Volleyball champions lead year’s top stories

To capture the first two of the Top 10 Newport-Mesa sports stories of 2009, one need only extend a net.

Volleyball led the way the past 12 months, as the Newport Harbor High girls’ run to CIF Southern Section and state titles, all under the guidance of cancer-stricken coach Dan Glenn, reigned supreme.

Following that was the UC Irvine men capturing their second NCAA championship in three seasons.

Champions are a recurring theme among the stories chosen by the Daily Pilot sports staff, though the firing of longtime Newport Harbor High athletic director Eric Tweit brought some controversy to the list.

1 Newport Harbor High girls’ volleyball: Newport Harbor High girls’ volleyball: The Sailors were forced to share the Sunset League championship with Los Alamitos, but Glenn and his veteran unit had no trouble being selfish during the postseason.

The Tars defeated league co-champion Los Alamitos in the CIF Southern Section Division I-AA final, then took aim at Glenn’s fifth state crown in his 24 seasons at the helm.

The state title went through Goleta, where Newport Harbor upset Dos Pueblos in the Southern California Regional final, before easily dispatching Salinas in the state final at UCI.

Katey Thompson, the Sunset League Co-Player of the Year who repeated as Newport-Mesa Dream Team Player of the Year, and Kirby Burnham were the most highly decorated of the Sailors players, both earning first-team All-CIF Division I recognition.

Thompson, a 6-foot-1 middle blocker, will continue her career at UC Santa Barbara, while Burnham, a 6-2 outside hitter, is bound for USC.

Other standouts included senior libero Kelly Heenan, sophomore setter Cinnamon Sary, junior outside hitter Maddy Brown, senior Mackenzi Campbell and sophomore middle blocker Claire Castillo.

Glenn, 50, who was diagnosed with iris melanoma — a rare form of cancer in his right eye — in February, guided the team to a 33-6 record. It was the program’s first state title since 1999.

The section crown was the seventh for Glenn with the girls’ team.

2 UC Irvine men’s volleyball: UC Irvine men’s volleyball: Coach John Speraw’s Anteaters established themselves among the elite programs in America by winning their second national title in three seasons.

UCI won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular-season title, but was embarrassed in the MPSF Tournament by USC.

The ’Eaters’ would gain their measure of revenge, however, rallying to top the Trojans in five games in the nationally televised NCAA final at BYU.

Senior setter Ryan Ammerman, a first-team All-American, was named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, where senior Taylor Wilson and freshman Carson Clark were named all-tournament.

Clark, as well as sophomores Jordan DuFault and Kevin Wynne were second-team All-American honorees.

Other standouts included seniors Jon Steller and Brent Asuka, both former All-Americans, sophomore Austin D’Amore, junior Bryan Simmons, sophomore Cory Yoder and senior Nick Spittle.

UCI finished 27-5.

3 Eric Tweit fired: Eric Tweit fired: In a move that stunned some and angered many, Tweit was relieved of his duties as boys’ athletic director by Principal Michael Vossen, who stated he wanted the athletic program to go in a different direction.

Many longtime coaches, other staff members, and members of the community decried the move, which ended a 20-year term for Tweit, who had planned to step down after one more year in the position.

Tweit retained his role as physical education teacher and girls’ cross country and track and field coach and has continued to support his coaches by regularly attending Sailors’ athletic contests.

On the same day Tweit was let go, Evan Chalmers was dismissed as baseball coach after four seasons. Two days after Tweit’s dismissal, Fletcher Olson, resigned as girls’ athletic director.

4 UCI baseball: UCI baseball: The Anteaters made history, earning the program’s first Big West Conference title and garnering its first No. 1 national ranking, which it held for the final six weeks of the regular season.

But the first regional ever held at Anteater Ballpark ended in disappointment, when Virginia emerged from the four-team field that some deemed the toughest among the 16 regionals, by eliminating the Anteaters.

UCI finished 45-15, 22-2 in conference.

Senior shortstop Ben Orloff earned Big West Conference Player of the Year honors and also won the Brooks Wallace Award that goes to the nation’s top shortstop.

Junior Danny Bibona was the Big West Conference Pitcher of the Year and, like Orloff and junior closer Eric Pettis, received All-American accolades. Ronnie Shaeffer was a freshman All-American and Coach Mike Gillespie was named Big West Coach of the Year. Senior Eric Deragisch and junior catcher Francis Larson joined Orloff, Bibona and Pettis as first-team all-conference picks.

Five players on the roster were selected in the Major League Baseball draft, as were four incoming recruits.

5 Toshiba Classic: Toshiba Classic: A final-day gallery as large as any in recent memory saw Argentina’s Eduardo Romero overcome Mark O’Meara and Bernhard Langer, who entered the final round as co-leaders, to win the 15th edition of the event at Newport Beach Country Club.

Romero, who won for the fourth time in 10 starts, shot three-under-par 68 on Sunday to finish at 11-under 202 and pocket the $255,000 winner’s check. He had 17 birdies in his three rounds, including three straight to start the back nine on Sunday.

O’Meara, who grew up in Mission Viejo and is a former Costa Mesa City Championship winner, finished tied for second with Joey Sindelar, who shot eight-under 63 in the final round.

Langer, hoping to become the first repeat champion in the event’s history, finished tied for ninth. The event raised $850,000 for charity.

6 Orange Coast College baseball: Orange Coast College baseball: The tears that flowed in the celebration that followed a 10-7 win over San Joaquin Delta in the California Community College Athletic Assn. state tournament final were triggered by sorrow as well as joy.

The former was due to the death of redshirt sophomore catcher Jourdan Watanabe, an All-Orange Empire Conference performer in 2008, who died almost a third of the way into the season.

The Pirates dedicated their season to their late teammate and went on to post a school record with 37 wins in 51 games.

Sophomore pitcher and first baseman Brett Wallach led the way, earning conference and Southern California Player of the Year honors, before signing with the Dodgers, who drafted him in the third round (96th overall).

Wallach’s 43 mound appearances were a school career record. He was 10-1 with a 2.26 earned-run average and four saves in 2009 with 111 strikeouts in 103 2/3 innings. He also hit .371 with 48 runs batted in and three home runs.

Sophomore third-baseman Drew Hillman hit .363 with 11 homers, 53 RBIs and a school-record 21 doubles to earn Southern California All-American honors before moving on to UC Irvine.

Sophomore reliever Brett Williams (4-3 with seven saves and a 2.01 ERA) and shortstop Beck Wheeler were also named All-Southern California, while sophomore catcher DJ Arrellano was named MVP of the state tournament.

The season also included win No. 400 at the school for Coach John Altobelli, who was banned from coaching the team from the dugout in the postseason due to excessive ejections.

7 Aaron Peirsol: Aaron Peirsol: The Newport Harbor High product and decorated Olympian won the 200-meter backstroke and broke his own world record at the FINA Swimming World Championships in Rome, Italy.

He also won his two signature events in the USA national championships.

His meet-record leadoff leg of 52.19 seconds also helped the United States’ 400 medley relay team win gold in world-record time (3:27.28) in Rome.

Earlier in the year, Peirsol, who has seven career Olympic medals (five gold and two silver), won the 200 back and 100 back titles at the national championships in Charlotte, N.C.

8 Daily Pilot Cup: Daily Pilot Cup: The 10th edition of the community youth soccer tournament saw eight different schools claim the 12 titles (three divisions each of boys’ and girls’ fifth- and sixth-grade, as well as third- and fourth-grade levels).

Carden Hall, St. Joachim, Lincoln and Victoria all won two titles each, while the Rea Elementary boys won their eighth gold division crown, their third straight, in the fifth- and sixth-grade classification.

The event, held at Costa Mesa High and the Farm Complex, included nearly 2,500 participants.

9 Corona del Mar High girls’ cross country: Corona del Mar High girls’ cross country: Coach Bill Sumner’s Sea Kings saw their string of consecutive CIF Southern Section Division III titles halted, but rebounded a week later to capture the program’s seventh CIF State Division III crown in Fresno.

Seniors Melanie Powers (third in 17 minutes, 56 seconds over the 5,000-meter course), Kristina Funahashi (seventh in 18:18) and Marisa Cummings (13th in 18:27) led the way at the state meet, allowing CdM to repeat as Division III champion.

The Sea Kings’ seven titles are tied for the most in state meet history.

10 OCC women’s volleyball: OCC women’s volleyball: A veteran roster helped Coach Chuck Cutenese’s Pirates capture the program’s third California Community College Athletic Assn. title in five seasons.

OCC, ranked No. 6 in the state, but the No. 1 seed from Southern California, rebounded from an opening-round loss to win six straight at the state tournament at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton.

Freshman setter Kimya Jafroudi earned MVP honors at the eight-team state tournament, while sophomores Poerava Gantt, Nikki Osuna and Karlee Skalla were chosen all-tournament.

Sophomore middle blocker Briana Fields captured all-state recognition to help the Pirates finish 26-3.

Osuna’s 559 digs set a school single-season record.

Others:

 Newport Harbor football coach Jeff Brinkley earns win No. 200 in his 24th season at the school.

 Newport Beach resident Matt Barkley starts as a freshman quarterback at USC.

 Newport Harbor product April Ross breaks through on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals beach tour.

 Newport Harbor senior football and track and field star Cecil Whiteside’s accomplishments include being picked to play in a national high school all-star football game.

 Senior Irving Garcia caps a momentous UCI men’s soccer career by collecting a handful of All-American honors.