UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK : Yrizar Makes Big Splash a Long Way From Home

Sure, Ted Newland stresses fundamentals, teamwork and stamina, but UC Irvine’s water polo team is No. 1 in the nation this week because dedication is No. 1 on the coach’s list.

Every coach, Newland will tell you, comes into contact with kids who are “jerks.” (A jerk is a guy who isn’t totally dedicated to becoming the best water polo player he can be).

Then there’s Pablo Yrizar, a freshman from Mexico. This is a player long on commitment. After all, he left his mother and girlfriend crying in Mexico City and passed up an opportunity to attend one of the best private colleges in his country. All this so he could come to a strange land, compete in the classroom using a semi-strange language and get up at 5 a.m. to work out under a guy whose idea of fun is a thousand sit-ups before breakfast.

The way Newland sees things, this kid is no jerk.

“A lot of our guys are much lazier than Pablo,” Newland said. “He’s very conscientious.”

Yrizar (pronounced REE-ZAR) didn’t want to leave home. He’s from a very close family and plans on returning to Mexico City as soon as he gets a degree in economics.

Still, the decision came relatively easily.

“I wanted to play at a better level of water polo,” Yrizar said. “It was the only way.”

As an 18-year-old, Yrizar was the youngest member of the Mexican national team that failed to make it to the 1988 Olympics during a qualifying tournament in Perth, Australia.

“We lost three games by one goal, but I learned a lot about world-class water polo,” he said. “With the national team, we would work out for a couple of months before a big tournament and then play. Here, we work out all year and play world-class level water polo every weekend.”

Yrizar had two friends on the Mexican national team who had played at UC Santa Barbara. He asked them for advice about colleges in the United States.

“They recommended I talk to Newland,” he said. “They said, ‘He’s one of the top coaches in the country and you like to work hard.’ ”

Yrizar figures he got what he asked for. “You come to UCI and you know you’re going to work hard and you know you’re going to be good,” he said.

Yrizar’s work ethic already has had a significant impact on the top-ranked Anteaters. He’s one of the few freshmen in the country in the starting lineup and he’s third on the team in goals with 30.

“Making the transition from high school to college is very difficult,” Newland said. “Most guys redshirt as freshmen. But Pablo is talented and he’s very, very quick. He’s also a quick learner and the international competition experience is a plus.”

The twice-daily workouts are no problem--and the games are a joy--but Yrizar admits he is suffering from some academic/social/culture shock.

“I feel comfortable in the water,” he said. “The (academic) transition from high school to college and from Spanish to English was harder. But language is no longer a problem in school. Sometimes, because of my accent, people can’t understand me, but I understand everything.

“Leaving home was the hard part. I’m not a very independent person. My mother was really, really sad. And my girlfriend, well, four years is a long time to wait.”

So Yrizar looks forward to those predawn practices and that last wind sprint long after sundown at the end of the day’s second workout. In between, he attends classes, studies and listens to classical music.

It all makes perfect sense to his coach.

“He wants to be a success,” Newland said, “and he realizes there are no gifts.”

Midnight madness? Well, UC Irvine might not be Kentucky, but last year’s first Anteater Basketball Bash, which attracted more than 2,300 fans, was a rousing success by Irvine standards.

After all, they had fewer spectators at some games last season.

So the Anteaters again will mark the official start of the basketball season with a 12:01 a.m. (Sunday) practice in the Bren Center. The free event will begin at 7:30 Saturday night with the women’s volleyball team playing Virginia. There’s an alumni-media game at 10, performances by the Irvine song girls and cheerleaders, and a halftime shootout contest.

The basketball team will scrimmage for 20 minutes and a dunking contest will follow.

“We hope that this year’s bash will be as entertaining as last year’s,” Coach Bill Mulligan said. “I’m ready to get going.”

Chuck Harris, Irvine’s sports marketing director, again will try to ensure a good crowd by staging a concert, featuring local favorite the Untouchables, at nearby Crawford Hall.

After the concert, Peter the Anteater will lead the concert-goers over to the Bren Center.

Anteater Notes

Wayne Engelstad was one of four players cut Wednesday by the Denver Nuggets. The former Anteater, a 6-foot-8 forward, averaged 2.5 points in 11 games with the Nuggets a year ago. He was waived Dec. 27 and played in 13 games with the Albany Patroons of the Continental Basketball Assn. before finishing the season overseas. . . . The UC Irvine women’s cross-country team slipped five slots to No. 13 in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Division I poll this week. With two of its top six runners participating in their sisters’ weddings, Irvine finished fourth in the Stanford Invitational Saturday. “I was pleased with the performance,” Coach Vince O’Boyle said. “And this meet (the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Invitational Saturday) will be the first time since the first meet of the season (Sept. 16) that we will be at full strength.” . . . The women’s volleyball team (11-5) is tied for seventh with San Jose State in the latest Northwest region poll. And the Anteaters beat San Jose State in three sets Saturday. Irvine plays at fifth-ranked San Diego State Friday night.

Junior forward Jeff Herdman,who averaged nine points and four rebounds a game last season, says that sore feet won’t keep him off the court this year. Herdman, who was hampered by chronic foot injuries last season, was considering redshirting but has decided to play this year. Herdman said his feet feel better now than they did all last season. . . . The water polo team made it to the top of the Division I poll for the first time in five years. Coach Ted Newland’s reaction: “It’s easy to get there and hard to stay there.” Five years is a long time. Maybe it’s not that easy, Coach.