BRIEFS

LOCAL PRODUCTS SHINE

The recent NCAA women’s water polo championships included eight Newport-Mesa products, competing for the four semifinalists, including champion UCLA.

Helping the Bruins (29-4) record their fourth NCAA title in six years were Newport Harbor High products Katherine and Anne Belden and Jenna Murphy, as well as Brittany Fullen from Corona del Mar High.

Anne Belden, a freshman driver, scored 29 goals in 30 games for the Bruins. She was named to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation All-Freshman team.

Katherine Belden, a senior driver, scored nine goals in 19 games.

Fullen, a freshman goalie, had 30 saves in 11 games, while Murphy, a sophomore driver, scored two goals in 13 games.

UCLA defeated USC, 9-8, in the May 14 championship game at UC Davis.

The USC roster included Newport Harbor product Carolyn Conway and former Corona del Mar standout Jordan Anae.

Conway, a sophomore two-meter set, scored nine goals during the season.

Anae, a freshman driver, scored eight goals in her first collegiate campaign, helping the Women of Troy finish 27-3.

Stanford (22-4), which finished third, was aided by junior two-meter standout Christina Hewko, a product of Corona del Mar. Hewko was named second-team All-MPSF and second-team All-NCAA Tournament. She scored 21 goals during the season for the Cardinal.

Hawaii, the fourth-place finisher, included freshman Sabrina Cook, a two-meter player out of Newport Harbor who scored seven goals in 19 games for the Rainbow Wahine.

MAY-TREANOR MILESTONE

Misty May-Treanor, a Newport Harbor High product, teamed with Kerri Walsh to earn the tandem’s 50th beach volleyball title together at the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals Santa Barbara Open on Saturday.

May-Treanor and Walsh, who won the 1996 Olympic gold medal, have won all three events to open the 2006 AVP season.

They defeated Elaine Youngs and Rachel Wacholder, 21-14, 21-14, Saturday, pushing May’s career beach titles to 56 and her career prize money earnings to $979,808.

May-Treanor and Walsh will attempt to continue their dominance at the Huntington Beach Open, which opens Friday and continues through Sunday near the Huntington Beach Pier.

EIGHT ‘EATERS TO COMPETE

UC Irvine seniors Amber Steen and Mike Beerer, both Big West Conference event champions, lead eight Anteater track and field athletes who will compete in the NCAA West Regional, Friday and Saturday at BYU.

Steen, a former star at Newport Harbor High, won the women’s 1,500 meters in four minutes, 24.29 seconds at the conference championships.

She was also the Big West individual cross country champion last fall.

Beerer, who defended his conference hammer throw title this spring, has a career best of 215 feet, 9 inches, three inches shy of the school record. That mark ranks fourth in the West and 13th nationally.

Junior Dayne Comrie will compete in the men’s 400, after finishing second at the Big West Championships.

He won the conference title in the 400 hurdles, but elected to concentrate on the 400 in the regional.

Lauren Collins, a freshman who was third in the high jump and fifth in the heptathlon at the conference championships, will compete in the high jump in Utah. Her top mark is 5-9 1/2 .

Senior Brian Moon will compete in the shot put and discus. He was third in the conference in the shot put. His top mark in that event is 56-9 1/2 . His best in the discus is 179-2.

Seniors Ian Connell and John Kluve, as well as sophomore Julian Eison round out the UCI contingent.

Connell was fourth at the conference finals in the discus, while Kluve was fourth in the conference 3,000 steeplechase final.

Eison was fifth in the conference in the men’s high jump.