COLLEGE ROUNDUP : UCI Women Retain Title in Cross-Country

The UC Irvine women’s cross-country team, paced by three runners in the top five, won its fourth consecutive Big West Conference championship Saturday in Kaneohe, Hawaii.

The Anteaters, who struggled in invitational meets this season, won with 48 points and Irvine Coach Vince O’Boyle shared coach-of-the-year honors with UC Santa Barbara’s Jim Triplett. UCSB was third with 73 and Cal State Fullerton was fourth with 87.

Irvine has won nine titles in the 10 years the Big West has held a championship for women.

Traci Goodrich was the Anteaters’ first finisher, coming in third in 17 minutes 58 seconds on the 5,000-meter course on Pali Golf Course. Rayna Cervantes (18:09) finished fourth and Jade Preato (18:10) finished fifth for the Anteaters.

Fullerton’s Heather Killeen finished second in 17:46 behind winner Alisa Nicodemus of Utah State, who finished in 17:27.

Fullerton’s Mike Tansley won the men’s race and helped the Titans finish in a tie for third with UC Santa Barbara at 68 points. Utah State won the team title with 55 points, narrowly beating second-place Nevada with 58.

Tansley finished the 8,000-meter course in 25:53. Steve Frisone was sixth in 26:24 for the Titans. Mike Nielsen was Irvine’s top finisher with a seventh-place time of 26:25. Irvine, the three-time defending champion that dropped then reinstated the men’s program, finished fifth with 78 points.

In Golden State Athletic Conference men’s soccer:

Southern California College 2, Westmont 2 (OT)--Jay Fisher scored with one minute remaining in regulation for Westmont to send the match into overtime.

SCC (10-8-2, 3-4-2 in the conference) took leads of 1-0 and 2-1 on goals by Carlos Miramontes and Kevin Otsuji. Westmont (12-5-3, 6-1-2) is ranked No. 11 in the NAIA national poll.

In the Riviera All-American Tennis Championships:

Phebus loses--UCLA’s Keri Phebus, a freshman from Corona del Mar, was beaten by Paloma Collantes of Mississippi, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, in a semifinal at the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades.