PCAA Cross-Country : UC Irvine Sweeps PCAA Championships

The UC Irvine men’s and women’s cross-country teams swept the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. championships Saturday at Fresno’s Woodward Park.

The UCI men won their second straight conference title, scoring 16 points, as the Anteaters had six of the top seven finishers. It was the third conference title in the last five years for the men’s team.

New Mexico State (98) was second, Cal State Long Beach (103) third and Cal State Fullerton (117) fourth.

The women’s team won its fourth consecutive title, scoring 18 points and placing five runners among the top six finishers.

Fresno State (50) finished second, San Diego State (82) third and Cal State Fullerton (90) fourth.

“We knew we had good teams, but I was surprised that no one could run with us,” UCI Coach Vince O’Boyle said. “We’re capable of running even faster.”

UCI’s Ralph Garibaldi won the men’s individual race with a time of 30:52 and was named PCAA athlete of the year. Teammate Gus Quinonez (32:02) was second, Richard Graves (31:05) third, Rod Curry (31:15) fourth, Steve Imlay (31.33) sixth and Rick Wilhelm (31:39) seventh.

UC Irvine’s Jill Harrington finished first (17:09) in the women’s individual race and teammate Beth McGrann was second (17:19). Jennifer Abraham (17:38) was fourth, Amy Dabul (17:42) fifth and Buffy Rabbitt (17:42) sixth.

Harrington was named PCAA athlete of the year for women.

O’Boyle was named conference coach of the year for both the men’s and women’s teams for the seventh time.

“I think we’re very good, but we’ll find out Nov. 15,” O’Boyle said, referring to the date the Anteaters return to Fresno for the NCAA District 8 championships. “If we qualify for the nationals, than we’ll have our two best teams ever.”