Third time a charm for UCI?

Steve Virgen

UC IRVINE -- The UC Irvine men’s golf team will try to make like

the Lakers and win its third championship this year. Yet, unlike the

Lakers, the Anteaters, the back-to-back Big West Conference

champions, don’t plan to wait to turn on the switch late in the

season or in the playoffs.

UCI Coach Paul Smolinski wants that proverbial switch on

throughout the year, especially since there are lofty goals. The

Anteaters are setting their sights on Stillwater, Okla., where the

NCAA Championships will be held.

Last year, Irvine finished 22nd in the NCAA West Regional and did

not advance. However, the Anteaters have three key returnees and two

additions, whom plan to give Irvine the opportunity to return to the

NCAA Championships, as it did in 2000.

“The big goal for us is to qualify for regionals and then to

qualify for the (NCAA Championships,” said Smolinski, who will be in

his fifth year with the Anteaters. He has been the Big West

Conference Coach of the Year the past two seasons. Under his watch,

Irvine’s conference championship in 2000 was the first in 23 years.

“This team is capable of repeating (as Big West champion),” he

said. “We’re losing a couple of players. We feel with the guys we

have coming back and with the new guys, we have a real good chance.”

Seniors Mike Lavery, Ryan Armstrong and Jeff Coburn are three

reasons the Anteaters have confidence they will repeat as Big West

champions.

Lavery finished second in the 103rd annual Southern California

Golf Association Amateur Championship July 14 at El Caballero Country

Club in Tarzana. Last year, he was named to the PING All-Pacific

Region team. He led the Anteaters with a 72.44 average last season,

recording three top-10 finishes and six top-20 showings.

“Mike has shown he has improved his game every year,” Smolinski

said. “As long as he can keep doing that he can be a great leader,

just as he was last year.”

Armstrong won a three-way playoff for the Big West individual

title in April. He edged Coburn and Pacific’s Matt Hansen on the

first hole of the playoff. Armstrong and Coburn continue to improve,

as the Anteaters prepare to open the season at the Pacific

Invitational in Stockton, Sept. 23-24. The second half of the season

begins in February.

Freshman Jay Choe, from Yorba Linda High, and junior transfer

Vinnie Poncino, from Saddleback College, are two new additions who

are expected to deliver key contributions. Senior Nick Asbrock has

been diligent in his training to improve his game, Smolinski said,

and should be among the competitors this season.

Freshmen Ryan Cole, Will Park and Ryne Rindfleisch will attempt to

break into Irvine’s tournament lineup.