Farmer Helps Recruit 1 Good Man in Marine

Former Hawaii running back Jamal Farmer is not only gracing the Cal State Northridge offense with his considerable presence (Farmer is 5-feet-11, 235 pounds), he has recruited Pete Marine, one of his youth football teammates, to join the Matadors.

Marine, who redshirted last season at Arizona State, credits Farmer with convincing him to enroll at CSUN in the fall. “I talked to Jamal and he said he was real comfortable at Northridge,” Marine said.

Before talking to Farmer, Marine, a former Canoga Park High and Moorpark College wide receiver, had considered CSUN because he could play in front of family and friends.

Another favorable factor was the university’s NCAA Division II status in football.

If Marine were to transfer to a Division I school he would have to sit out a year and would lose one year of eligibility. At CSUN, he has two years of eligibility, beginning immediately.

“I didn’t want to sit out two years in a row,” Marine said.

Marine decided to leave Arizona State after completing spring drills under the new coaching staff headed by former Cal Coach Bruce Snyder.

“I didn’t feel I’d get a shot,” said Marine, who said he ran fewer routes than many of the new recruits Snyder brought in.

Under Snyder’s predecessor, Larry Marmie, things weren’t much better for Marine.

“When I came in they told me I would start opposite Eric Guliford, but at summer camp I was playing behind him,” Marine said. “After camp they switched me to the other side. I had to learn a new system, I was falling behind and I was playing behind two guys.”

After Marine suited up for the first four games, including contests at Oklahoma State and USC, the staff decided to redshirt him.

He since has gained 15 pounds.

“I’ve gotten bigger and stronger so I feel I’ll be a better player,” said Marine, who caught 30 passes in his sophomore season at Moorpark.

With the loss of top receivers Cornell Ward, Paul Peters, Billy Nealy and Adam McKinney, Marine could step in and earn a starting position at CSUN.

“It is up to me this summer to win a spot,” Marine said. “Coach (Bob) Burt didn’t promise me a position. I just want to make a contribution. I’m not expecting to catch 100 passes with Jamal around. I know he’s the focus of the offense.”

HELP WANTED

Burt continues to recruit for the ’92 season and hopes to bring in two defensive linemen and a pair of defensive backs before drills begin in mid-August.

“We are two defensive linemen away from being our typical tenacious defense,” Burt said. “And we don’t have a lot of depth in the secondary.”

There is no shortage of talent, however, if the spring-game performance of defensive backs Kevin Carmichael, Vincent Johnson, Cedric Hackett and Gerald Ponder is any indication.

Carmichael made a touchdown-saving tackle and tied Angel Chavez for the team lead in solo tackles with five. Johnson blocked a field-goal attempt and made four unassisted tackles. Hackett broke up two passes and intercepted another for a 30-yard return and Ponder recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass.

TRAVEL PLANS

Northridge’s baseball team has been split in several directions as players hook on with various amateur teams for the summer.

Outfielder Greg Shepard is returning to the site of Northridge’s 1992 demise: Wichita, Kan., where he will play for the Wichita Broncos in the Jayhawk League. Outfielder Joey Arnold, who signed with the Matadors out of Pierce College, will play for Liberal, Kan., in the same league.

Catcher Mike Sims is headed for Fairbanks, Alaska, and pitcher John Bushart is playing for Chatham in the Cape Cod League. Chatham is guided by Cal Lutheran Coach Rich Hill.

Pitchers Jason Van Heerde, utility player Jason Shanahan and infielders Andy Hodgins and Andy Small will play for a San Bernardino-based team. The Woodland Hills Astros will include catcher Tyler Nelson, infielder Erik Lazerus and outfielders Jonathan Campbell and Kyle Washington.

MORE HONORS

Kenny Kendrena and Scott Richardson of Northridge were first-team All Region 8 selections by the American Baseball Coaches Assn. The district covers colleges in California, Nevada and Arizona.

Kendrena, the school’s all-time strikeout leader, was 11-6 in his senior campaign with 176 strikeouts in 162 innings. Richardson, a junior second baseman, batted a team-high .342 and led the Matadors with 15 doubles, five triples and 20 steals.

