Orange County Roundup : UC Irvine Opens Against Brown in NCAA Water Polo Tournament

The UC Irvine men’s water polo team will play Brown tonight at 6 p.m. in the first round of the 17th annual NCAA Water Polo Championships at Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach.

The Anteaters (21-9) are seeded second in the tournament behind top-seeded Stanford (22-4). The Cardinal will play No. 8 Bucknell (20-5) at 3 p.m.

UCI won its fifth Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. championship this season, clinching the title with a 10-6 win over Fresno State two weeks ago. The Bulldogs were the only team to beat Irvine in conference play.

UCI is led by senior Jeff Campbell, junior J.R. Salvatore and sophomore Tony Bell. Goalie Mark Maizel has averaged more than 10 saves during Irvine’s last four games.

Other first round games:

Fourth-seeded Cal State Long Beach (21-9) vs. (5) UC Santa Barbara (20-9), 4:30 p.m.; (3) UCLA (21-5) vs. (6) Loyola-Chicago (18-7), 7:30 p.m.

The Orange County Flyers Track Club is hosting its fifth annual Villa Park Turkey Trot on Sunday, Dec. 1 at Villa Park High School.

Runs of a .5, 2 and 5 miles and a half-marathon will be held beginning at 7:45 a.m. Anyone can enter any of the races with the exception of the half-mile, which is reserved anyone 9 or younger.

Entrants can sign up at Villa Park High School from 7 to 7:45 a.m. on the day of the race for $6.

All proceeds will benefit junior high school cross-country programs in Orange County.

For further information, contact Bill Holt at 774-3959 or 637-3959.

A 10K run has been added to the program for the Orange County Marathon on Sunday, Dec. 15. The race will begin at 8:30 a.m., a half-hour after the start of the marathon in Newport Center.

The run will go from Newport Center Drive onto San Joaquin Hills Road, and continue on Back Bay Drive to the finish line at UC Irvine.

Entry forms and additional information can be obtained from Bill Toomey or Barry King at Sports Directions, Ltd. at 661-6473.

Tickets for the fifth PONY Bowl between Fullerton and Saddleback colleges Saturday, Dec. 7 at 1 p.m. in LeBard Stadium are on sale at Boege’s Sporting Goods in Fullerton and at Saddleback’s public information office.

General admission seats are $5. Students or faculty can purchase tickets for $3.

For further information, call 582-4321.

The public is invited to attend the a pro-am tennis tournament to be held at the Laguna Niguel Racquet Club on Saturday, Dec. 7 and Sunday, Dec. 8.

Admission to the event, which will begin at noon, is free. In addition, the first 200 spectators will receive free gifts and free refreshments will be available to all attending the tournament.

For further information, contact Bob Hoffsteder at the Laguna Niguel Racquet Club at 496-4665.

Around The Area

Sophomore setter Julie Bowland of Golden West College has been named the most valuable player of the South Coast Conference in a vote of conference coaches. Albert Gasparian, who coached the Rustlers to their third consecutive championship, was named coach of the year. Other Golden West players named to the all-conference team were sophomore middle blocker Cecelia Elias and sophomore outside hitter Karen Knight. . . Entries for the Eighth Annual Redondo Beach Superbowl Sunday 10K, to be held Jan. 26 at 8 a.m., are being accepted by the Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce. For further information, call (213) 376-6911. . . Pony Baseball’s Orange County Region will hold a general meeting for teams or leagues interested in entering 7- through 18-year-olds for the 1986 season on Thursday, Dec. 12, at the Town and Country Bank in the Rossmoor Shopping Center, beginning at 7:15 p.m. . . . The Southern California Over-The-Line is accepting mens and womens teams for the sixth annual Christmas tournament to be played Dec. 14 at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley. Entry fee is $21 per team and all teams are guaranteed four games. For further information, call (213) 630-2298.