Festival Selectors Ignore the Map When Placing Athletes on Teams

West Coast fans who instinctively choose to root, root, root for the home team in this year’s U. S. Olympic Festival will run the risk of making a big mistake.

More than 3,500 athletes and coaches will participate in the Festival, which officially opens Friday and runs through July 30 at venues in and around Oklahoma City. Included are 81 coaches and athletes from the Valley area, but they won’t all be clad in the red uniform of the West team.

The North, South and East also will benefit from the talent-laden Southern California area because of a selection process that sometimes pits high school or college teammates--and in at least one case, brothers--against one another.

“In a lot of cases there seems to be no rhyme nor reason to who is on which team,” said Jeff Mordhorst, a U. S. Olympic Committee spokesman.

In some cases, there are good reasons for this. For instance, of the 81 ice hockey players selected to compete, only two are from states west of Minnesota. As a result, the West team consists primarily of players from cold-weather states, plus Chris Nelson, a defender who lists Los Angeles as his hometown but attends the University of Wisconsin.

But in no instance is the randomness of the selection process more evident than in speed skating where a family has been split.

Keith and Charles King, short-track ice racers from Studio City, will face off--Keith for the South and Charles for the East.

Charles, who is in his third Olympic festival, is well on his way to making the geographic rounds at the age of 19. In Houston in 1986, he was on the West team and competed for the North a year later in Charlotte, N. C. Keith, 23, making his second Festival appearance, was on the West team in ’87.

Volleyball players Coley Kyman and Greg Weaver, who will be freshman teammates at Cal State Northridge next spring, are on opposite sides of the net in the Festival. Kyman, a two-time City Section 3-A Division Player of the Year at Reseda High, will compete for the North. Weaver, who went to Chatsworth High, is on the East team.

“It’s going to be weird but fun,” said Kyman, who previously has played with only one of his North teammates. “We’ll get a chance to practice for about a week, so hopefully we’ll come together then.”

Diana Fuhrman and Carole Louise, who belong to the Van Nuys Weightlifting Club, also will be rivals. Fuhrman will participate in the 67.5 kilogram class for the West; Louise in the 82.5 kg division for the East.

In other instances, former teammates were given the opportunity to stick together.

Jason Evans and Derek Wallace, key members of Chatsworth High’s West Valley League champion baseball team, will play for the West.

In basketball, Don MacLean and Mitchell Butler, who will be teammates at UCLA next fall, will play for the West team. MacLean, a former Simi Valley High standout who was the Pacific 10 Conference’s freshman of the year last season, and Butler, who signed with the Bruins out of Oakwood School in April, have played together on age-group all-star teams in the past.

In softball, Priscilla Rouse, a former All-American outfielder at Northridge, will join Anna Getherall, the Lady Matadors’ starting at shortstop, on a West squad that also includes pitcher Debby Day of Burbank and catcher Janet Sherman of Granada Hills.

The Valley’s largest contingent will compete in men’s field hockey. On the West, all but three of the players and coaches are from the Conejo Valley area, where the sport’s national federation is based. On the South, 11 of the 15 players are from the Conejo area.

ROLL CALL VALLEY-AREA PARTICIPANTS IN THE U. S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL IN OKLAHOMA CITY.

TRACK: Darcy Arreola (Cal State Northridge), 3,000 meters; Donna Mayhew (La Crescenta), javelin

BASEBALL: Jason Evans (Chatsworth), infield; Derek Wallace (Chatsworth), pitcher

BASKETBALL: Mitchell Butler (Oakwood School/UCLA), forward; Adonis Jordan (Cleveland High/Kansas), guard; Don MacLean (Simi Valley/UCLA), forward

BOXING: John Bray (Van Nuys), 201 pounds

CANOE/KAYAK: Susan Bragg (Newbury Park), North Kayak

CYCLING: Laurie Ross (Van Nuys); Mike Raczuk (Northridge); Katie Beck (Simi Valley)

EQUESTRIAN: Charlotte Bredahl (Calabasas), dressage; Kim Keenan (Sylmar), dressage

FENCING (MEN): Avi Friedlich (Encino), sabre; Ali Rezazadeh (North Hollywood), sabre; Mark Christie (Calabasas), epee; Chris O’Laughlin (Van Nuys), epee; Spenser Thompson (Studio City), epee

FIELD HOCKEY (MEN): Carl Chang (Westlake Village); Kato Fransen (Newbury Park); Don Goeser (Thousand Oaks); Sammy Hoang (Westlake Village); Jason Horrocks (Newbury Park); Jeff Horrocks (Newbury Park); John O’Neill (Newbury Park); Alvin Pagan (Simi Valley); Michael Rees (Simi Valley); Mark Ruvalcaba (Thousand Oaks); Scott Williams (Thousand Oaks); Mike Lee (Simi Valley); Larry Amar (Camarillo); Mohammed Barakat (Moorpark); Charles Forwood (Simi Valley); Eric Holtz (Simi Valley); Ryan Langford (Camarillo); Brant Lloyd (Camarillo); James Rahn (Simi Valley); Matt Robbins (Camarillo); James Sabelis (Simi Valley); Taylor Trickle (Camarillo);Jason Valderrama (Moorpark); Tom Vano (Simi Valley)

FIGURE SKATING: Tamara Kuchiki (Canoga Park); Tisha Walker (Thousand Oaks); Sharon Carz (North Hollywood), pairs (w/Doug Williams of Playa del Rey)

RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS: Alexandra Feldman (Encino); Jennifer Haase (Valencia)

SOCCER (MEN): Cameron Rast (Simi Valley)

SOFTBALL (WOMEN’S FAST PITCH): Karen Walker (Woodland Hills/UCLA), outfield; Debby Day (Burbank/Texas), pitcher; Anna Getherall (CS Northridge), shortstop; Priscilla Rouse (CS Northridge), outfield; Janet Sherman (Panorama City/UCLA), catcher

SOFTBALL (MEN’S SLOW PITCH): Manny Maldonado (North Hollywood), infield; Ron Whittleton (Sepulveda), pitcher

SPEEDSKATING: Keith King (Studio City); Charles King (Studio City)

TABLE TENNIS: Carol Davidson (North Hollywood)

TEAM HANDBALL: Denny Fercho (Camarillo); Steve Fercho (Camarillo); Jeff Fruin (Reseda); Jim Hop (Camarillo); Mike Hurdle (Reseda); Kevin Withrow (Thousand Oaks)

VOLLEYBALL: Coley Kyman (Northridge/CSUN); Dijon Douphner (Newbury Park); Greg Weaver (Chatsworth/CSUN)

VOLLEYBALL (WOMEN): Karrie Trieschman (Thousand Oaks); Beth Welch (Thousand Oaks)

WEIGHTLIFTING: Chris Altieri (Simi Valley), over 110 kg

WEIGHTLIFTING (WOMEN): Diana Fuhrman (Simi Valley), 67.5 kg;

Carole Louise (La Crescenta), 82.5 kg

COACHES/STAFF: West--Jerri Andrews (Westlake Village), manager, canoe/kayak; Jeff Jones (Thousand Oaks), assistant coach, men’s field hockey; Bill Langford (Camarillo), manager, men’s field hockey; Wendy Olson (Van Nuys), manager, figure skating; Kurt Stone (Camarillo), coach, team handball.

North--Robert Taylor (Chatsworth), manager, figure skating.

Individual sports--Tana Curtis, Reseda, assistant coach, cycling; George Ross, Saugus, assistant manager, shooting

TOTAL: 73 athletes, 8 coaches.