Shea wins league

Newport Harbor High’s Daniel Shea bested a field of 36 surfers to

claim the boys short board individual title Wednesday, the first of

the two-day South Coast League surfing championships at Uppers in San

Clemente.

Shea averaged 5.4 in hitting two waves in the final, which

included five San Clemente surfers. Shea’s name will be engraved on a

perpetual trophy for his feat.

Shea, Reagan Riley and Joey Head all reached the semifinals for

Newport, competing in the league championships for the first time.

Riley placed sixth in his heat while Shea and Head took second and

fifth, respectively in their heats.

Seven Sailors reached the quarterfinals, including Head, Riley,

Joe Riggio, Christian Morabito, Shea, Charlie Buckingham and Brett

Catron. Shea placed third while Head averaged 5.7 to finish fourth in

his heat and advance. Riggio and Buckingham placed fifth and sixth,

respectively, in heat 10.

Buckingham finished first in heat six of the preliminaries while

Head averaged 4.2 to take second in his heat in the same round. Shea

tallied the third-best wave score for the preliminaries (4.8) in

winning his heat. Steve Farmer and Colin McElroy took fifth and

sixth, respectively, in their preliminary heats.

The championships, which include Laguna Beach and Dana Hills,

conclude today with the boys long board, girls short and long board

and body board competitions.

Lavery tied for 48th

* GOLF: Former UC Irvine golfer Mike Lavery shot an even-par 72

and sits in a tie for 48th after the opening round of the second

stage of the PGA Tour’s Qualifying School at Oak Valley Golf Club in

Beaumont on Wednesday.

Play continues today through Saturday, with the top 20 and ties

advancing to the final stage of qualifying Dec. 1-6 at the PGA West

Stadium Course and Nicklaus Tournament Course.

Lavery, the 2003 Big West Conference individual champion, sits

only six shots off the lead.

Simon Yates from Bangkok, Thailand, Scott Petersen from Parker,

Colo., and Jens Nilsson from Mile End, Australia, all shot 66

Wednesday to lead the field.

UCI tops Cal Baptist

* WATER POLO: The fifth-ranked UC Irvine men’s water polo team

defeated visiting No. 19 Cal Baptist, 12-8, in nonconference play

Wednesday night.

Junior Dreason Barry scored five goals for the Anteaters (15-11),

while seniors Dan Noon and Rick Merio, each playing in their final

home game, added three goals and two goals, respectively.

Noon and Barry scored two goals each in UCI’s five-goal second

quarter as the Anteaters built an 8-5 halftime lead. Third-quarter

goals by Tim Hutten and Barry extended UCI’s lead to 10-5.

UCI closes regular-season play against nonconference host UC Santa

Barbara at 2 p.m.

*--*

Nonconference

UC Irvine 12, Cal Baptist 8

Score by Quarters

Cal Baptist 2 3 1 2 -- 8

UC Irvine 3 5 2 2 -- 12

UC Irvine -- Barry 5, Noon 3, R. Merlo 2, Hutten

1, Mello1. Saves -- Wynne 11. Cal Baptist --

Milic 4, Laterza 2, Abellano 1, Netzley 1. Saves

-- Miller 5.

*--*

‘Eater golfers honored

* GOLF: UC Irvine sophomore Brian Edick and freshman Jane Chin

have been named their respective Big West Conference Athletes of the

Month in men’s and women’s golf for November.

Edick, a transfer from University of the Pacific, finished third

in the Del Walker Intercollegiate tournament at Virginia Country Club

in Long Beach Nov. 4-5. He shot a 54-hole total of 5-under-par 211 to

help the Anteaters finish in a third-place tie.

That effort followed a fourth-place finish by Edick at The

Prestige at PGA West Nov. 1-2, where he had a three-round total of

222 at the Greg Norman Course in Palm Desert to help lead UCI to a

third-place tie in that tournament.

Edick had an average of 74 through five tournaments in the fall.

Chin shot a career- and tournament-low 67 in the final round of

the Las Vegas Founders Collegiate Showdown at Anthem Country Club in

Henderson, Nev., Nov. 3, ending the tournament with a career-best 219

(76-76-67).

She finished seventh at that event, her second top-10 showing of

the fall. Her 67 was a team low for the season and matches the

program’s all-time low of 67 set by Walailak Satarak in 2001.

Chin led UCI to a fourth-place finish at the Las Vegas Showdown

and helped the Anteaters to a final round of 289, the lowest 18-hole

score in school history. The team ended the tournament with a 54-hole

total of 892 (307-296-289).