Northridge Credo: Wait Till Next Year

By JOHN ORTEGA

Feb. 3, 1996 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

NORTHRIDGE — What’s more important, winning the American West Conference titles this year or making a strong debut in the Big Sky Conference next year?

Don Strametz, the men’s and women’s track and field coach at Cal State Northridge, pondered that question all fall before deciding that a strong rookie season in the Big Sky should take precedence over winning men’s and women’s titles in the four-team AWC for the second year in a row.

With that in mind, some of Northridge’s top performers from 1995 will not compete for the Matadors this year. Northridge opens its indoor season today against Southern Utah, Nevada and Northern Arizona in a meet at the Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff, Ariz.

“The whole idea behind this year is that we are very young and very, very talented,” Strametz said. “We’re redshirting a lot of people so we’re not going to be as talented as we could be, but I still think we can contend for the American West Conference titles.”

Among those who will not compete this year for the Matadors are Akiem Brown, Jeff Bodholdt, Lori Miller and Carlene Jones.

Brown, who ran a personal best of 47.26 seconds to win the men’s 400 meters in last year’s AWC championships, and Miller, third in the women’s 800 and fourth in the 3,000, are sitting out what would have been their senior seasons.

Jones won the women’s long jump and triple jump, and placed among the top three in three other events in the AWC championships as a freshman but is taking off a year from school. She is expected to return to Northridge in the fall.

So is Bodholdt, who is attending junior college in Orange County. He won the discus, placed second in the shotput and third in the hammer in the AWC meet as a freshman.

Gone is Tannel House, who ranks seventh on the all-time Matador list in the women’s long jump (20 feet 1/4 inch) and triple jump (39-10 1/2). House was expected back for her senior season after using 1995 as a redshirt year, but will give up her final year of eligibility so she can accept money for her part in a TV commercial that is expected to air this summer during the Olympic Games in Atlanta.

“We’re not talking about a six-figure contract or anything like that,” Strametz said. “But it’s enough to make a big difference in the life of a college student.”

Seniors Kel Watrin and Kristina Mataafa and junior Beth Burton head the list of returning veterans.

Watrin, who won the men’s javelin in last year’s California-Nevada State championships, placed third in the AWC.

Mataafa finished second in the women’s shotput and discus in the AWC meet, and Burton was the conference champion in the shotput.

Sophomore high jumper James Lincoln rounds out the list of returning AWC champions for Northridge, which will feature talented freshmen such as Billy Bush and Bryant Eubanks on the men’s team and Zarinah Tillman and Ellen Muench on the women’s.

Bush placed sixth in the discus for Modesto Downey High in last year’s State championships, and Eubanks finished sixth in the 100 for Oceanside El Camino.

Tillman placed seventh in the 400 and eighth in the 200 for Pleasanton Foothill in the State meet, and Muench finished seventh in the 1,600 for Lake Elsinore Temescal Canyon.

“We’re going to try to win the American West meet again,” Strametz said. “But we’re also looking to the future and going into the Big Sky.”