CROSS-COUNTRY NOTEBOOK : Castro Earns Honors but He Expected More

Cal State Northridge Coach Don Strametz called it the smartest race of his college career.

Assistant Bob Augello said it was a vintage clutch performance.

Surprisingly, however, Jorge Castro was disappointed after he finished 11th Saturday in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Division II championships in Marshalls Creek, Pa.

“I’m not satisfied,” said Castro, who ran 32 minutes, 30.3 seconds over the 10,000-meter course at Mountain Manor Golf Course. “I wanted to finish in the top 10 and I didn’t do that. It’s really frustrating because I feel like I should have run a lot faster.

“I felt good, but there were a couple of times when I just felt like giving up. . . . That’s happened to me a couple of times this year and it shouldn’t.”

Strametz attributed Castro’s bitterness to his personality and inexperience, despite the fact that the runner was an All-American his freshman year.

“(Castro) is one of those guys who’s never satisfied,” Strametz said. “I know he wanted to beat Sasha (Vujic) and I know he wanted to finish in the top five, but he’s got to realize that he doesn’t have the credentials of the really stud guys yet.

“The guys that finished in the top five . . . have run 14:15 or better in the 5,000, and several of them have broken 14. Jorge’s best is what, 14:55? It’s foolish to think that you can run with them in cross-country if you can’t run with them on the track.”

Some of Castro’s frustration stems from a disappointing sophomore campaign, when he was hampered by injuries and placed 70th in the West regionals.

“I never had a year like that before,” Castro said, “and it still bothers me. It was just very disappointing . . . I’m happy to be an All-American again, but I could have run a lot better.”

Down, but not out: Like Castro, Lady Matador senior Gena Jauregui earned her second Division II cross-country certificate with a 25th-place effort and, like her counterpart, expressed similar sentiments.

“I’m happy with the way I ran, but I’m always hard on myself,” Jauregui said. “Today’s race makes up a little bit for this season, but I’m still disappointed overall. I made All-American, but I know I could have finished in the top 10 if I had been healthy.”

Jauregui expected big things this season after placing sixth in the 1,500 meters at the Division II track championships in May, but an infected thyroid gland has hampered her all season. She was forced to miss a couple of races early in the season and never trained more than four days a week.

Nevertheless, she managed to produce a clutch performance Saturday. “Considering everything that happened, I’m happy,” she said. “But there was so much more there.”

Ranking time: Saturday’s race--Northridge’s last at the Division II level--marked the first time since 1975 that two Matador men have earned All-American honors in the same year.

And only Pat Curran (seventh in 1975) has ever finished higher than Sasha Vujic’s eighth and Castro’s 11th. The 1975 Northridge team--which finished second--had four All-Americans. Besides Curran, Ed Chaidez (12th), Bob Large (16th) and Dan Villalovos (19th) finished in the top 25 runners.

Throwing a shoe: Strametz wasn’t making excuses, but the Northridge women could have placed third instead of fourth in the Division II championships if Laura Doering hadn’t had to stop during the race to put on her shoe.

Doering, who was Northridge’s No. 5 runner, finished 59th in 19:15.4 over the 5,000-meter course, but may have lost a total of 20 seconds when she twice had to put a shoe back on after another runner inadvertently stepped on her heel.

Had Doering run 20 seconds faster, she would have placed 37th, lowering Northridge’s team score to 105, three points ahead of South Dakota State, which finished third.

Poy oh boy:: Teresa Poy, who transferred to Cal State Los Angeles from Northridge last year, earned her first All-American certificate Saturday, placing 19th and leading the Golden Eagles to a sixth-place finish.

Honor roll: Already the West regional men’s coach of the year, Strametz was presented with the Distinguished Coaches Award by the NCAA Division II Coaches Assn. on Friday night.

Proof positive: Considered by most to be the strongest Division II conference in the nation, the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. left no doubt to that claim by dominating the proceedings.

CCAA teams placed third (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo), fourth (UC Riverside), fifth (Northridge), and eighth (Cal State L. A.) in the men’s race, and had five of the 10 individual finishers.

CCAA women placed first (San Luis Obispo), fourth (Northridge) and sixth (Cal State L. A.) in the team standings, and had three of the top four individual finishers and nine of the top 19.

Also-ran: Mike Molotto of Abilene Christian and Kenya was one of the pre-meet favorites, but ran poorly and finished 45th.

Sixth in the 1986 and ’87 Division II meets, and second last year, Molotto was never among the lead pack and finished more than a minute and a half behind winner Rob Edson of Keene State, who ran 31:44.9.