UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK : Pajer Back for Swimming Invitational

Some top collegiate swim teams will be at Heritage Park in Irvine this weekend for the 11th UC Irvine Invitational, which also will feature a return appearance by Brian Pajer, the best men’s swimmer in school history.

Pajer, a two-time All-American in the breaststroke and the only man ever to score for Irvine at the NCAA championships, is living in Washington, D.C., where he is training in hopes of making the Olympics. Home for the holidays, he will swim unattached in the meet.

USC, ranked second in the country, and Brigham Young are the top men’s teams, and Colorado State is one of the top women’s teams. The women’s field also includes Fresno State, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Northridge, Claremont, Cal Poly Pomona, UC Riverside and Redlands.

California and UC Santa Barbara are among the diving entrants.

Approximately 600 athletes and 20 schools are expected to compete.

With so many events going at once, the meet is “like a three-ring circus,” Irvine Coach Charlie Schober said.

Among the top individual swimmers will be USC’s Lars Jorgensen, who competes in distance freestyle events, and his teammates Greg and Gary Larson, formerly of Villa Park High School.

Irvine’s top swimmers include Jeff Klatt, a junior butterfly specialist who made the senior nationals last year, and two freshmen--Eric Walton (backstroke) and Pat Keenan (freestyle), each of whom has met qualifying times for the senior nationals.

Irvine senior Lisa Williams (distance freestyle) is hoping to qualify for the senior nationals for the first time.

Competition begins at 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, with an afternoon session beginning at 1:30 p.m. both days. There is no admission charge.

The women’s basketball team drew the better deal on holiday scheduling. They were in Hawaii for New Year’s Eve. The men were in Salt Lake City.

Stat of the Week: 25. That was Irvine’s second-half scoring total Saturday in an 88-68 men’s basketball loss to Tennessee Chattanooga. The game was tied at halftime. Irvine shot 32% in the second half and made only one of 10 three-point attempts.

Steve Rogers, the Alabama State junior guard who scored 42 points against Irvine in the Anteaters’ 102-98 victory Friday, did plenty to impress Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan.

“Their one guy, Rogers, if he came out after this year he’d probably be a first- or second-rounder,” Mulligan said.

The “real season,” as coaches and players like to call the conference season, begins tonight for the men, who return to Logan, Utah, the site of one of their five victories last season.

Irvine beat Utah State, 80-76, in the final game of the regular season.

“I’m not sure that late last year, teams had any respect for us,” Mulligan said. “This will be different.”

Farewell to 1990: Who will miss it, around the Irvine basketball offices?

The good news for the men and women is that they equaled their victory totals of last season before 1990 expired.

At 2-7, the women have doubled the victories of their 1-27 season.

At 5-7, the men have equaled the victories of their 5-23 season.