COLLEGES:

It has become cliché for any athlete separated from competition for an extended period to say the experience helped them appreciate how much they truly relish being able to participate in all aspects of their sport.

Jane Chin, a UC Irvine senior women’s golfer who redshirted last season in order to polish her game — specifically adjust her swing off the tee, which had been so troublesome that she teed off with a three wood all season on her way to making first-team All-Big West Conference honors — echoed those thoughts during a recent interview.

But Chin, who won the Coast BMW Intercollegiate near San Luis Obispo Tuesday and finished second in the Anteaters’ first invitational last month in Colorado, said her year away from collegiate competition allowed her to fortify her perspective off the course, as well.

Chin, a criminology major, said she completed an internship at Orange County Juvenile Hall, working with girls who were dealing with drugs, pregnancy and other problems.

“Those girls all looked really innocent and to see what they were going through, it was really sad,” Chin said. “You just knew their parents weren’t there for them and you really felt for them. I just wished I could take them home, because they were so nice. They just got on the wrong track.”

Chin said the experience magnified her appreciation of her parents and her stable family life growing up in Huntington Beach. She said the family recently moved to Mission Viejo.

 On the course, Chin’s hot start has placed her in enviable company. She is ranked No. 1 individually in the Oct. 5 rankings produced by Golfweek.

Stephanie Sherlock of the University of Denver is ranked No. 2, despite having beaten Chin head-to-head to win the Ron Moore Invitational, completed Sept. 24 at Highlands Ranch Country Club just outside Denver.

 Another athlete with local ties, former Newport Harbor High quarterback Kasey Peters, has also positioned himself atop the national rankings in his sport.

Peters, a junior at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Mont., ranks No. 1 in the NAIA in total offense and passing. Through six games, the 6-foot-3, 215-pounder, who as a senior led Newport Harbor to a 12-1-1 record and a berth in the 2004 CIF Southern Section Division VI title game, has completed 192 of 304 passes for 2,108 yards. He has thrown 19 touchdown passes and six interceptions.

Including rushing, he is averaging 356.5 yards per game in total offense, just more than 16 better than the No. 2 performer.

His 351.3 passing yards per game are nearly 22 yards better than his closest competitor.

 The UC Irvine men’s basketball team will have three regular-season games televised on Fox Sports Net West or ESPNU, as part of the Big West Conference television package announced Thursday.

A home game against UC Davis is scheduled to air Saturday, Jan. 17, on FSN PRIME TICKET at 1 p.m.

A home game against Cal State Northridge is slated for ESPNU on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 8 p.m., while a game at Cal State Fullerton on Saturday, March 7, is scheduled to air at 5 p.m. on FSN WEST.

 The Vanguard University men’s soccer team is not among the three Golden State Athletic Conference teams ranked in the NAIA top 25, but the Lions (5-3-2) sit atop the conference standings with a 3-0-1 GSAC record heading into Saturday’s clash at The Master’s (7-0-2, 2-0-1).

One big reason for the Lions’ success is sophomore goalie Trevor Herrera, who was named GSAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday.

Herrera had seven combined saves in a pair of shutouts last week, a 0-0 tie with visiting Fresno Pacific Friday and a 1-0 home win over Biola on Sept. 30.

Herrera’s goals-against average is 0.73 in 10 games, including nine starts. The Lions are being led offensively by junior Ryan Marquez (three goals and two assists) and freshman Albert Quinones (three goals).

 The Vanguard women’s volleyball team continues to flourish under first-year coach Marissa Cothran. The Lions, ranked No. 8 in the NAIA, are 11-3, 6-3 in the rugged Golden State Athletic Conference, in which the top four teams in the NAIA rankings reside.

One reason for the Lions’ strong season thus far has been the work of first-year assistant coach Jenny Griffith, formerly Jenny Evans, who starred at Newport Harbor High before earning All-American honors and winning two national championships at UCLA in the 1990s. Griffith, a Costa Mesa resident who is married with three children, was also 1995 Rookie of the Year on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals beach tour. Her last full AVP season was 2005.

 UCI baseball’s 12-player recruiting class has been ranked No. 22 by Collegiate Baseball. Pat Shine, UCI associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, praised the recruits’ character and intangibles and said the group will be instrumental in helping UCI remain an elite program.

UCI, coming off a 42-18 season that put them three outs away from the program’s second straight visit to the College World Series, will open the season Feb. 20 with the first of a four-game series at Hawaii.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.