, hoping for a berth in the 1988 Olympics. Zinda’s football team was invited by the Japanese Sports Federation and will play in Yokohama Stadium.

In all, Claremont-Mudd won Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles in football, basketball, soccer, swimming, water polo, tennis and women’s cross-country. The water polo team was rated 13th nationally, grouped mostly with Division I schools. School officials say about 25% of the 800 students compete in intercollegiate sports on the Division III level.

Coaching Changes: After receiving 101 applications, Cal Poly Pomona named Dave Bollwinkel its men’s basketball coach. Bollwinkel, 37, has been an assistant at San Jose State since 1982 and was an assistant at Pomona in 1977-1978. Bollwinkel replaces George Fisher, who resigned after three seasons. Bollwinkel will have seven returning lettermen as well as four redshirts.

Cal State Bakersfield has named David Rubio its women’s volleyball coach. Rubio, 27, a 1982 graduate of Cal State Northridge, has been head coach of the Southern California Volleyball Club since 1984. Rubio replaces Cheryl Alexander, who resigned after seven years.

UC Riverside has named Pat Tope its men’s and women’s swimming coach. Tope, 35, has directed the Riverside Aquatics program for seven years. Tope replaces Tim Torchianna, who resigned as swimming and water polo coach.

At Cal State San Bernardino, Bruce Brown has been appointed coach of the swimming and water polo teams, which will begin competition next season. Brown, a two-time All-American swimmer at Occidental, has spent the last two seasons as assistant swimming coach at Stanford. Before that he coached for five seasons at Whittier and four at Occidental. He has coached 30 Division III All-Americans.

Gary Hanning has been named co-coach of Chapman College’s softball team. Hanning, 30, will coach with five-year veteran Lisle Lloyd. Hanning coached Saddleback College this season.

In an unusual setup, The Master’s College has hired Mel Hankinson as men’s basketball coach, and last season’s head coach, Randy Stem, will stay on as his assistant. Hankinson is a 16-year veteran who coached at a variety of schools including Samford, Slippery Rock and Roanoke College. He has also been an assistant at the University of Iowa.

Sharon Peterson has resigned after one season as volleyball coach at Azusa Pacific. Her team was 7-14.

At Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, men’s basketball Coach Steve Beason was upgraded from interim to permanent. Beason, 30, who coached the Mustangs to the co-championship of the California Collegiate Athletic Assn., was an assistant in 1985-1986 and was named interim coach three weeks before the next season began. The team finished 19-10.

Cal Poly Pomona softball pitcher Rhonda Wheatley closed out her four-year career with a 139-60-2 record, the most victories in National Collegiate Athletic Assn. history. Wheatley had an earned-run average of 0.40, 96 shutouts, 7 no-hitters and 2 perfect games. In 1,414 innings, she struck out 979 and walked 248. This season, she was 35-21 with 17 shutouts. As a sophomore, she was 48-16, setting an NCAA single season record for wins. Pomona Coach Carol Spanks may not have seen the last of her star. Spanks will coach the U.S. team in the Pan American Games this summer.

Cal State Northridge is dropping its men’s tennis program. Athletic Director Bob Hiegert cited lack of funds, lack of a full-time staff and failure to do well at the regional and national level as the reasons. Northridge, which is considering moving up to the Division I level, earlier this year dropped women’s gymnastics due to lack of local and national competition at the Division II level. The school will compete in nine men’s and seven women’s sports next season.

Small College Notes

Azusa Pacific’s championship in men’s track and field was its fifth straight, an unprecedented string in any sport in the NAIA. The Cougars were inspired by sophomore Herbie Akpom, who severely pulled a hamstring while winning the long jump in a school-record 25 feet 1 inch, but still ran the next day and placed fifth in the high hurdles. . . . A fourth-place finish by Chapman didn’t keep outfielder Darren Nelson from winning MVP honors in the CCAA. Nelson became the first CCAA player to win the triple crown, with a .388 average, 21 home runs and 77 runs batted in. He also led in doubles (22) and tied for the lead in hits (85). Co-pitchers of the year were Mike Aspray of Dominguez Hills and Charlie Webb of Cal Poly Pomona. . . . Pomona’s Tom Lorenz ran out of games before he ran out of hits. The senior ended his college baseball career with a 26-game hitting streak. . . . Biola’s basketball team had a successful tour in Japan, winning all three games against a Japanese college all-star team. Johnny Griffin, Gary Hook and Mike Wnek were named game MVPs. . . . Two Cal Poly Pomona seniors were honored by the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Assn. Debbie Jung won the Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship Award, while Mary Holycross was named senior athlete of the year.