Pain at CSUN Is Shared by Women Athletes

NORTHRIDGE — Barry Schreifels finds a cruel irony in the fact that gender-equity considerations were partly responsible for Cal State Northridge eliminating its men’s swimming program.

Schreifels, coach of the men’s and women’s swimming teams, says no other sport on campus provided a more equal opportunity for both sexes. Side by side, male and female swimmers worked out together, competed together and on Wednesday, when news of the cutbacks hit, they shed tears together.

“It’s very difficult for the women because these are their teammates,” Schreifels said. “We didn’t lose a program, we lost half the team.”

The elimination of four men’s teams--swimming, baseball, volleyball and soccer--because of budget and gender-equity concerns struck like a sucker punch to the midsection of Northridge’s embattled athletic program, knocking the wind out of coaches and athletes.

Across campus Thursday, those affiliated with Matador women’s teams sympathetically mourned the demise of some of the school’s most successful sports.

“It’s truly like we’re going to a funeral here,” said Kelly Ford, an assistant softball coach.

Ford said the negative publicity generated by the cutbacks will have a damaging effect on recruiting for all Northridge athletic programs, even successful ones such as softball.

“Some of our recruits are going to look in the paper and say, ‘What is going on there?’ ” Ford said. “I’ve been coaching here for four years and every year there has been some rumor about a sport being dropped. It’s always an obstacle.”

Nowhere was the reaction to the cutbacks more emotional among women than on the swimming team.

Schreifels said he made more than 100 phone calls Wednesday to inform team members and recruits that the men’s program had been scrapped. The timing of the cutbacks is especially frustrating, Schreifels said, because Northridge had completed a successful recruiting year, signing 14 men’s swimmers.

One of the reasons swimmer Rachel Arrow transferred to Northridge after her freshman year is because the Matadors had a men’s team. Her former school, Oregon State, did not. She said women’s workouts will suffer without the camaraderie and support provided by men.

“It’s going to affect us tremendously,” said Arrow, a sophomore. “Having a men’s team is a big asset to our program. . . We use each other to push each other in the pool and compete in practice. It makes us stronger. Not having half our team there, it’s going to be a setback.”

“We had great hopes for this year,” said Schreifels, whose men’s and women’s teams both finished fifth in the Pacific Coast Swimming Conference last season. “Not only the talent, but the personalities of the boys coming in are great.

“I don’t even think I’m dealing with [the cutbacks] yet. I’m kind of in a fog. I think once I sit down and realize what’s gone. . . it’s terrible.”

Schreifels was upset that the winning tradition of the program--Northridge captured nine NCAA Division II titles in men’s swimming from 1975-85 under Coach Pete Accardy--apparently mattered little in the administration’s decision.

“I don’t think there was any thought about tradition,” he said. “Unfortunately, that’s what this school lacks.”

Although Northridge will not compete on the intercollegiate level in men’s swimming next season, Schreifels intends to field a club team that will compete during women’s meets. All athletes whose teams were cut will have their scholarships honored for another year.

“I’m committed to my athletes,” he said. “If they want to find another [college] now, I’ll help them do that. If they want to swim here, they can use next year as a redshirt year. The situation is better than in baseball, volleyball and soccer. In that way, they’re kind of lucky.”

The loss of baseball and men’s volleyball strips Northridge of two of its marquee sports. Ford said the softball team had a special relationship with those programs, and would frequently bring recruits to baseball games and volleyball matches.

“To be honest, half our team dates half [of the baseball] team,” Ford said. “And we’ve always respected men’s volleyball because they’re a top team in the country. It really feels like the heart and soul of Northridge athletics is gone.”

Tara Glaister, the softball team’s ace pitcher, said she was nearly as upset by the cutbacks as her boyfriend, former Matador pitcher Jason Cole, who recently completed his senior baseball season.

“I just feel like we were finally getting a name for ourselves in sports with baseball, men’s volleyball and track and field, and they cut two of them,” said Glaister, a sophomore. “I’m upset that they’re gone because a lot of my friends were on those teams.”

Pam Karbowski, a junior on the two-year-old women’s soccer team, was saddened by the cutbacks, particularly that of the men’s soccer team.

“[The men’s players] were some of the our best supporters and it’s going to be sad to not see them [at games] and at practice,” Karbowski said.

Karbowski questioned the gender-equity regulations--brought about by a lawsuit filed by the California chapter of the National Organization for Women in 1993--that pressured Northridge into cutting men’s sports.

“I think that gender equity is necessary but I think it’s unfortunate that we have to cut men’s sports,” she said. “It’s not fair to bring them down to the level we were at once. Why not make it equal over a number of years?”

Ford agreed with Karbowski’s observation.

“Unfortunately they are not creating more opportunities for female athletes, they are taking away opportunities for male athletes,” the softball assistant said.

Brian Wiesner, Northridge women’s soccer coach, has been on both sides of the cutback ax. While coaching the Pasadena City College men’s team in 1982, his program was eliminated. Now his program has been spared at the expense of a men’s team.

“It’s not comfortable for me,” Wiesner said. “I don’t think it’s soccer’s intent to increase women’s opportunities at the men’s expense. We’re all in the same family and it’s painful to see a honored colleague [men’s soccer Coach Marwan Ass’ad] have to look for a job and his kids have to look for other places to play.”

Wiesner said Northridge’s soccer family won’t be the same without a men’s team.

“It’s going to be a little empty out there,” he said, “to say the least.”

Staff writer Tris Wykes contributed to this story.