Northridge Struggles to Stay Close : Men 4th, Women a Distant 2nd in CCAA Track Championships

The Cal State Northridge men’s track team got off to a good start and the CSUN women’s team had a good finishing kick.

But both squads got kicked around in between and wound up chasing the leaders Saturday after the first day of competition in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. track and field championships at Cal State Los Angeles.

The Northridge men are fourth with 20 points and the women are a distant second with 26 points after six events.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo leads the men’s competition with 75 1/2 points. Cal State Los Angeles (56 1/2 points) is second, Bakersfield (26) is third and Cal Poly Pomona (8 points) fifth. UC Riverside and Chapman did not score.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is tied with Pomona for the lead in the women’s competition with 61 points.

The Lady Matadors are followed by Bakersfield (23 points), Riverside (8) and Chapman (6 points).

The day started well for the CSUN men when senior Dan Lange won the hammer, the first championship event of meet, with a throw of 193 feet, 3 inches.

That mark was a personal best for Lange, the defending champion in the event.

“I was hoping to win,” Lange said . “I was mentally prepared for this meet and my first throw was real easy.”

Lange’s winning mark came on his second throw.

Heather Brookes and Teresa Poy picked up points for the CSUN women’s team in the 5,000-meter final, one of the last events of the day. Brookes (17:42.15) finished second and Poy (18:41.50) was fourth.

Despite those bright spots, however, the Northridge teams generally were dominated by San Luis Obispo and defending men’s and women’s conference champion Cal State L. A.

Still, Northridge had its moments.

Jerry Gilmore and LaTonya Canada both finished second in the long jump, Gilmore leaping 24-1 3/4 in the men’s competition and Canada 18-6 in the women’s final.

Gilmore finished second to Cal State L. A.’s Eddie West, who jumped 24-3; Canada lost to San Luis Obispo’s Angela Lee, who went 19-5.

Tyrone Jeffries (110-meter high hurdles and 400 intermediate hurdles), Jason Gray (100 meters), Vaughn Kastor (800 meters), Phoebe Smith (100 meters) and Mary Coleman (400-meters) were all top qualifiers for today’s finals.

Northridge’s Sheila Murray and Shawnette Sapp also qualified for the women’s 400-meter final.

Jeffries, a sophomore, won the first prelim in the intermediates in 52.49 seconds and the first prelim in the highs in 14.68.