Fresno Meet Draws CSUN’s Top Athletes : Track and field: Several Matador competitors expect to challenge in event for California-Nevada colleges.

If bigger is better, the 1995 California-Nevada track and field championships should be a high-quality affair.

The inaugural meet last year drew 820 athletes from 19 schools to UCLA’s Drake Stadium. Today and Sunday, 950 athletes from 29 schools are expected to compete at Radcliffe Stadium in Fresno.

“I think you could say that the meet has arrived,” said Cal State Northridge Coach Strametz, who, along with Fresno State assistant Bob Fraley, organized the event.

Northridge, which last year was fourth among women’s teams and seventh in the men’s competition, is hoping to improve its standing behind strong performances from throwers Kristin Dunn, Kristina Mataafa and Teresa Stricklin, sprinter Marshall Evans and hurdler Chris Youngblood.

Dunn, third in the javelin in the 1994 NCAA championships, placed second in last year’s meet, but is favored this year after throwing a school-record 176 feet 4 inches against UCLA and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on April 8.

Mataafa, a transfer from Colorado, leads Northridge with season-bests of 47-9 in the shotput and 167-1 in the discus. She could place in the top five in both events.

Stricklin has season bests of 46-8 in the shotput and 161-6 in the discus.

Evans ran what was then a personal best of 21.39 seconds to finish seventh in the 200 in last year’s meet and Strametz said he might approach the 21-second barrier this year.

Youngblood timed 14.80 to place sixth in the 110 high hurdles last year, but he has lowered his personal best to 14.29 this season and he clocked a wind-aided 14.22 in last week’s meet of champions at Azusa Pacific.