UCI women eye crown

CRAWFORD HALL -- UC Irvine cross country coach Vince O’Boyle won’t

have to say anything to his women’s team, while he and the Anteaters

are in Mammoth this week. The UCI women’s cross country team is aware

of the challenge ahead and the Anteaters have been on this road

before.

The UCI men’s team, on the other hand, will need more direction

this season and some patience, as it might take some time to grow.

Runners from both teams are getting to know each other in Mammoth,

where the Anteaters take their annual one-week preseason trip. They

left today for the trip.

“I like for us to go and get away from everything,” said O’Boyle,

who is in his 21st season with the Anteaters. O’Boyle has been named

Big West Conference Coach of the Year 18 times in men’s and women’s

cross country and once in women’s track and field. O’Boyle’s women’s

teams at UCI have finished in the conference’s top two spots 18 of

his 20 seasons, while the men’s program has accomplished the same

feat 11 times during his tenure.

“You get to know them during the six hours on the ride up,”

O’Boyle said of the Mammoth trip. “And, they get to know each other

throughout the week.”

The UCI women’s cross country team seems to be already familiar

with one another. The Anteaters return 16 runners this season, and

will feature five seniors, including Tessa Cendejas, who finished

eighth in the Big West Championships last year. Irvine finished

second in the conference meet, as host Cal Poly San Luis Obispo won

the title.

The runner-up finish has been the Anteaters’ motivation throughout

the off-season, O’Boyle said. The results have provided Irvine with a

great amount of depth and high expectations.

“I’m not putting a lot of pressure on them,” O’Boyle said of his

women’s team. “They know what they have to do. They’ve been together

for a long time now. They have developed over a period of time. It’s

hard to look at the roster and see that there are seniors. They have

a shot at the NCAA championship, if everything falls into place for

them. You need a little luck, too, for that to happen.”

During the early part of the upcoming season, the Anteaters will

rely on their strong core of returners. Junior Julie Manson, who had

the highest finish for Irvine in the Big West Championships

(seventh), won the 10,000-meters title in the Big West during the

track and field season in the spring. Her rapid improvement may lead

her to be Irvine’s No. 1 runner. Manson also finished second in the

5K in the Big West last spring.

Amanda Armstrong, a senior, is also in great shape and will

contend for the No. 1 spot, along with Cendejas and Manson.

On the men’s side for Irvine, O’Boyle wants his runners to be

patient. This is the first year the track and field and cross country

program has had more scholarship money and this will be Year 1, so to

speak, in UCI’s rebuilding plan. However, with the senior leadership

on the squad, O’Boyle said the Anteaters might surprise some teams in

the Big West.

Seniors Jules Castano and Travis Morisoli are two of four seniors

who are expected to lead a young group that includes 15 freshmen,

including prep standout Tom Whelan from East Valley High of Redlands.

The Anteaters open their season Sept. 7 with the UC Irvine

Invitational.