Basketball Standouts Moonlight on the Track to Fill Their Days

Phil Negrete and Princess Hatcher were basically bored . . . bored, and talented--a dangerous combination for UC Irvine’s track and field opponents.

Basketball season, for both, was over and the spring doldrums had set in, so they decided to find an outlet for their energy.

As a result, track Coach Vince O’Boyle got two scholarship athletes without paying their tab.

Negrete, a freshman on the men’s basketball team, made a quick impression at the Big West Cup Saturday. He came out for the team on Thursday and two days later he finished fourth in the long jump (21 feet 8 inches) and sixth in the high jump (6-2). He also finished sixth in the triple jump (38-11 1/2) after a five-minute primer on the event to help Irvine finish second to Long Beach State.

Hatcher, a sophomore on the women’s basketball team, has been competing for the women’s track team the last two weeks. She finished fifth in the high jump (4-11 3/4) and 10th in the long jump (15-0 3/4) in a six-team meet March 22. Saturday, she ran for the 400-meter B relay team, as the Anteaters repeated as Big West Cup champions.

“You’ve got to be able to run, jump and throw in order to do other sports,” O’Boyle said. “Track and field is the basis for every other sport. It was that way in ancient Greece.”

In modern times, the sport also can fill up one’s day.

“After basketball last year, I had nothing to do,” said Hatcher, a 5-foot-8 guard who averaged four points in 29 games last season.

“I just studied and went to some track meets. Dee and Margaret Butler are friends of mine and I would go see them compete. I went to the UCLA meet and there were all these great athletes. The atmosphere was great. It was exciting.”

Hatcher, who competed in track and field at Diamond Bar High, decided not to miss out this season. She approached Anteater assistant coach Gwen Loud about coming out for the team.

“The first couple weeks were rough,” Hatcher said. “I was using muscles I haven’t used since high school. I was really sore.”

Hatcher did the high jump and long jump first, but has worked her way onto the relay teams. She had a 59.6 split Saturday, a fraction off her best time in high school.

“This is really going to help me for basketball,” she said.

For Negrete, it could mean more. He had talked to Hatcher about what it was like on the team and Hatcher sent him to Loud.

Negrete was an immediate success.

“One guy told me that, with some work, Phil could be a 6-10, 7-0 high jumper,” O’Boyle said.

Negrete, a 6-5 guard, competed 1 1/2 years in track at Gardena High, but sat out his senior year.

“I have really never had anyone work with me before,” said Negrete, who averaged 1.6 points in 15 games this past basketball season. “I was mediocre.”

That word didn’t come up Saturday.

Negrete performed so well in the high jump and long jump, that he was asked to do the triple jump, an event he had never tried. He got five minutes of training from Loud, then jumped.

“All I wanted to do was make the pit,” Negrete said. “The problem was I’m used to jumping as high as I can, so I stayed in the air too long on the first jump, so my second jump was two feet. People were shaking their heads because I didn’t know what I was doing. I still had the long jump mentality. But I made the pit.

“With a little technique and a little time, I might be able to hang with the big boys,” Negrete said.

He’ll get both, says O’Boyle, who would welcome athletes from any other Anteater program. Besides Negrete and Hatcher, O’Boyle also has Popi Edwards (100 and 200 meters) and Denise Dumble (shotput and discus). Both are former Irvine volleyball players.

“With our limited resources, getting a scholarship athlete from another sport is a big help,” O’Boyle said. “I think people have forgotten the two-sport athlete. Jackie Robinson was a great track athlete. He lettered in four sports at UCLA. Billy Kilmer lettered in football, basketball, baseball and track at UCLA.”

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O’Boyle received more good news this week. Santa Margarita High’s Michael Murray has orally committed to Irvine, according to Santa Margarita Coach Dave Zeitler.

Murray has been a first-team All-Orange County selection the last three years in cross-country. He was the Sea View League champion as a junior and finished second last fall.

He also competes in the 1,600 and 3,200 in track.

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New men’s basketball Coach Pat Douglass threw himself into recruiting this week, with three scholarships left to give.

“The assistants here have already identified some good recruits,” Douglass said. “They just haven’t made contact yet. We need to get moving on this.”

Douglass also will meet with the current players individually this week.

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Len Stevens, a former head coach at Nevada, has been added to the men’s basketball coaching staff, Douglass announced Tuesday.

Stevens, who headed the Wolfpack program from 1987-93, coached the Neuchatel Basketball Club in Switzerland the last two seasons. He was Washington State’s coach from 1983-87 after being an assistant to George Raveling for two seasons.

Anteater Notes

Forwards Katie Sheppard and Cyndi Tredway have signed letters of intent to play soccer at Irvine. Sheppard, from Fremont Washington High, is a two-time All-American, selected by the National Soccer Coaches Assn. of America. Tredway was an All-Orange County selection last season at Los Alamitos High . . . Sara Bess has signed a letter of intent to play volleyball for the Anteaters. Ness, a 6-foot middle blocker, is from Albany High. . . . Chris Harger, a 6-10 middle blocker on the men’s volleyball team, will try out for the national team, May 15 at Long Beach State.

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Coming Attractions

Here’s a look at key games this week for UC Irvine:

* Men’s and women’s track and field teams compete against UCLA, Cal State Northridge and Houston at 1 p.m. Saturday at UCLA.

* Men’s tennis plays Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at noon Saturday at UCI and Washington at 2 p.m. Monday at Palisades Tennis Club.

* Women’s tennis plays Long Beach State at 1:30 today at Irvine.

* Men’s volleyball hosts eighth-ranked UC Santa Barbara at 7 tonight in Crawford Hall.