UC Irvine men triumph in track

The UC Irvine men’s track and field team won its second title of the

season with a come-from-behind victory in the Collegiate Classic at

Anteater Stadium Saturday.

UCI finished with 204 1/2 points to edge Air Force (202).

The Anteaters won the last two events to move past the Falcons for

the team title. Junior Patrick Grogan won the triple jump (an outdoor

career-best 48-5 1/4) and UCI won the 1,600-meter relay as anchor

Omar Lopez surged on the final turn to carry the Anteaters home in

3:12.60.

Lopez, a junior, won the 400 (48.55), while senior Elias Moreno

won the 100 (10.73), sophomore Ricky Barnes the 800 (1:55.01) and

junior Scott Jarvis the 400 hurdles (a season-best 53.03).

Sophomore Brian Moon won the shot put (54-3 1/4), posting the

fifth-best mark in UCI history.

Senior Derek Kingrey won the discus (166-8) and was third in the

shot put (52-4 1/2), the ninth-best mark in school annals.

The UCI women finished third with 148 points, behind Cornell (224)

and Air Force (154).

UCI freshman Kirsten Loftin won the pole vault (12-3 1/2) while

junior Erin Curtis was third with the same mark.

Freshman Kat Dawkins won the long jump (a season-best 18-3), while

Orlisha Henlon (high jump) and Kim Ramirez (3,000) had second-place

finishes.

Paul paces Sailors

* TRACK AND FIELD: Newport Harbor High senior Lauren Paul finished

second in the nonseeded 3,200 meters to highlight several Sailors who

fared well at the Distance Meet of Champions Saturday at Azusa

Pacific University.

Paul finished in 11:45, just 12 seconds ahead of Sailors freshman

Whitney Blue, who was fourth.

Newport Harbor’s Lauren Maddox was seventh in 12:02.

Other Newport performances included a personal record by Megan

Randall in the 400 (1:01.7) and the 800 (2:20.03), while Danica

Kalmbach completed the 800 in 2:27.

Zuzanna Bernardova also competed well for Newport in the 800,

though no time was available.

Anteaters win in five

* VOLLEYBALL: The UC Irvine men’s volleyball team rallied for a

30-24, 23-30, 28-30, 30-24, 15-11 nonconference win over

Rutgers-Newark in the Long Beach tournament Saturday at Long Beach

State.

Jimmy Pelzel had 20 kills and Matt Webber added 17 for UCI

(10-15), which received 56 assists from freshman setter Brett Reid.

Mackey, Peirsol top 20

* SWIMMING: Former Newport Harbor High swim standouts Nicole

Mackey and Hayley Peirsol finished among the top 20 in their

respective events in the NCAA swimming and diving championships that

ended Saturday at Texas A&M.;

Mackey, competing for Hawaii, finished 13th in the 100-meter

backstroke (1:00.85) Friday.

Peirsol of Auburn finished 16th in the 1,500 freestyle (16:15.75)

Saturday.

Perisol’s older brother, Aaron, the 200 backstroke world-record

holder, will compete for the Texas Longhorns in the men’s NCAA

championships Thursday through Saturday in Long Island, N.Y.

OCC’s Huang shines

* SWIMMING: Orange Coast College freshman Jason Huang won three

individual events to highlight Pirate competitors at the Cuesta swim

invitational, completed Saturday in San Luis Obispo.

Huang topped the field in the 100-yard backstroke (53.18), 200

back (1:56.81) and the 200 individual medley (59.80) to help the OCC

men finish seventh in the team standings.

The OCC women finished 10th.

UC Irvine wastes rally

* BASEBALL: UC Irvine rallied from a 5-1 deficit to tie in the

bottom of the eighth, but surrendered a pair of runs to Minnesota in

the ninth to absorb a 7-5 nonconference baseball loss Saturday before

487 at Anteater Ballpark.

UCI starter Chris Nicoll breezed through four strong innings,

before Minnesota erupted for five runs in the fifth to erase a 1-0

UCI lead.

Pinch-hitter Gregg Wallis singled in two runs to bring UCI to

within 5-3 and senior second baseman Matt Fisher tripled in two more

to forge the deadlock.

Golden Gopher Tony Leseman singled to lead off the ninth against

UCI freshman closer Blair Erickson and scored the eventual winning

run on a sacrifice fly to hand Erickson (nine for nine in save

opportunities this season) his first collegiate loss.

Jordan Szabo was 4 for 5 and Chad Lundahl had three hits for the

Anteaters (16-6-1), who won the first two of the three-game series.

UCI, ranked No. 23 in Baseball American and No. 22 by Collegiate

Baseball, opens Big West Conference play Saturday at 6 p.m. against

visiting Long Beach State.

