Fee Hike Breathes Life Into Many Programs

Ben Cesar, UC Irvine assistant track and field coach, was in the same spot. But the news was radically different.

In 1992, Cesar was a sprinter at Irvine, working out with his teammates at the track stadium when news arrived that the program was being dropped. Last Friday, Cesar was in the track stadium, working with the sprinters when word came that the students had passed a referendum that will fully fund all existing sports programs.

“The first thing I thought about was how I got to see this come full circle,” Cesar said. “I’m spellbound. I looked up at the stands to where I was sitting in 1992. It’s amazing.”

All programs at Irvine will benefit from the $33 per quarter hike in student fees. Opponents might soon have to fear Anteater teams that have previously been successful on shoestring budgets--women’s soccer, men’s tennis and men’s water polo.

Cross-country and track programs, thirsting so long, will finally be sated.

The men’s teams were initially cut in 1992, then revived as a non-scholarship sport months later. Last year, Athletic Director Dan Guerrero gave them $5,000--less than half a scholarship--as a job-well-done gesture to Coach Vince O’Boyle, who also coaches the women’s teams.

“The last seven years have been a testament to Vince’s excellence,” Guerrero said. “Look at all the kids who have had personal bests [in times and distances] this year. You just come to expect that from Vince.”

Now O’Boyle gets his reward for remaining loyal and producing competitive teams despite a barren budget. Since 1992, he has turned down four jobs at schools with fully funded programs, including Colorado in 1995. His patience has paid off, literally.

The women’s cross-country and track teams will go from three scholarships to 18--under NCAA rules, track and cross-country scholarships are counted together. The men’s teams go from less than half a scholarship to 12.6.

“I never left because the only thing that was wrong with the Irvine program was the money,” O’Boyle said. “The university is great, the weather is great, the facility is great, the community is great. I love it living here.

“Every time I came back from one of those job interviews, I would talk with Dan. Each time I stayed. The last time was Colorado, and we talked for two hours. I could see he had a vision about this place.”

Guerrero could see a baseball team, way off in the distance. To get that--and he did--he knew every existing program had to be funded first. That included O’Boyle’s teams, which had done well even without money.

The 1990 women’s cross-country team finished fourth in the NCAA meet despite having the lowest budget of any Division I team.

O’Boyle showed this week what he can do, even without a fistful of dollars. He signed seven women athletes. Simi Valley’s AnnMaria Turpin has the state’s top high jump mark at 5-10. Foothill’s Tynisia Edwards has the top triple jump mark in Orange County this season at 38 feet 6 1/4 inches. Helix High’s Courtney Baird was the 1999 Indoor Interscholastic Champion in the 3,200 meters.

THEIR OWN LITTLE WORLD

Don’t look for the personality around O’Boyle’s office to change. It has been a haven for free thinkers. Take, for instance, distance runner Magi Martinez, who has allowed one hair on the back of her ankle to grow this season.

“It’s so long now, that when she runs, it flops in the wind,” distance runner Kay Nekota said.

Or distance runner Carrie Quinn, who, on learning there was a 4 p.m. team meeting Wednesday, said, “I was planning to be in line for ‘Star Wars’ about then.”

Expect more, uh, interesting personalities among the seven recruits O’Boyle signed.

Besides Turpin, Edwards and Baird, also signing were:

Melinda Fuller (Auburn Placer), who finished 10th in the California cross-country championship; Amanda Armstrong (Thousand Oaks), who was 22nd in the state cross-country championships; Celyne Goudeau (Redondo Union), who has run 12.4 in the 100 meters, and Jessica Stafford (Aptos High School), who has a mark of 37-1 1/2 in the triple jump.

THE PEOPLE UNITED . . .

Leave it to the 71-year-old Ted Newland, men’s water polo coach, to add perspective to the referendum.

“I thought the kids worked well, but the biggest voter turnout was in 1968,” he said. “That was the height of Vietnam. You had SDS [Students for a Democratic Society], the Black Student Union, Cambodia came up. I bet 80% voted in that student election.”

This time, it was more a ‘90s issue: Money.

Since 1992’s big cuts, when Irvine had to slash more than $500,000, scholarship money has managed to double to $882,050. Still a pittance. Starting in 2000, the department will receive an additional $1.58 million--conservatively estimated.

Credit has been showered on the five senior athletes who ran, and spearheaded, the campaign: Mike Lawrence (golf), Sarah Libecap (volleyball), Chris Benitez (swimming), Brian Scoggin (basketball) and Kay Nekota (distance runner).

“We better have a ceremony honoring those five,” women’s soccer Coach Marine Cano said. “Maybe we can bronze them.”