COLLEGE ROUNDUP : CSUN Men Open Track Season in Impressive Style

The Cal State Northridge men’s track and field team opened the season with victories over Southern Utah and host Northern Arizona in a double dual meet Saturday at the Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff, Ariz.

The Matadors defeated Northern Arizona, 68-54, and Southern Utah, 100-13. Northern Arizona, the three-time defending Big Sky Conference indoor champion, defeated Southern Utah, 100-9.

Juniors Joe Hicks and Chris Perry led Northridge.

Hicks paced a 1-2-3 Northridge finish in the shotput with a personal best of 58 feet 0 1/2 inch and placed third in the 35-pound weight throw with a mark of 51-8 1/2.

Hicks’ shotput mark exceeded the provisional qualifying standard for the NCAA indoor championships in March. Provisional qualifiers will be invited to the NCAA meet if the number of automatic qualifiers is below the desired number.

Perry won the long jump (23-9 1/2) and triple jump (48-1 3/4)) and placed second in the 55-meter dash (6.42 seconds).

In the women’s meet, Northern Arizona defeated Northridge, 63-41, and Southern Utah, 94-4. Northridge defeated Southern Utah, 73-22.

Charlotte Vines (7.01 in the 55-meter dash), Kim Young (8.04 in the 55 hurdles), Janine Stewart (56.46 in the 400) and Tanya Lynch (38-6 3/4) won individual events for Northridge.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Cal State Sacramento 68, Cal State Northridge 46--Alana Collins scored 14 points and Mary Jean Espino added 13, but the visiting Matadors (4-14) shot just 35% from the field and committed 36 turnovers in a nonconference game.

Kristy Ryan scored a season-high 26 points for Sacramento State (12-7), which led at the half, 39-18. Haily Griffith had eight points and six rebounds for Northridge.

Cuesta 72, Moorpark 71--The host Cougars scored with 19 seconds left to win a Western State Conference North Division game.

After Cuesta took the lead, the Raiders were unable to get off a shot on consecutive possessions.

Tamara Pacheco paced Moorpark (8-14, 1-3 in conference play) with 21 points. Teammate Lori Church scored 15 points, and Stephanie Ungersma added 12.

Valley 81, Pierce 59--Freshman Nicole Baynes, a former All-City Section player at Grant High, scored 17 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead host Valley (23-4, 9-1) to its ninth consecutive WSC South Division victory.

The Lady Monarchs, ranked eighth in the state, also received 14 points and six assists from Rosa Mendez. Shani Samuel led all players with 28 points for Pierce (6-16, 2-8), but it was not enough as Valley took an 8-0 lead and extended it to 44-28 at the half.

Valley’s full-court press helped force 14 steals and the Lady Monarch defense held high-scoring Pierce sophomore Yolanda Davidian to 12 points. Amy Horst finished with 12 points and six rebounds for Valley.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Cal Lutheran 92, Caltech 53--J.R. Woods came off the bench to score 25 points as the Kingsmen (14-3 overall) improved to 6-0 in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.

Center Derrick Clark scored 13 points for Cal Lutheran, and teammates Damon Ridley and Ahmet Baras each had 10.

Valley 56, West L.A. 50--Wayne Carlisle scored 17 points to lead the Monarchs (7-16, 2-2) to a WSC South Division win at Valley.

Brian Jackson added 12 points for Valley, 12 rebounds and seven assists.

Santa Monica 65, Canyons 63--Forward G.C. Marcaccini scored 30 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, but it was not enough as the Cougars (14-12, 2-2) fell short in a WSC South Division game against first-place Santa Monica (4-0 in division play).

After Mike Demers’ free throw gave Santa Monica a 65-63 lead with one second remaining, Marcaccini could not handle a length-of-the-court pass near the basket as time expired.

Rasaan Hall scored 14 points and teammate Cedric Jones added 10 assists for Canyons.