Irvine Ready to Make Big Statement

J.R. Christ, UC Irvine’s 6-foot-9 sophomore center, held the ball at the top of the key in practice Thursday. He pump-faked, then drove hard to the basket, dropping in a twisting layup.

Moments later, Greg Ethington, a 6-8 freshman, swatted a shot out of bounds, making it clear that anything weak would be returned to sender.

Early thinking is that the only Garbage in the Bren Center this year will be the rock group, which plays there on Nov. 24. The aroma around the Irvine men’s basketball team, 6-20 a year ago, should be tolerable, maybe even sweet.

A big reason? The Anteaters’ big people.

There was no secret on how to attack the Anteaters last season. They had no inside presence.

Their toughest players were Marek Ondera and Adam Stetson. Ondera is 6-6 and Stetson 6-7. Their biggest player was 6-10 Mark Gottschalk, who could have benefited from a redshirt season.

So Anteater coaches went recruiting carrying a measuring tape.

“I think we had pretty good overall size coming back, but the one area we were lacking was at center,” Coach Pat Douglass said. “We have three kids now who can give the minutes to compete a complete game.”

Christ and Ethington should log plenty of those minutes.

Christ didn’t exactly arrive with blue-chip credentials. He averaged five points and four rebounds last season at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas. Those numbers are a bit deceiving.

“We had a couple guards who were sophomores and the coaches thought it was their turn in the limelight,” said Christ, who spent one season at Colorado before attending Hutchinson. “I never got into the offense, or what offense we ran. Everything I got was off rebounds.”

Ethington, who averaged 14 points and nine rebounds at Gilbert (Ariz.) High School, was a last-minute find. He had originally signed with Pepperdine, but asked out of his scholarship when Wave Coach Lorenzo Romar left for Saint Louis.

It was a nice pickup for Douglass--even if it is only a one-year deal. Ethington will go on a two-year Mormon mission after this season and has not decided if he will return to Irvine.

“We will actively recruit him while he is here,” Douglass said.

Even if Ethington doesn’t return, the future doesn’t look too bad. Adam Parada (7-0) and Matt Okoro (6-7) are redshirts this season. Dave Korfman (7-1) and Stanislav Zuzak (6-9) have committed for next season.

The present, though, belongs to Christ and Ethington, as far as the Anteater inside game is concerned. Christ weighs 240 pounds and Ethington is 235, giving them the bulk to bang. Both are also agile enough to face the basket.

With Gottschalk beefed up to 255 pounds, Irvine’s inside presence should take the pressure off perimeter players. It also frees up Ondera and Stetson to play on the outside.

“I think we have five guys on the court that people will have to guard, inside and out,” Douglass said.

ON THE RUN

Cautiously is how Irvine cross-country Coach Vince O’Boyle is approaching Saturday’s Big West Conference championships at Sierra College in Rocklin.

“The goal for the men’s team is second place,” O’Boyle said. And the women’s team? That brought a small chuckle.

“It will be between Idaho, Utah State and Irvine,” O’Boyle finally said.

O’Boyle can be excused for his apprehension. A year ago, the Anteaters entered the meet as favorites, having beaten all the conference teams at the Stanford Invitational. But they finished second to Utah State.

This season, the Anteater women again beat all the Big West teams at Stanford except Idaho and North Texas, which didn’t compete.

The Anteaters have good depth, led by two solid runners. Kareen Nilsson finished 11th in the conference race last year and freshman Courtney Baird has had an impressive fall.

The wild card is senior Jamie Blair, who has a history of running well in big meets--she finished sixth in the 1997 conference meet.

Meanwhile, Cal State Fullerton Coach John Elders is hopeful about sophomore Heather Garritson’s chances in the women’s division.

“She’s made a huge improvement in the last year,” Elders said. “She made a commitment to a better summer training program, and her mental approach to running is a lot better than it was last year. She’s been very consistent this season, and she has a chance to move up among the conference’s elite runners.”

Garritson turned in her top performance of the season a week ago in the UC San Diego Invitational, finishing ninth.

Garritson won the state high school Division III championship as a freshman at Buena Park in 1994. She was second in 1995 and 1996.

The top runner on the Titan men’s team, Josh Slater, is sidelined because of a stress fracture in his upper right leg. Fullerton’s best hope in the division is freshman Bryce Lighthall, who ran 25:56 twice on 10,000-meter courses this season.

*

Lon Eubanks contributed to this story.