Vargas among five UCI inductees

UCI athletic hall of fame class of 2006Former water polo All-American joined by Bardales, Bucciarelli, Engelstad and Miller for ceremonies Saturday. Former men’s water polo All-American John Vargas, who went on to coach the Corona del Mar High boys’ water polo program for 19 years, is among a class of five who will be inducted into the UC Irvine Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday.

Vargas will be joined by Mauricio Bardales (men’s track and field), Nicole Bucciarelli (women’s soccer), Wayne Engelstad (men’s basketball) and Len Miller (men’s cross country/track and field coach).

This year’s class, honored during the Homecoming Alumni brunch at the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach at 11 a.m. and, later that evening, introduced at halftime of the UCI-Cal Poly San Luis Obispo men’s basketball game at the Bren Events Center, joins 60 previous inductees.

In addition, David Ritchie (men’s water polo) will receive the Varsity Club Alumnus of Merit Award.

Vargas scored 62 goals for the UCI men’s water polo team in 1982 when the Anteaters won the NCAA title with a 30-0 record.

He earned All-American honors in 1981 and 1982, and was selected to the NCAA All-Tournament team those two years. He also was first-team All-Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. (now Big West Conference) in those seasons.

Vargas competed for the United States Olympic team in 1992, was an assistant coach for the U.S. in 1996 and served as head coach of the American team in the 2000 Olympics.

In four seasons as the men’s water polo coach at Stanford, he has one NCAA title, the program’s first in 2002, and three successive runner-up showings. His record at Stanford is 89-22.

Bardales won the NCAA Division II decathlon title with 7,621 points in 1977 to set the Division II record.

After UCI moved to Division I status July 1, 1977, he won the NCAA Division I decathlon in 1978 with 8,007 points.

Bardales won the 1978 PCAA decathlon championship with 7,485 points in 1978. A three-time All-American, Bardales is UCI’s record holder in the javelin at 239 feet, 0 inches.

Bucciarelli was a three-time first-team All-Big West honoree in soccer (1996, ’97 and ‘98). She is UCI’s all-time leader in points (129) and also ranks No. 1 with 56 goals.