[Rhonda Lowry], 26, is in her second year as the athletic trainer at CSUN. She took the job fresh out of the University of Arizona, where she obtained her master's degree in athletic training while also serving as the head trainer for a local high school. She had done her undergraduate work at Nevada Las Vegas, under head trainer Del Rudd. When Lowry began hunting for a job, Rudd was CSUN's curriculum director and Phil Stone had just quit as the school's athletic trainer.

There was also a CSUN soccer player last season whose left kneecap apparently resembled a soccer ball. An opposing player kicked the knee, fracturing the patella. The CSUN player wore a cast for several weeks before Lowry put him on a program to strengthen and rehabilitate the knee.

PHOTO: Injured athletes are always welcome at Rhonda Lowry's table. [Maury Hanks] wraps as Rhonda Lowry talks to Paul Hobus. Rhonda Lowry and assistant Maury Hanks minister to the needs of injured Northridge athletes on tables crammed in small room. / CARLOS CHAVEZ / Los Angeles Times