Withdrawal From Track Meet May Cost Northridge NCAA Funds

NORTHRIDGE —  Cal State Northridge’s decision not to compete in a four-way indoor track meet at Northern Arizona on Saturday could cost the school’s athletic department $14,000 to $17,000 in NCAA sponsorship funds.

Northridge Coach Don Strametz announced his decision Monday after it became apparent it would be several days before any students--including several track athletes--will be allowed to return to their on-campus dormitories because of earthquake damage.

In addition, several other track athletes whose apartments were condemned are looking for housing.

Among those athletes are distance runner Michelle Ishio, triple jumper Amy Myers and javelin thrower Mike McClintock, whose whereabouts were unknown by Strametz until Friday.

“We’ve just got too many kids spread out all over the place right now,” Strametz said of his decision. “We’ve still got too many kids who haven’t been able to get back into the dorms.”

Sponsorship funds of approximately $7,000 to $8,500 are awarded for each sport a school offers that exceeds the NCAA minimum.

An institution must field a minimum of 14 sports teams--seven men’s and seven women’s--to participate at the Division I level during the 1993-94 school year.

Since Northridge was expected to field 18 sports teams--10 men’s and eight women’s--it would have exceeded the minimum by four and been entitled to $28,000 to $34,000 in sponsorship funds.

With Northridge’s men’s and women’s teams pulling out of Saturday’s meet, however, the Matadors might not be able to compete in four meets, the minimum number required for an indoor track season. This would leave Northridge with only 16 sports teams this school year, unless the NCAA grants it a waiver.

Strametz is confident that will occur.

“It’s my understanding that (getting a waiver) shouldn’t be a problem,” he said. “In the past, teams have been granted a waiver when they couldn’t get to a meet because of severe weather conditions, and I would think a disaster such as this would warrant the same treatment.”

Shirley Whitaker, the NCAA membership coordinator, said that NCAA bylaws do allow for a waiver based on “circumstances beyond a team’s control.”

Northridge is scheduled to compete in the Wolf Pack invitational in Reno on Feb. 12 and in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championships in Reno on Feb. 26.

Saturday’s meet would have counted as two meets for Northridge because the Matadors were scheduled to compete against Southern Utah and Northern Arizona in dual-meet scoring.

The Matadors might drop a Feb. 19 outdoor meet at Cal State Fullerton in order to take part in an indoor meet at Northern Arizona, but that still would leave them one meet short.