TOP 10 SPORTS STORIES OF THE YEAR: EATER NATION’S ON TOP

1

UC Irvine baseball:

Six seasons after resurrecting a program that had been dormant for nine seasons, the Anteaters tied for third at the College World Series in Omaha.

Before, the team had not won a Division I postseason game in four tries.

They finished the regular season tied for second in the Big West Conference, before winning the Round Rock Regional hosted by the University of Texas, then winning a best-of-three Super Regional at Wichita State.

UCI’s four games in Omaha included a 13-inning marathon victory to eliminate Cal State Fullerton — the longest game in CWS history — and another dramatic 10-inning triumph that eliminated Arizona State the next day.

The list of heroes read like a lineup card as pitchers Scott Gorgen (third-team All-American) and Wes Etheridge, as well as NCAA career saves leader Blair Erickson, helped pave the way.

Offensively, Cody Cipriano, Taylor Holiday, Bryan Petersen, Ollie Linton, Matt Morris, Ben Orloff, Aaron Lowenstein, Jeff Cusick, Sean Madigan and Tyler Vaughn seemed to consistently share the spotlight, coming up with key hit after key hit.

Dave Serrano, whose dynamic personality fostered a blend of competitiveness and fun, was named National Coach of the Year by Baseball America after guiding the Anteaters to a 47-17-1 record.

Serrano left to take over the program at Cal State Fullerton in July, taking valued assistants Sergio Brown and Greg Bergeron with him.

But the spotlight Serrano and his team helped shine upon the program could help warm the UCI athletic landscape for years to come.

2

Corona del Mar High boys’ basketball:

The school’s long, proud boys’ basketball tradition was rekindled by a Sea Kings squad led by star junior center Stefan Kaluz, and guided by the coaching combo of head man Ryan Schachter and assistant Jason Simco.

The Sea Kings won the CIF Southern Section Division III-A title and Kaluz, who plans to continue his career at Brown University, was named Southern Section Division III-A Player of the Year. Schachter was the division’s Coach of the Year.

Kaluz, who averaged 21 points, 12 rebounds and 2.3 blocks, was supported by All-CIF honorees Joe Eberhard, a junior, and Eddie Lane, a senior.

The section crown was the fifth in the program’s history, its first since 1995.

3

UCI men’s volleyball:

Coach John Speraw’s five-year plan came to fruition perfectly as the Anteaters saved their best play for down the stretch.

One season after winning the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular-season championship, only to lose both of their postseason matches, the ’Eaters finished third in the MPSF regular season.

However, they won the conference tournament, securing their second straight trip to the four-team NCAA Championship at Ohio State.

Led by a cast of senior All-Americans Jayson Jablonsky, Matt Webber, David Smith and Brian Thornton, UCI avenged the 2006 semifinal defeat by topping Penn State. UCI then beat Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne in the title match to claim the program’s first national crown.

UCI finished 29-5 and collected the school’s third Division I national championship, adding to men’s water polo titles in 1982 and 1989.

4

Misty May-Treanor:

The Newport Harbor High alumna became the Queen of the Beach when she passed Holly McPeak with her 73rd victory on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour May 20 at the Hermosa Beach Open.

May-Treanor and partner Kerri Walsh won 13 of 15 AVP events they entered and won seven of the eight Fédération Internationale de Volleyball tournaments in which they competed.

May-Treanor was named MVP, Best Offensive Player, Best Defensive Player and, with Walsh, Team of the Year at the 2007 AVP postseason awards banquet. She now has a record 82 AVP wins.

May-Treanor and Walsh, three-time world champions and the reigning Olympic gold medal winners, are also the winningest all-time women’s combo on the FIVB circuit. May-Treanor and Walsh won 129 of their 133 matches (AVP and FIVB combined) in 2007.

5

Matt Barkley:

The Newport Beach resident and Mater Dei High junior quarterback earned national recognition by winning the Gatorade National and State Football Player of the Year honors as well as the inaugural Joe Montana Quarterback of the Year award.

The third-year starter completed 213 of 346 passes (62.6%) for 3,576 yards and 35 touchdowns, while throwing nine interceptions for the Monarchs, who finished 9-2 and reached the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division playoffs.

With such a noteworthy season, Barkley aligned himself with former Monarch quarterbacks Matt Leinart and John Huarte, both of whom went on to win the Heisman Trophy at USC and Notre Dame, respectively.

6

Allison Stokke:

The 2007 Newport Harbor High graduate was a pole vaulter of some renown — she won the CIF State title as a freshman, won the CIF Southern Section Division II crown as a senior last spring, then was fourth at the State meet and was Newport Harbor High’s Female Athlete of the Year.