Greg Shockey was a second-team selection. He batted .338 and had an on-base percentage of .470.

FOURTH-ROUNDER

Kevin Kloek, drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers, is in good company.

He is only the second Northridge player to be taken in the fourth round of baseball’s June amateur draft. The other: Jason Thompson, who had an 11-year major league career with the Pirates, Tigers, Angels and Expos.

The only Northridge players to go higher in the June draft are Craig Ryan (1974) and Jeremy Hernandez (1987), both second-round selections.

Gil Kubski (1974) and Steve Ellsworth (1981) were first-round choices when baseball had a secondary draft phase for previously drafted players in January.

STATWATCH

The Northridge pitching staff finished with a school-record 512 strikeouts in 55 games, a 9.3 average. The previous mark was set by the 1991 staff, which struck out 511 in 63 games.

Kendrena finished the season 24 innings shy of the Division I record for innings pitched in a season. Kendrena pitched 162 innings. Floyd Bannister pitched 186 for Arizona State in 1976.

CLIMBING THE LADDER

With the pressure to qualify for the U.S. Olympic trials finally off the shoulders of Crissy Mills, Advantage Athletics Coach Charlie DiMarco figures that Mills will continue to raise her personal best in the high jump in the weeks ahead.

Mills, a two-time state champion in the high jump for Campbell Hall High, attends USC but competes for Northridge-based Advantage Athletics.

On Sunday, she cleared a personal best of 6 feet 1 1/2 inches in The Athletics Congress Southern California championships at Cerritos College to automatically qualify for the Olympic trials in New Orleans later this month.

Mills had cleared 6-0 1/2 in three meets this season before Sunday.

“I think she can jump 6-4 this year,” DiMarco said. “Now that she doesn’t have to worry about qualifying for the trials, I think she’ll be much more relaxed when she competes and that will help.

“Until Sunday, you could just see the pressure to make the trials building up in her. She wanted to make that height so badly, but the more she tried, the more tense she got.”

MAKING HER MARK

Northridge’s choice for recipient of the most-improved award for the women’s track team is an easy one: Erin Morris.

The junior from Santa Monica High began the season with a personal best of 14.13 seconds in the 100-meter low hurdles and lowered that mark to 13.63, .01 seconds shy of the school record set by Jodi Anderson in 1979.

Morris’ 13.63 was not a case of popping one big race, either.

She ran 13.70 or faster four times, and 13.96 or better 10 times this season.

In a meet at Cal State Long Beach last week, she ran 13.67, 13.70 and 13.64 in the 100 hurdles within a period of 2 1/2 hours.

KEEPING TRACK

Former Golden League standouts Erick McBride of Cal State Bakersfield and Dan Berkeland of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo won events in the NCAA Division II track and field championships at San Angelo, Tex., last week.

McBride, the 1989 Southern Section 4-A Division champion in the 800 meters for Palmdale High, won the 800 in 1:48.82 and the 1,500 in 3:50.55.

It was the second Division II 800 title for McBride, who won the event as a Northridge freshman in 1990 before eventually ending up at Bakersfield.

Berkeland, who placed seventh in 3,200 meters in the 1990 4-A meet as a Canyon High senior, won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:21.20 for San Luis Obispo.

END OF AN ERA

Most of the Cal Lutheran players who were on the field when Ralph Perdomo of William Paterson College hit a three-run home run to deny Cal Lutheran the NCAA Division III championship May 26 were watching their final play as Kingsmen.

Of the 10 seniors on the Cal Lutheran roster this season, seven were regulars. The only non-senior starters were catcher Eddie Lample and first-team Division III All-American outfielder Darrell McMillin, who led the team with a school record 19 home runs. Both are juniors.

With the exception of Steve Dempsey, however, the Kingsmen retain the entire pitching staff, including junior left-hander Pat Norville, who had a 1.68 ERA and 68 strikeouts in 91 1/3 innings.

Staff writers Mike Hiserman, Theresa Munoz, John Ortega and Wendy Witherspoon contributed to this notebook.