WELCOME HOME RECEPTION:

Tuesday afternoon was a time to celebrate as Olympians who represented USA and UC Irvine at the Beijing Games were honored at a Welcome Home reception on campus.

The UCI quartet of men’s water polo players Ryan Bailey, Jeff Powers, Tim Hutten and Rick Merlo were on hand along with their fellow Anteaters to pose for photos with fans and sign autographs for them as well. The quartet, each of them former All-Americans at UCI, helped Team USA claim the silver medal in water polo.

Brittany Hayes, who is working on her master’s degree at UCI, helped the U.S. women come home with the silver medal as well.

UCI had 10 representatives participating in six sports in Beijing. UCI men’s volleyball coach John Speraw and women’s volleyball assistant coach Jay Hosack were on the staff of the gold medal men’s indoor volleyball team.

— From staff reports