Big West Track : Distance Doubles Help Irvine Men to Second, Women to Third

For many years, UC Irvine’s track and field program has based its strength on its distance corps.

Friday night, at the Big West Conference championships, things were the same as both the Anteater men and women gained the majority of their points from distances 800 meters and up.

Over the two-day meet, Irvine received double victories from four runners: Beth McGrann (women’s 10,000 and 5,000); Brigid Stirling (women’s 1,500 and 3,000), Pete Vicencio (men’s 10,000 and 5,000) and Marc Goulet (men’s 1,500 and 800).

With those victories, Irvine managed to finish second in the men’s competition with 122 points--behind Fresno State, which won its seventh consecutive title 207--and third among the women with 107.5, behind UNLV (178.5) and Fresno State (147).

For the men’s team, the difference between second and third might came down to an event that has been anything but an Anteater mainstay--the 1,600-meter relay.

Irvine’s Scott Click, Jeremy Ball, Brian Whitmore and Adam Shanks combined for fifth in the final event. While not spectacular in itself, it gave Irvine the two points it needed to edge third-place Long Beach, which had 120 points.

“We came through, and in the mile relays of all things,” Coach Vince O’Boyle said. “Those kids have a lot of heart. All we had to do is beat two teams (in the field of eight), and they gave everything and did it.”

But the basis of Irvine’s success was its double winners.

McGrann, who was named co-athlete of the women’s meet along with UNLV’s Carrie Franklin (who won three individual events and two relays) became the first woman in conference history to win four titles in the same event, the 5,000. McGrann, who had won her second consecutive Big West 10,000 title Thursday, took the lead from the start and cruised to victory in 16 minutes 38 seconds, tying her season best and breaking her own meet record of 16:59 set in 1986.

Vicencio, also coming off a victory Thursday night in the 10,000, had few challengers in winning the men’s 5,000 in 14:31.34.

Stirling, the Big West cross-country champion last fall, started the evening with a victory in the 1,500 in 4:25.24 and later won the 3,000 in 9:39.54. Mary Kenny of Cal State Fullerton was second in 9:55.56.

While McGrann, Vicencio and Stirling all won by wide margins, Goulet used impressive tactics--and late speed--for his victories.

In the 1,500, Goulet was in third on the last lap, but with 120 yards to go shot around the leaders and down the stretch to win in 3:47.40. Later in the 800, Goulet was in fourth and boxed in with 100 meters to go but managed to sprint around three runners to win in 1:50.67.

In the weight events, Irvine junior Mike Morales made up for a disappointing performance Thursday--third in the hammer throw, fourth in the discus--with a victory in the shotput. Morales, a former Garden Grove High School standout, put the shot 55-feet-10 1/4, a lifetime best by a foot and an inch.

He is Irvine’s first conference shotput champion.

“I was really disappointed yesterday, bummed isn’t the word,” said Morales, who qualified for the NCAA championships earlier this season in the hammer.

“When I came out today, it was hard not to think of yesterday, that maybe that same bad luck would carry over to today. But I competed well today. I’m glad because it’ll give me some confidence going into the NCAA meet.”

Decathlete Jeff Williams gave Irvine its only other victory, winning the 10-event, two-day competition with 7,236 points, a lifetime best by 35 points.

UNLV’s Franklin is the first person in Big West history to win five events in a single conference meet.

Franklin, a senior, won the 100 meters in 11.76 seconds, the 100 hurdles in 13.98 and the 200 in 23.86, and also ran the second leg on the winning 400-meter relay team and leadoff on the winning 1,600-meter relay team.

Utah State’s Craig Carter, who won the discus and hammer and placed second in the shotput, was named the men’s athlete of the meet.