*--*

Nonconference

Minnesota 7, UC Irvine 5

Score by Innings

Minn. 000 050 002 -- 7 13 1

UCI 000 100 040 -- 5 14 3

Loberg, Peters (5), DeVries (8), Gagner

(8) and Elder; Nicoll (Cassel (6), Huff

(7), Schroer (8), Erickson (9) and

Werhun. W -- Gagner, 1-0. L -- Erickson,

0-1. 3B -- Mee (M), Fisher (UCI).

*--*

Eagles fall in semis

* VOLLEYBALL: The Estancia High boys volleyball team sustained its

first loss of the season Saturday, falling to Irvine, 17-25, 25-15,

15-12, in the Division II semifinals of the Orange County

championships at Newport Harbor High.

The Eagles (8-1) defeated Ocean View, 25-8, 25-12, to conclude

pool play unbeaten, then defeated Lakewood, 25-15, 25-17, to advance

to the semifinal round of the championship playoffs.

Seniors Josh Kornegay and Kris Hartwell totaled 25 and 24 kills,

respectively, in the three matches, while junior setter Trevor Holmes

added 63 assists on the day.

Tars settle for sixth

* VOLLEYBALL: The Newport Harbor High boys volleyball team split

four matches and finished sixth in Division I at the Orange County

championships, Saturday at Edison High.

The Sailors began the day by topping Santa Margarita, 23-25,

32-30, 15-12, to sweep through their pool.

They lost in the first round of the championship playoffs to

Laguna Beach, 25-15, 26-24, defeated Esperanza in the fifth-place

semifinal, 25-11, 23-25, 15-7, then fell to Fountain Valley, 25-16,

31-29.

The Sailors (8-7) received 34 kills in the four matches from

Morgan Govaars, while Brett Perrine pounded 32 kills the first three

matches.

Setter Adam Schlesinger also played well, Newport Harbor assistant

coach Matt Schutz said.

Sea Kings drop three

* VOLLEYBALL: The Corona del Mar High boys volleyball team dropped

all three of its matches in Division I play at the Orange County

championships Saturday at Marina High.

The Sea Kings (7-6) concluded pool play with a 25-13, 25-23 loss

to Fountain Valley, then lost consolation matches to Dana Hills,

25-23, 25-23, and Marina, 26-28, 25-18, 15-10.

Dominic Rubino had 45 assists and Tom Welch had 20 kills on the

day for CdM.

Shane Collins had six digs against Marina, Grant Almquist posted

10 against Dana Hills and Kevin Welch had 17 against Marina.

Vanguard sweeps pair

* SOFTBALL: The Vanguard University softball team earned a pair of

one-run victories to sweep a nonconference doubleheader Saturday from

visiting Friends University of Kansas.

Jennifer Rynda threw a two-hit shutout in a 1-0 first-game win

that featured only one Vanguard hit, by catcher Rachel Roelle.

In the second game, the Lions (19-13) scored two in the last of

the seventh when Holly Martinez singled, Rachel Bomgren tripled her

in and and Lindsey Dyer singled home Bomgren to reward reliever

Jennifer Olvera with the win.

Friends fell to 6-11.

UCI’s Bjargardottir 21st

* SWIMMING: UC Irvine sophomore Lara Bjargardottir finished 21st

in the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2:30.64 at the NCAA

swimming and diving championships Saturday in College Station, Texas.

OCC opens season well

* CREW: The Orange Coast College men’s crew swept its six races in

its season-opening West Coast Conference invitational Saturday at

Redwood Shores in Northern California.

The Pirates competed on a limited basis in dual races only. The

varsity eight matched the best time of the day (6:27.6), also posted

by Stanford.

The OCC varsity eight included coxswain Ashley Thomas, Danny

Johnson, Tyler Wilcox, Roman Rukosuyev, Jake Carr, Wes Temple, Steve

Egner, J.T. Eger and bowman Brian Moran.

The Pirates’ junior varsity, novice, second novice, junior varsity

novice and junior varsity boats also won their dual races.

Hall makes nationals

* TRACK AND FIELD: Vanguard University senior Sarah Hall ran a

personal-best time of 36:24.75 in the 10,000 meters Friday at

Occidental College to qualify for the NAIA outdoor nationals.

Hall finished second, but easily bettered the automatic qualifying

standard of 38:45. She is closing in on the 15-year-old school record

(36:16.26) held by her mother, Sherri Hall.

Lions drop double dip

* BASEBALL: Host Concordia University swept a Golden State

Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader from Vanguard Saturday.

The Eagles won the first game, 9-5, and the second, 10-1, to drop

the Lions to 7-18, 1-10 in conference play.

Vanguard’s Scott Martin was 2 for 4 with a solo homer and a

three-run double in the first game, while the visitors managed just

three hits in Game 2.

Concordia improved to 13-11, 8-4.