BRIEFS:Lions’ special training

COSTA MESA — Vanguard University is hosting the fifth National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics Champions of Character Instructor Training Session which concludes today.

It is the first time the event has been held on the West Coast.

The Lions currently have five Champions of Character instructors on their athletic staff. All student-athletes and coaches have been certified in the NAIA’s Champions of Character Initiative.

The Champions of Character includes nearly 50 participants from around the nation.

UCI HIRES HUBER

Rudy Huber has been named an assistant coach at UC Irvine for men’s and women’s track and field, head coach Vince O’Boyle said.

Huber joins the Anteater staff after serving since 1992 as head coach/president of the Hawaii Elite Track Team in Kahului, Hawaii, the only track and field club on Maui. Huber, who founded the team, also established the first running store (Runner’s Paradise) on Maui. He has held annual celebrity Olympic track and field clinics in Hawaii since 1992 and directs several road races on Maui.

He served as head track and field coach at Seabury Hall, a college prep school, in Makawao, Hawaii, from 2004-06.

Huber was an assistant coach at Mt. San Antonio College during the 2003 season and head coach at St. Anthony Junior/Senior High School in Wailuku, Hawaii, from 1998-2002.

He is a 1991 graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where he earned NCAA All-America honors on the 4x400-meter relay. Huber earned his M.S.S. degree in sports coaching from the United States Sports Academy in 2003.

“I am very excited to announce the addition of Rudy to our coaching staff,” O’Boyle said. “He will be responsible for coaching the sprinters, hurdlers and the relays. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the UCI track and field program and with his outstanding teaching skills, our student-athletes will benefit greatly.”

“It is a great honor to join the UCI coaching staff,” Huber said. “There is a lot of tradition here and I look forward to enhancing that tradition by building a strong sprint and hurdle crew.”