LOCAL NOTES

ACADEMICS

Five members of the UC Irvine women’s cross-country team received Academic All-Big West honors.

Seniors Allyson Kulak, a psychology/social behavior major from Fullerton, and Kareen Nilsson, an English/drama major from Chino Hills, were among those honored. To qualify, student-athletes must have at least a 3.2 grade-point average, at least sophomore standing and have competed in at least 50% of a team’s contests.

Kulak and Nilsson are joined by fellow Irvine cross-country runners Lisa Massoth (Esperanza High) and Courtney Baird, both information and computer science majors, and Melinda Fuller (social science). All three are sophomores.

Among those honored:

Women’s cross-country--Myka Wolslagel (Cal State Fullerton, Jr., kinesiology); Huntington Beach’s Christine Riel (Long Beach State, Sr., health science).

Men’s cross-country--Josh Slater (Fullerton, Sr., business); Casey Higgins (Fullerton, Sr., history); Chris Evans (Irvine, Sr., history/English); Robert Evans (Irvine, Sr., English); Chris Jensen (Irvine, Jr., information and computer science).

Women’s volleyball--Cypress’ Melissa Ohta (Long Beach, Sr., psychology); Laguna Hills’ Tayyiba Haneef (Long Beach, Jr., speech communication); Jacqui Cosgrove (Irvine, Sr., political science); Brooke Witt (Irvine, Sr., psychology/social behavior).

Football--Fullerton’s Justin Brown (Boise State, Soph., business management); Laguna Hills’ Ryan Herbon (New Mexico State, Sr., engineering technology); Laguna Beach’s Brad Bohn (Utah State, Sr., psychology).

Women’s soccer--Dana Point’s Nikki Arquilla (Long Beach, Soph., undecided); Yorba Linda’s Caitlin Murphy (Long Beach, Jr., family and consumer science); Arina Downs (Irvine, Soph., engineering); Lake Forest’s Erica Perrotta (UC Santa Barbara, Soph., English).

SWIMMING AND DIVING

Diver Tiffany Bradford and swimmers Cheryl Jennings and Jackie Snyder have signed letters of intent with UC Irvine.

Bradford, from Saddleback College, was the Orange Empire Conference’s three-meter champion last season. Snyder, from Rohnert Park Rancho Cotate High, qualified for the junior nationals in the 100- and 200-meter butterfly. Jennings, of Folsom High, has qualified for the junior nationals in several freestyle events.

SOCCER

Vanguard seniors Diego Goni, Josh McLeish and Matt Sarinas were selected to the NAIA’s All-Region II team in men’s soccer, the school announced.

Goni and McLeish were first-team all-region selections for the second time.

TENNIS

Stanford’s Alex Kim, this year’s NCAA singles champion, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Laguna Niguel Futures tournament at Laguna Niguel Racquet Club with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Michael Jessup, formerly of Pepperdine.

Second-seeded Cedric Kauffmann of France, sixth-seeded Justin Bower of South Africa and eighth-seeded Simon La Rose of Canada also reached the quarterfinals.