Briefs: ‘Eaters at NCAA West meet

Six members of the UC Irvine women’s track and field program travel to Lawrence, Kan., for the NCAA West Preliminary Round, Thursday through Saturday at Rock Chalk Park.

Senior Kaulyn Lee-McNeill and junior Megan George will be making their second straight appearances at the West Preliminary Round and will be joined by sophomores Persis William-Mensah, Taisyn Crutchfield and Michelle Norman, as well as freshman Barbara Coward.

Lee-McNeill competes in the first round of the 400-meter hurdles at 2:30 p.m. (PT) Thursday with the top 24 advancing to the quarterfinal round on Friday at 5:30 p.m. She has a top time this season of 59.09 seconds.

George qualified in the 100 hurdles with the first round Friday at 3 p.m. (PT) and the quarterfinals Saturday at 5:05 p.m. She won her second consecutive Big West title in the 100 hurdles and set the UCI record of 13.28 seconds earlier this season.

William-Mensah, UCI’s record-holder in the 100 with a time of 11.59 seconds and an Estancia High product, competes in that event’s first round Thursday at 4:30 p.m. (PT) with the quarterfinals Friday at 4:30 p.m.

Coward competes in the first round of the discus Friday at 10 a.m. (PT). She set the UCI record earlier this season with a mark of 170-11.

George and Mensah will be joined by Crutchfield and Norman in the 4x100 relay that runs Saturday at 4 p.m. (PT). The Anteater quartet won the Big West title with a school-record time of 44.51 seconds.

The top 12 finishers in each event from the West Preliminary Round will advance to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., June 8-11.

The East Preliminary Round is being held Thursday through Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla.

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OCC duo Eagles

Orange Coast College beach volleyball players Alyssa Assayag and Adelle Buede will compete next year at Concordia University, Pirates Coach Chuck Cutenese announced.

Buede was teamed with Tiffany Boykin for the majority of the season and they advanced to the round of 16 at the California Community College Athletic Assn. Beach Volleyball Championship.

Prior to the state tournament, Buede and Boykin advanced to the semifinals of the Orange Empire Conference Championships.

Assayag played with OCC teammate Danyelle Brown for the entire 2016 season and the duo went 4-6 overall before reaching the Round of 32 at the conference tournament.

Prior to her beach volleyball stint at OCC, Assayag played on the indoor volleyball team for the 2013 and 2014 seasons.

— From staff reports