2002-03 UC Irvine Intercollegiate Athletics Highlights

MEN'S GOLF WINS THIRD STRAIGHT BIG WEST TITLE; BOTH VOLLEYBALL PROGRAMS FLOURISH

Bob Chichester was named UC Irvine's sixth permanent Director of Intercollegiate Athletics in the fall of 2002 and he quickly immersed himself in the array of projects relating to leading the 23-sport program on the Anteater campus.

The UC Irvine men's golf team continued its domination of the Big West Conference by winning its third consecutive league title by eight shots at Serrano Country Club in El Dorado Hills, Calif. Senior Jeff Coburn was named the Big West Player of the Year and also was named to the PING All-Pacific Region team. Senior Mike Lavery won the individual title at the conference tournament and Paul Smolinski was named the Big West Coach of the Year for the third straight season.

Both volleyball teams catapulted to banner seasons. The men's volleyball program, under first-year head coach John Speraw, recorded the best season in school history with a 20-11 overall record and a 13-5 mark in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Speraw, who was one of four finalists for the AVCA National Coach of the Year award, led UCI to a No. 1 national ranking for two weeks and a final ranking of fifth. Junior Jimmy Pelzel was named first team All-America, the first for the men's volleyball program, and also was first team All-MPSF.

Coach Charlie Brande's women's volleyball team ended the year at 19-11, the second highest number of victories in school history. The squad's 10-8 Big West record marked the most league wins in the program's record book. Rebecca Larsen, Chanda McLeod and Kelly Wing were named to the All-Big West first team.

Men's basketball enjoyed its third consecutive 20-win season by finishing with a 20-9 record. The Anteaters finished second in the Big West at 13-5 and have won a league-leading 41 conference games over the past three seasons. Red-shirt freshman guard Jeff Gloger set a UCI single-season record with 75 steals and he finished 14th in the nation in that statistic.

Teams that earned third-place conference finishes included women's cross country, women's golf, men's and women's swimming, and men's and women's tennis. Both soccer teams placed fourth in Big West Conference competition. First-year head coach Brian Pajer was named Big West co-Coach of the Year in women's swimming.

The women's sailing team finished 13th in the Intercollegiate Sailing Association North American Championships at Grosse Point, Mich. Lauren Maxam was named to the Pacific Coast All-District team.

In women's track and field, Annmarie Turpin was UCI's sole representative at the NCAA Championships, finishing 21st in the heptathlon.

UCI had a school-record 170 Big West Scholar-Athletes for 2002-03, raising the university's number to 2,221 since 1984. Wendy Gabbe (women's basketball) and Mike Lavery (men's golf) were named UCI/Big West Scholar-Athletes of the Year. Men's soccer player Scott Bowman was selected as the Lauds & Laurels Outstanding Senior Athlete.

Seventy-four UCI student-athletes received all-conference recognition and 71 were named to conference all-academic teams. Erin Curtis (track & field), Melissa Fernandez (water polo), Jenny Liou (track & field/cross country) and Santosh Swamidass (track & field) were named recipients of the Arthur Ashe, Jr., Sports-Scholar Award. Anteater All-Americans were Jeff Powers and Dreason Barry from men's water polo, Jimmy Pelzel of men's volleyball and Erica Horman from women's water polo.

Track and field athlete Darrell Tozier was named to the Verizon Academic All-American first team. Baseball player Gregg Wallis was selected first team Verizon Academic All-District, women's basketball senior Wendy Gabbe was named to the second team and golfer Mike Lavery was a third-team academic all-district selection.

Submitted by Bob Olson, Stacey Shackleford, Fumi Kimura and Erik Wirtanen
UC Irvine Athletic Communications
June 2003

2001-02 UC Irvine Intercollegiate Athletics Highlights

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