Of runners and renovations

Bryce Alderton

Led by the cross country team’s second-place finish in California,

men’s sports at Orange Coast College continue their steady climb to

maintain winning traditions while adjusting to life in the sometimes

difficult Orange Empire Conference.

John Knox led the Coast men to the conference title in cross

country and track and field, gaining conference Coach of the Year

honors. OCC sophomore long-distance specialist Art Diaz claimed the

state championship in the 10,000 meters in 31:25.58 as Coast finished

eighth. Sophomore Keinan Briggs, who finished fourth in the triple

jump and sixth in the 110-meter high hurdles, paced Coast’s men’s

track team and was voted the conference’s Male Athlete of the Year.

The Bucs placed second at the state cross country championships

with Joel Guzman and David Ojeda leading the way. The cross country

and track and field teams were the only men’s sports to claim

conference crowns in the 2002-03 school year.

Not to say that detoured other sports from shining when it

mattered most: during the postseason.

Men’s volleyball coach Chuck Cutenese, who completed his 12th

season at Coast, led his team to a third-place finish at the state

championships, riding the consistent hitting of sophomore Poyer Poia

and freshman Kaimana Kamalani. The Pirates, who reached the

state-title match in two of the last three seasons, finished 17-7.

Don Watson and Dave Salo teamed to lead the men’s swim team to a

third-place finish at the state championships with a group that

greatly progressed throughout the year. Salo and Watson each said the

team improved dramatically from the early stages of the season.

Both the men’s basketball team -- guided by second-year coach

Steve Spencer -- and the men’s soccer team -- led by Laird Hayes --

posted winning seasons to each reach the Southern California regional

playoffs.

Spencer led the Bucs to a 20-13 mark, the most wins for the Coast

men since posting 21 in 1995-96. The Pirates finished just 7-21 in

Spencer’s first year.

“That team is moving in the right direction,” OCC Athletic

Director Fred Hokanson said.

The guidance coaches such as Cutenese, Spencer, Doug Smith and

Mike Taylor, Knox and Marco Ochoa give to their athletes give

Hokanson reason to believe Coast’s men’s teams remain in good hands.

Ochoa, a graduate of Adams State in Colorado, and Smith both

majored in kinesiology and share their knowledge to help condition

athletes in Coast’s exercise science lab.

“No one works harder than our coaches,” Hokanson said. “Look at

the swimming teams with Don Watson and Dave Salo. Salo has a Ph.D. He

is the head of the Irvine Novaquatics and came here to work. Our

coaches are loyal to the school and they don’t treat [coaching] just

as a job. This is their home and they go out of their way to help

students and faculty.”

Baseball head coach John Altobelli completed his 11th season with the Bucs, who just missed out on qualifying for the Southern

California playoffs after a stellar 2002. But Altobelli got to see

the emergence of sophomore left-handed starter Kyle Allen, selected

by the Colorado Rockies in the Major League Baseball first-year

player draft June 4. Allen joins a long list of Coast products to be

drafted by MLB teams. In all, the Pirates have won 15 conference

titles and three state titles, though the last came in 1980.

Since opening its doors on Sept. 13, 1948, OCC’s men’s athletic

teams have won 16 state championships. Volleyball (five) and swimming

(three) have captured the most titles while cross country, water polo

and soccer have each notched two championships.

Coast’s football team finished 4-6 last season, giving Hokanson

optimism that Taylor will lead OCC back to its first bowl game since

2000 and first conference crown since 1990.

“We are going in the right direction,” Hokanson said of the

football program under head coach Taylor. “We have an excellent coach

and recruiter in Mike Taylor and another good assistant in Doug

Smith. I feel better and better about this team. It was a tough

conference last year, but the season before that, Taylor was the

conference Coach of the Year.”

The Pirates have played their home games in LeBard Stadium since

it was dedicated Sept. 16, 1955. During the fall football season, the

7,600-seat stadium often hosts high school games on Fridays while

Coast, or other community college teams such as Golden West, use the

field on Saturdays. The frequent field use makes maintaining the

natural-grass surface difficult, so Hokanson envisions a synthetic

surface.

“The crown in the middle of the field is 28 inches, so we either

have to level it off or put in a synthetic field,” he said. “The cost

of putting in a synthetic field compared to maintaining a

natural-grass field is about the same.”

Elsewhere in the stadium are bleachers and handicap access routes

that need to be repaired.

Money allotted to OCC through passage of Measure C in last

November’s state election has been earmarked for the improvements,

which also include resurfacing the tennis courts. Now, the task of

planning a budget and securing architects and contractors to perform

the work becomes a priority.

Hokanson expects improvements to be made gradually over the next

12 to 15 years.

Rounding out Coast’s men’s squads’ performances in 2002-03 were

the golf team placing fourth in the OEC while first-year water polo

coach Paul Stachowski led a team that had only three sophomores to a

14-18 mark. First-year crew head coach Larry Moore took over for

legendary Coast coach and instructor Dave Grant and led the OCC

varsity eight and novice eight to fifth-place finishes at the Pacific

Coast rowing championships.

Second-year coach Rodney Gabuya guided the Bucs through the OEC

season while watching singles standout Robert Chu advance to the

round of 16 of the Southern California men’s regional tennis

championships. Chu teamed with Denny Le in doubles to win a

first-round match.

Gaining as many full-time coaches as possible will be another one

of Hokanson’s goals to keep OCC at the forefront of athletic success.

“We also want to make sure we have as fine of facilities as

possible so we are the leader of the OEC in years to come,” Hokanson

said. “The best thing we have here is loyalty and not just loyalty to

the school. [Coaches and staff] put in the time and effort it takes

to maintain the high-class programs we have.”