LOCAL COLLEGES NOTES

By North County Times | Sunday, March 9, 2008 5:15 PM PDT ∞

Oh so close

The storybook season of the Palomar College women's basketball team ended one point short of the California Community College Athletic Association elite eight when the Comets dropped a heartbreaker Saturday night in Pasadena.

Kieisha Phelps' free throw with no time remaining allowed Pasadena City College to escape with an 81-80 victory.

First-team all-state selection Sabrina Gonzalez (Carlsbad), playing in her final game in a Palomar uniform, led coach Sheri Jennum's Comets with 33 points. Katie Girten (Westview) had 20 points and five assists. Alyson Haley had 15 points and 11 rebounds. Point guard Jade Simmons contributed eight assists.

Starting forward Nikki Boone didn't play for the Comets after re-injuring a knee in last week's first-round playoff game.

Palomar finished 27-6 for the best record in school history. The Comets won the Pacific Coast Conference championship with a 14-0 record, becoming the first Palomar team to go unbeaten in conference play in 23 years. The 1984-85 Comets went 12-0.

Eveland stands out

Former San Pasqual High standout Pat Eveland had a good freshman season at San Diego Miramar College.

The 6-foot-7 freshman led the Pacific Coast Conference in scoring (19.6) and rebounding (10.1). He shot 50.5 percent from the field for a team that finished 13-15 overall, 9-7 in the conference.

Aztecs softball

Four former North County prep stars are playing prominent roles on the San Diego State softball team.

Sophomore catcher Erin Floros (Mt. Carmel) is hitting .342 with two homers and a team-leading 23 RBIs. Sophomore outfielder Brittany Knudsen (Escondido) is hitting .324 with a homer, nine RBIs and six stolen bases.

Both Floros and Knudsen have earned Mountain West Conference Player of the Week honors this season.

Freshman pitcher Brooke Petty (Vista) is 4-0 with a 1.07 ERA. Sophomore infielder Janae Portugal (Westview) is a key reserve.

Track and field

+ The UC San Diego women won the recent All-Cal Challenge at UC Irvine, edging UC Davis 243-235. Christine Merrell was a double winner, in the 100 meters (12.33 seconds) and 400 hurdles (53.50). Whitney Johnson won the triple jump with a leap of 40 feet, 9 inches, an NCAA automatic qualifying mark. Linda Rainwater won the high jump (5-5).

+ Saturday, the Tritons won the San Diego City Championships on their campus, beating San Diego State 217 1/2-204. Point Loma Nazarene was third with 125 1/2 points, followed by Cal State San Marcos with 68. In a meet that follows the Mountain West Conference Indoor Championships and precedes the NCAA Indoor Championships, the Aztecs rested many of their key athletes and still had eight first-place finishers.

Junior Shana Solomon was a double winner for SDSU in the 100 (12.16) and 200 (24.88). Freshman Kyanna Thomas made it an SDSU sweep of the sprints by winning the 400 with a mark of 56.84.

Sophomore Darien Buc extended her impressive 2008 indoor campaign into the outdoor season by winning the 1,500 with a personal-record time of 4:42.65.

San Diego State dominated the pole vault by taking the top six spots. Sophomore Stephanie Bagan, who entered the weekend with the fifth-best indoor vault in the nation, posted a 13-5 1/4.

Junior Tamara McMillan won the shot put with a personal-record 42-1 1/4.

San Diego State will host the Aztec Track and Field Classic at SDSU Sports Deck on Friday and Saturday. Other SDSU athletes will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for the NCAA Indoor Championships on the same two days. National qualifiers will be released early this week.

+ Dallon Williams of Cal State San Marcos won the 3,000 meters at the city championships in 10:19.36. Teammates Jessica Sandoval, Laura Heuring and Joy Leon followed to make it an all-Cougars top four.

+ On the men's side, Billy Walker highlighted the numerous strong Cougars performances. The senior won both the 100 (11.15) and 200 (22.58). He was also on the winning 400-meter relay team with Adam Leidigh, Thomas McDougal and Austin Sylvia. Cory Dart, Kevin Ott Wright, Nicholas Stein and McDougal combined to run 3:20.80 and win the 1,600 relay by three seconds.

In the field events, Ronnie McFadden won the discus.

The award goes to ...

< USD's Morgan Henderson has been named to the All-West Coast Conference academic team. The 6-foot sophomore averages 8.7 points and 5.4 rebounds per game and carries a 3.54 grade-point average.

< San Diego State's Aaron Goldberg (Torrey Pines) was named the Mountain West Conference men's golfer of the month for February. He opened the season by tying for second in the PING Arizona Intercollegiate with an 8-under-par 205. He was second at the SDSU Intercollegiate and was seventh at the John Burns Intercollegiate in Hawaii, shooting a 7-under 65 on the final 18 holes. This was the fourth time Goldberg has won the award.

< San Diego State men's basketball forward Lorrenzo Wade was named to the NABC All-District 13 second team.

Around campus

< San Diego State senior Karoline Koehler earned the High Point Award at the Mountain West Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Air Force Academy. She finished second in the triple jump with a school-record leap of 43 feet, 5 inches, was third in the 60-yard dash (7.53), fourth in the 200 (24.56) and sixth in the high jump (5-5).

< The UC San Diego fencing team qualified three athletes for the NCAA Division I Championships. The event in Columbus, Ohio, starts Thursday. Senior epee specialist Emily Ambort and senior foil Chelsea Lipoma won their events at the NCAA West Regional.

---- John Maffei

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