UC Irvine earns NCAA West region bid

The UC Irvine men’s golf team was chosen Monday to participate in the

NCAA West regional for the fourth straight year.

This marks UCI’s seventh trip to a NCAA Division I regional since

1992. The Anteaters finished 12th in last year’s west regional and

the program’s highest finish is third in the 2001 west regional.

Coach Paul Smolinski’s Anteaters are seeded No. 22 in the regional

that will be played at Crosswater Golf Course at Sunriver Resort in

Oregon May 20-22.

The top 10 teams and top two individuals from each regional will

advance to the NCAA championships at The Homestead in Hot Springs,

Va., June 1-4.

UCI is led by senior Vinnie Poncino and sophomore Jay Choe.

Poncino was named first-team All-Big West Conference this season and

was the conference runner-up, losing on the second hole of a playoff.

Choe was second-team All-Big West.

Poncino, who has six top-10 finishes this season, leads the

Anteaters with a 72.28 scoring average, followed by Choe at 73.7.

Sophomore Ryne Rindfleisch is averaging 75.03, freshman Neno

Boonyaplanun 75.39, freshman Chris Whalen 75.60, junior Nate Yates

75.67, sophomore Will Park 76.33 and freshman Derek Uyesaka 77.40.

Martinez, Bomgren honored

* SOFTBALL: Vanguard University’s Holly Martinez and Rachel

Bomgren have been selected to the All-Golden State Athletic

Conference and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics

All-Region II softball teams.

Martinez, a junior third baseman, led all GSAC players with a .475

batting average during conference play and all Lions with four

triples. Her .403 season batting average was second on the team, as

were her runs scored, walks, sacrifices and on base percentage.

Freshman shortstop Bomgren was the only Lion to start all 55 games

while earning VU’s Most Valuable Player and leading the team with a

.414 season batting average. She also led Vanguard with 70 hits, 38

runs scored, 19 doubles and .500 on base percentage while earning a

.953 fielding percentage.

The Lions finished with a 31-24 record, 13-11 in the GSAC.