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 (July
31, 2003) - Former University of Missouri, Kansas City and
California Baptist University Head Track and Field Coach Irv
Ray has been hired as the track and field and cross country
coach at the University of California, Riverside, Director
of Athletics Stan Morrison announcedThursday.
“Irv Ray brings a level of passion, organization and
expertise to UCR that will be of great benefit to all of our
cross country and track and field student-athletes as we build
our teams to effectively compete at the Big West, regional
and NCAA levels,” Morrison said. “His contacts
in the Inland Empire and surrounding Southern California areas
are solid, and many community college and high school coaches
will be excited to have him back in this area. The search
committee saw that Coach Ray lives his sport 24 hours a day,
and we are delighted to add him to our UCR team.”
Ray, a 21-year veteran of the coaching ranks, will oversee
the Highlanders’ cross country and indoor and outdoor
track and field teams. He replaces Chris Rinne, whose contract
was not renewed.
“I am really looking forward to being back in Riverside,”
Ray said. “We had some good success at Cal Baptist,
and I am looking forward to that success continuing at UCR.
I think that there are a lot of things in place to build outstanding
track and field and cross country programs.”
“I feel really good about the level of support and commitment
of the cross country and track and field programs from the
Athletics Department and from Stan himself. It is one of the
reasons I took the job, and why I think that our programs
will be successful in the future,” Ray added.
Ray had good success in his one year at UMKC. In the fall
he coached the school’s first ever individual conference
champion in cross country. In outdoor track his women’s
team finished fourth, and men’s team sixth in the Mid
Continent conference. He had three student-athletes compete
at the NCAA track and field regional, and had a fourth named
Verizon/CoSida Academic All American First Team.
Ray was head track and field and cross country coach for CBU
from 1997 through 2002, when the school dropped the program.
He guided CBU to national prominence at the NAIA level after
taking over a fledgling program entering just its second year
of existence. His 1999 men's team captured the school's first-ever
national championship by winning the NAIA indoor track and
field title. For his efforts, Ray was named NAIA Men’s
Indoor Track and Field Coach-of-the-Year, and one of his athletes
was honored as the male athlete-of-the-meet.
Eleven of Ray's student-athletes
earned individual national champion honors, with four establishing
NAIA indoor and outdoor track and field records. His teams
placed in the top four at NAIA national championship meets
five times. Ray’s cross country teams also were amongst
the NAIA's elite, earning two top four national finishes.
He was named the Golden State Athletic Conference track and
field coach-of-the-year in 2001.
Prior to joining California Baptist, Ray was head cross country
and assistant track and field coach at Azusa Pacific University
from 1988-96. His 1994 cross country team finished in the
top four at the NAIA national championships. He has coached
10 individual all-Americans. In all, Ray's cross country teams
never finished out of the top 10 at the NAIA national meet.
Ray served as head cross country and track and field coach
at Covina High School from 1985-88, guiding his teams to four
California Interscholastic Federation league championships
in track and another in cross country. He tutored 26 all-conference
student-athletes.
In addition to his collegiate and prep experience, Ray is
well-respected at the highest level of track and field. He
was named to the Olympic Development Middle and Long Distance
Committee as the chair of the men's national 1,500 meter team
in 1999. Ray serves as a USA Track and Field and Olympic Development
Clinic middle distance specialist.
He has coached several elite American middle distance athletes,
including current men's American mile record-holder Steve
Scott; Michele Buccichio, past American age group record-holder
at several distances; 1992 Olympic bronze medalist Dave Johnson;
and Jason Pyrah, a member of the 1996 Olympic and 1997 and
1998 World Championship teams. He has coached several other
athletes who qualified for the United States championships
and represented the USA on Olympic and World Championship
teams as well as international Olympic teams.
Ray is an accomplished author, having written several articles
for track and cross country periodicals. He collaborated with
Australian Olympic track and field coach Tony Benson on a
middle and long distance training manual that has been accepted
for Level Two coaching by the International Amateur Athletics
Federation. That manual evolved into a book entitled "Run
With The Best," a coach's guide for middle and long distance
runners which was a best seller for Track and Field News.