But her appearance on this list has to do with her becoming somewhat of a reluctant national celebrity when photographs and video footage of her in competition generated thousands of viewings and postings on the Internet.

The Internet attention generated national media coverage and added to the ongoing debate about the objectification of female athletes simply based on their looks.

Stokke is now a freshman at Cal where she is continuing her pole vaulting career.

7

Vanguard women’s basketball:

With all five starters back from a team that reached the NAIA Tournament semifinals the season before, the 2006-07 Lions were favored to win the program’s first national title.

But a 31-0 record and the No. 1 national ranking they had carried all season meant little to the Lions in a 68-64 loss to Cumberland in the national semifinals in Jackson, Tenn.

Vanguard settled for a 31-1 season in which junior Jessica Richter was named NAIA Player of the Year. Senior Kelly Schmidt, the NAIA Player of the Year in 2005-06, joined Richter as a first-team All-American. Senior center Rachel Besse earned third-team All-American recognition, while senior Lacey Burns received honorable mention in All-American voting.

Coach Russ Davis later won the NAIA Coach of Character award and Schmidt was the NAIA Champions of Character award winner.

8

Toshiba Classic:

If any of the 13 champions ever had a right to chirp about victory in the annual Champions Tour event at the Newport Beach Country Club, it was Jay Haas, who amassed 20 birdies and just one bogey in 54 holes to shoot a tournament-record 19-under-par 194 in March.

Haas’ score bested Hale Irwin’s 2002 event record by two strokes, the same margin by which Haas bettered runner-up R.W. Eaks to claim the $247,500 first prize.

The tournament earned $1.31 million for Hoag Hospital and other local charities, surpassing $10 million in charitable donations for the tournament’s history, tops among all events in the 28-year history of the Champions Tour.

9

Football coaching turmoil:

Coaching high school football in Newport-Mesa included significant tumult in 2007.

Tom Monarch (Sage Hill) and Dick Freeman (Corona del Mar) were fired, before and after the season, respectively.

Jeff Brinkley’s 22nd season at the Newport Harbor helm included an unexpected visit to the hospital at halftime of a season-opening home win over Aliso Niguel.

Brinkley, suffering from an irregular heartbeat, spent days in the hospital, before being released and resuming his coaching duties without incident.

In addition, longtime Newport Harbor assistant Mike Bargas took over at Estancia for Brian Barnes, who left for Tesoro.

10

CIF team titles:

The boys’ water polo and girls’ cross country teams from Newport Harbor High, as well as the Corona del Mar High girls’ track and field and cross country teams, and the CdM boys’ volleyball squad, joined the aforementioned CdM boys’ basketball team in claiming CIF championships.

The Newport Harbor girls’ cross country team not only won the Southern Section Division II title, but earned the CIF State Division II crown as well.

The Sailors’ boys’ water polo squad won the Southern Section Division I title, while the CdM girls’ won the top Southern Section prize in Division III in cross country, as well as track and field.

The CdM boys’ volleyball team won the CIF Southern Section Division II crown.

Individually, CdM’s Shelby Buckley and Sage Hill School’s won CIF section titles in cross country. Sea Kings Fabian Matthews and Dustin Hladek captured the CIF Individuals doubles championship.

OTHERS:

 Aaron Peirsol, a Newport Harbor High product, won the 100-meter backstroke at the world championships.

 The Newport Beach Breakers of World Team Tennis sold out five of seven home matches at 2,200-seat Breakers Stadium, a new temporary venue constructed in the parking lot of the Newport Beach Country Club.

 The Newport Harbor High football team, in its second season in the top CIF Southern Section division, defeated perennial Sunset League power Los Alamitos to help earn a postseason berth, then upset Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks in the first round to advance to the quarterfinals. The Sailors finished 8-4 with two of their losses coming to eventual Division I state champion Long Beach Poly.

 Shaun Mohler, a former Corona del Mar High football standout playing his second season for Orange Coast College, became one of the most recruited Newport-Mesa products in recent memory. After verbally committing to Cal, then Nebraska, he finally chose Colorado among more than two dozen scholarship offers. His rise to Division I college football required a steadfast commitment to academics that enabled him to overcome a learning disability.  Courtney Conlogue, a Sage Hill School sophomore, is the youngest woman to reach the semifinals at the U.S. Open of Surfing and later leads a local handful of young surfers who qualify for the USA surf team. The locals who made the team included Kaleigh Gilchrist, Andrew Doheny and Chase Wilson, as well as Taylor and Jared Thorne.

 The Pelican Hill Golf Course re-opens.

 The Anaheim Ducks, owned by Newport Beach residents Henry and Susan Samueli, win the Stanley Cup.

 Big Canyon Country Club wins the Jones Cup.

— Compiled by Barry Faulkner