Coasters: Titletown

Steve Virgen

While one team was about to reach its ninth state title and the

other its first, both Orange Coast College squads reached down deep to

make the stuff of champions last weekend.

At Fresno’s Woodward Park, the OCC women’s cross country team overcame

Mt. San Antonio College, which had tied the Pirates at the Southern

California Championships, to win its ninth state title and its fourth in

five years. And on the men’s side, sophomore Ryan Bosquet won the

individual state title in a tight race.

Led by freshman Michelle Icban and sophomore Lindsay Allen, who

finished second and third, respectively, the Orange Empire Conference

champions, won the state title with 60 points, 12 better than

second-place Mt. SAC.

“That (title) says (the Pirates) had a tremendous amount of character

and showed their will to fight when it counted,” OCC Coach John Goldman

said. “Tying Mt. SAC at (the SoCal championships) was one of the best

things that could happen to us, because it was a wake-up call. That

(state title) says a lot about our character.”

Goldman said every runner’s performance was important Saturday, when

freshman Katie Mais finished 15th in 19:38 and freshman Roseann Peters

was 21st in 20:01. OCC freshman Natalie St. Andre, a Newport Harbor High

product, finished 34th in 20:14, while freshmen Suzette Dinoso (41st) and

Heather Huggins (42nd) completed the course in 20:26.

Bousquet, the sophomore transfer from the University of Arizona, set a

course record (20:05), just two seconds ahead of San Diego Mesa’s Sean

Ricketes.

Bousquet passed four runners with less than a half mile remaining and

left Ricketes in the dust with less than 100 meters to go.

An indication that the men’s race was a fast one: The first four

runners broke the former course record.

The OCC men, OEC champions, finished fifth in state.

Meanwhile, in Merced, the OCC women’s water polo team answered a 2-1

halftime deficit to grab a 6-4 win over Riverside for the Pirates’ first

state title.

OCC faced its toughest competition in a semifinal against the Merced

Blue Devils, who performed pregame rituals, supported by a sellout and

loud cheering section. The Blue Devils nearly knocked out the giant.

The game had all the makings of an upset. The local Merced newspaper

came out with a full spread on its JC team to preview the matchup against

OCC and made it quite clear the Blue Devils, the North’s No. 1 seed, had

a great chance to upset the Pirates.

In addition, the Blue Devils entered the match with their game faces

on. Before pregame introductions, they threw a ball, which had “OCC”

marked on it, into a trash can. Merced players also dipped their swim

caps in a special ball. The ball had “100% commitment” marked on it and

the Blue Devils had cut a hole into the ball for the dipping.

“That was one game we knew it was going to be difficult to play,” OCC

assistant coach Mike Giles said. “They had a loud crowd, because there’s

nothing else to do in Merced on Friday night. The lighting was not too

bright and it was like we were playing in the dark.”

But the OEC champions did not back down. OCC battled back from a 3-1

deficit before halftime.

Devon Wright and Erica Nicholson were in danger of disqualification as

each picked up a pair of ejections in the first quarter. One more kickout

for either would have been an automatic disqualification for the rest of

the game.

Wright ended up scoring twice and recording three steals. Neisha

Hoagland snagged five steals.

“This team doesn’t roll over,” Giles said. “The girls have always had

confidence. In the second half, when it counted, they came back. We just

had too many weapons. This team was a phenomenal team. It could be one of

the best all-time water polo teams in regard to getting players in legal

recruiting areas.”

The Pirates’ first state title featured a 35-0 record against

community college teams. Its only blemish was a loss to UC Irvine, NCAA

Division I team.

Wright, Hoagland and goalie Heather Deyden, another Newport Harbor

product were among eight players named all-state.

Wright and Hoagland were Co-MVPs of the OEC and Southern California

Regional Championships.

Ricky Tovar recorded one sack and 20 tackles against Saddleback, not

for the season as previously reported. This season, Tovar filled in

admirably at middle linebacker because of injuries to Marvin Simmons and

Travis Loidolt.