He has served as a technical consultant on two other books.
He also spent 20 years in consumer marketing and sales, specializing
in grocery consumer products as a vice president for Southern
California Marketing Companies.
Ray earned a bachelor of arts degree in physical education
from Azusa Pacific, making the dean's list in his last four
semesters. He also holds a master of arts degree in education,
graduating with honors, from Azusa Pacific.
Ray and his wife, Carol, have two sons, Chris and Ryan.
(Aug. 30, 2003) - The UC Riverside Highlander
cross country team opened the 2003 season at the Cal State
Fullerton "Season Opener" Meet in Brea, CA. The
men's team finished ninth of 13 teams, while the women finished
12th of 14 teams.
Senior Josh Gonzales was the top finisher
for the Highlanders, finishing 15th overall in 26:02.50. His
brother, Israel was 2.5 seconds behind in 17th place. Sophomore
Santiago Alonzo was 62nd in 27:25.9 and freshman Daniel Lindstrom
was 63rd in 27:26.5
On the women's side, junior Adrianna
Alvarado was the top finisher for UCR, placing 31st in 19:38.30.
Junior Kelsey Wright was 39th in 19:52.30 and junior Melissa
Garza was 46th in 20:00.2.
Full results can be found by clicking
here.
(Sept. 17, 2003) - Over 400 runners are
expected to compete in the men's and women's races at the
UCR Cross Country Invitiational Saturday at the Agricultural
Operations course.
"This is a huge field, one of our
largest ever," Race Director Mark Moyer said. "We
have had to split the women's race into two fields, a division
I field and non-division I field."
All results to the race will be posted
on Don Chadez's Flashwest web site at http://flashresults.com/flashwest/.
ENTRY INFORMATION
2003 UC RIVERSIDE CROSS COUNTRY INVITATIONAL
DATE: Saturday , September 20 , 2003
8:15 am : MEN’S 8000 METER
9:00 am : Women’s 5000 METER - Division 1
9:45 am: Women's 5000 METER - All Non-Division I
ENTRY Team: Men OR Women - $50 (Unlimited
Entries)
FEE : Team: Men AND Women - $100 (Unlimited Entries)
Individual: $15
ENTRY FAX to Don Chadez by 5pm , Tuesday , September 16 at
DEADLINE : ( 714 ) 970 – 1416
CHECK-IN: All teams or individuals must
check-in and pick up race numbers. Numbers
will be available at 7:30 am on race day at the officials
table adjacent to the
the finish chute. PLEASE DO NOT GIVE AN UNUSED NUMBER TO
ANOTHER ATHLETE. The computer does not know what you have
done.
We will be glad to make changes at no charge
AWARDS: Men’s and Women’s
Championship Team Plaques
Watches for the first overall men’s and women’s
finisher in each division
T-shirts for 2nd thru 15th men’s and women’s finishers
in each division
Division 1: NCAA Division I
Division 2: NCAA Division II , NCAA Division III , NAIA ,
Junior
College , and Open
COURSE: The course is flat with a few
short hills. The surface is hard-packed dirt.
PARKING: The ONLY vehicles allowed inside
the Ag Op complex will be TEAM
VANS. Buses may drop-off teams on Canyon Crest in front of
the main
Entrance. ALL OTHER VEHICLES may park across the street from
The main entrance at SAINT ANDREW ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN
CHURCH. They will charge $5 per vehicle.
LOCATION: UC Riverside Agricultural Experimentation Fields
FACILITIES: There are NO dressing or shower facilities at
the course. Port –a-pots yes.
TIMING: FINISH LYNX by Flash Results West. Result copies will
be available
on site after each race or at www.flashresults.com/flashwest/
QUESTIONS: Call the UCR TRACK – CROSS COUNTRY OFFICE
(951) 827-5207
(Sept. 20, 2003) - Over 600 runners from
NCAA Division I, II and III, NAIA and the junior college ranks
participated in the 2003 UCR Cross Country Collegiate Invitational
at the Saturday at the Agricultural Operations course on the
campus of UC Riverside.
