Irvine’s Nilsson Runs to Big West Title

Kareen Nilsson, a senior at UC Irvine, won the individual title at the Big West Conference women’s cross-country championships Saturday at Glen Annie Golf Club in Goleta. She finished first in 18 minutes 32.3 seconds over 5,000 meters and was named female athlete of the year.

Irvine freshman Julie Manson finished fourth in 18:44.1, helping the defending champion Anteaters finish second as a team with 52 points. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo was first with 42 points, placing four runners in the top 10.

Idaho was third, Utah State fourth, UC Santa Barbara fifth, Boise State sixth, Long Beach State seventh, Cal State Fullerton eighth, and Pacific ninth.

In the men’s championships, also run at Glen Annie, Adam Boothe of Cal Poly won for the second consecutive year. His time was 25:23.1 over 8,000 meters.

Cal Poly won the men’s team title with 33 points. UC Santa Barbara and Utah State tied for second with 63, UC Irvine was fourth with 134 and Cal State Fullerton was fifth with 152.

UC Irvine junior Jon Doroski finished ninth in 26:03.5 and senior Chris Evans was 13th in 26:19.5.

In Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s water polo:

UC Irvine 10, Stanford 6--Jeff Powers scored three goals and Dan Hayes, from University High, had two for fifth-ranked Irvine (14-4, 4-1), which defeated No. 3 Stanford (9-8, 1-4).

The Anteaters trailed, 4-3, at halftime before outscoring the Cardinal, 7-2, in the second half. Irvine has won eight of its last nine.

In Big West Conference women’s volleyball:

Idaho 3, UC Irvine 0--Brooke Witt had 24 kills, 15 digs and three aces and Brenda Waterman had 24 digs for host UC Irvine (6-14, 1-10), which lost, 15-8, 16-14, 16-14.

In Golden State Athletic Conference women’s volleyball:

Cal Baptist 3, Concordia 0--Freshman Carrie Merritt had seven kills and 11 digs for host Concordia (18-11, 7-9), which lost, 15-7, 15-5, 15-13.

Fresno Pacific 3, Vanguard 0--Megan Godfrey had seven kills and Kelly Kleinsmith had 13 assists for visiting Vanguard (2-18, 2-14), which lost, 15-0, 15-6, 15-3.