COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Irvine Runners Miss in Qualifying Race

A fifth-place finish in Saturday’s NCAA Region 8 Championships in Fresno ended the season for UC Irvine’s 11th-ranked women’s cross-country team.

Champion Oregon and runner-up Arizona earned automatic invitations to the NCAA Championships Nov. 25 in Tucson, Ariz. Third-place Washington is a likely at-large selection. UCLA was fourth.

Anteater junior Rayna Cervantes was eighth, completing the 5,000-meter Woodward Park course in 17:21 and qualifying as an individual for the championships. Traci Goodrich was 15th (17:39), Sita Jones 24th (17:59), Tiffany York (18:13) and Martha Luna 44th (17:59).

Cal State Fullerton was ninth. Freshman Heather Killeen was the top Titan finisher, placing 11th in 17:28.

On the men’s side, Irvine was sixth and Fullerton 11th. Aaron Mascorro was the top Anteater, coming in 17th in 31:14 over 10,000 meters. Steve Frisone was the first Titan, 44th in 32:00.

In Big West Conference water polo:

UC Irvine 11, Fresno State 8--Steve Gill and Marc Hunt each scored three goals as the conference-leading Anteaters (19-6, 7-1), ranked second in the nation, won at Fresno State.

In Big West Conference women’s volleyball:

Cal State Fullerton 3, Utah State 1--The Titans defeated the Aggies for the second consecutive night as Becky Howlett had 21 kills and Stephanie Scofield had 20 with only one hitting error for visiting Fullerton (8-26, 3-13). Howlett has reached double figures in kills in 31 matches this season. Kim Kammerer had 21 kills for Utah State (2-29, 0-18).