CAL STATE FULLERTON NOTEBOOK : Vasquez Aims for NCAA Meet

Rob Vasquez was working out on Saddleback College’s track a few years ago when he saw Larry Stuart, a Saddleback coach and former USC standout, throwing the javelin.

Having never thrown the javelin at Mission Viejo High School--California high schools don’t offer the event because it is believed to be too dangerous--Vasquez thought it would be neat to give it a try.

His first toss went about 150 feet, and Stuart immediately dubbed Vasquez a natural.

Four years later, Vasquez is proving Stuart right.

Vasquez, in his first season at Cal State Fullerton and his last season of college eligibility, is knocking on the NCAA Championship meet’s door. He has already met the national provisional qualifying mark by throwing 222 feet, 6 inches during a tri-meet March 23 at Cal Poly Pomona.

That effort would have been good enough to win the Big West Conference meet and place 10th in the national meet last season.

The automatic qualifying mark for the javelin is 245 feet, and the provisional qualifying mark is 220. The NCAA championship field consists of automatic qualifiers and the number of provisional qualifiers needed to fill the balance of a field of 16.

Vasquez might not be ready to challenge Texas junior Patrik Boden, the defending NCAA champion whose top mark of 292-4 is among the world’s best, but if Vasquez reaches the NCAA finals at Oregon in June, he would be Fullerton’s first Division I national qualifier.

“He’s put himself in a real good spot to make it,” Titan Coach John Elders said. “He’s just coming around, and I think he’ll throw a lot farther.”

At 5 feet 10, 175 pounds, Vasquez is a lot smaller than most top competitors in his event. But he has an explosive arm and, through his work with Stuart and former Fullerton track Coach Ron Witchey, has developed the technique required to throw the javelin successfully.

“You don’t have to be a really big or strong guy to throw the javelin--it’s all technique,” said Vasquez, a 1986 Mission Viejo graduate. “Some people think that just because quarterbacks can throw footballs far, they’d be able to throw the javelin far, but that’s not always the case.”

Add Vasquez: A sprinter and jumper at Mission Viejo, Vasquez competed on the Saddleback College track team as a freshman in 1987 but redshirted the 1988 season to concentrate on improving his strength and javelin technique.

He placed second in the 1989 state community college meet with a 211-10 mark but couldn’t transfer to a Division I school because he hadn’t completed his Associate of Arts degree requirements.

Vasquez participated in several meets as an open-division competitor in 1990 and became interested in Fullerton after meeting Elders at an invitational.

He finally earned his AA degree at Irvine Valley College this past winter and enrolled at Fullerton this semester, in time for one last season of college eligibility. The NCAA allows Division I athletes five years after high school to complete four seasons of eligibility.

Vasquez plans to remain at Fullerton through the 1991-92 school year and compete for the Titans’ track club at open meets, and he has his long-range sights set on the 1996 Olympics.

“I think I have a chance,” Vasquez said. “I want to go around the world and compete against the best athletes.”

Fullerton women’s gymnastics Coach Lynn Rogers is glad the season is coming to a close. At the rate the Titans have been going, if the season were to extend beyond Saturday’s NCAA West Regional meet at Oregon State and the NCAA Nationals on April 19-20 at Alabama, Rogers might not have any athletes left.

Rogers lost three gymnasts--Erin Brewer, Krickitt Pappas and Gina Satterly--to injuries before the season, and Kim Valetutto has been limited to the balance beam because of a wrist injury.

Lisa Dolan chipped a bone in her wrist in February, and Cari O’Hayre tore a knee ligament in March. Neither will compete this weekend, said Rogers, who will bring six gymnasts to the regional.

Rogers began the school year thinking this team could place among the top six nationally. Now, he concedes there’s virtually no chance of Fullerton qualifying for the nationals, so the focus has turned to individual goals. Rogers said Stacey Harris, Stacy Fowlkes and Karena Mills have a chance to qualify for the NCAA meet.

“I’m anxious to put this season to bed,” Rogers said. “It’s been a nightmare.”

Two Fullerton baseball recruits from California, Monte Vista High pitcher Chris Gambs and Millikan High infielder/outfielder Dante Powell, were recently ranked among the top 25 high school players in the nation by Baseball America and USA Today.

“That’s good,” associate head coach George Horton said. “But we might not keep them. That’s the problem when they’re that good.”

Gambs and Powell are expected to be high-round picks in the June baseball draft, so both will have to make the decision between college and professional baseball.

Titan Notes

Fullerton second baseman Steve Sisco has hit .607 (17 for 28) over the past five games to take over the team batting lead with a .377 average. The junior has three or more hits in each of the five games and also leads the Titans in runs scored with 35. Shortstop Phil Nevin had led the team before a two-for-17 slump, but the sophomore snapped out of it with two hits in Friday’s 12-0 victory over UC Irvine and five hits in the Titans’ 22-12 victory over the Anteaters on Saturday. Nevin improved his average to .366. . . . The Titan baseball team will play a nonconference game at Pepperdine at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. It is a makeup of a game that was rained out March 19.