UC Santa Barbara took top team honors in the men’s 8,000-meter
race with nine runners in the top 25. Justin Gardina was the
top finisher in the race for UCSB with a time of 24:23.80.
UCSB also took the top team honor in the NCAA Division I race
with seven runners in the top 25 in the 5,000-meter race.
Desiree Leek finished third overall and was the top NCAA Division
I finisher with a time of 17:38.00.
UC Riverside finished ninth overall among the NCAA competition
and 20th overall in the race. Santiago Alonzo had the best
time for the Highlanders, posting a fifth place time of 25:41.20.
Josh Gonzalez and Andy Padilla finished second and third overall
for UCR with times of 26:25.00 and 27:16.20 respectively.
The UCR women’s team finished 14th in their race with
Coryna Barton having the best finish for UCR, posting a time
of 19:43.3, finishing 66th overall. Melissa Garza was second
for the Highlanders, finishing 87th overall with the time
of 20:17.4. Melissa Stoll finished a few seconds and two places
behind Garza with her 20:21.1.
Both UCR teams will compete at the Stanford
Invitational on September 27 in Palo Alto, CA.
Click
Here For Complete Meet Results.
(Oct. 18, 2003) – The UC Riverside
men’s cross country team finished fifth out of eight
teams and the women’s team finished eighth on Saturday
at the Long Beach Invitational hosted by Long Beach State.
Josh Gonzalez was the top finisher for
the Highlanders, posting a time of 26:43 and finishing 16th
overall in the men’s 8K. Melissa Stoll finished 19th
overall in the women’s 6K with a time of 23:58.
The men’s team placed five runners
in the top-25 with Isreal Gonzalez finishing 21st with a time
of 26:58, Andy Padilla finishing 22nd with a time of 26:58,
David Lindstrom finishing 23rd with a time of 27:02 and Santiago
Alanzo finishing at 27:04 in 24th place.
For the women, Stolll was the only top-50
finisher with Andrea Calihan finishing in 50th with a time
of 25:53.
Both teams will compete in the Big West
Conference Championships hosted by Cal State Northridge, but
held at the UCR Agricultural Operations Course on Saturday,
Nov. 1.
Click
Here For Women's 6K Results
Click
Here ForMen's 8K Results
(Nov. 1, 2003) - The UC Riverside men's
cross country team finished eighth out of nine and the women
finished ninth out of 10 at the Big West Cross Country Championships,
run Saturday at Cal Poly University in San Luis Obispo.
The race was moved from the original
site of UC Riverside due to concerns over air quality due
to the fires.
UC Santa Barbara won the women's championship
and host Cal Poly won the men's.
For UCR, senior Melissa Stoll was the
top finisher, placing 45th overall in a time of 24:41.7. Junior
Kelsey Wright was 54th in 25:31.2, freshman Coryna Barden
was 63rd in 26:10.9, junior Antonie Hodge was 67th in 26:27.0,
junior Melissa Garza was 69th in 26:50.7 and freshman Elvira
Delcastillo was 74th in 28:17.5.
For the men, senior Josh Gonzales was
the top finisher, placing 25th overall 26:37.0. Freshman Santiago
Alonzo was 28th in 26:42.4, senior Israel Gonzales was 34th
in 27:05.1, sophomore Andres Padilla was 44th in 27:27.4,
freshman Daniel Lindstrom was 45th in 27:30.6, sophomore Noel
Inzunza was 56th in 28:13.9 and senior Paul Hansen was 57th
in 28:17.0.
Click
Here For Women's 6K Results
Click
Here ForMen's 8K Results
(Nov.
2, 2002) - The University of Idaho won the women’s championship
and Utah State won the men’s crown at the 2002 Big West
Cross Country Championship held at the UC Riverside Agricultural
Operations Race Course Saturday.
For
the women, sophomore Letiwe Marakurwa of Idaho was the individual
winner, covering the 5,000-meter course in 17:47.0. She finished
9.6 seconds ahead of second place finisher Katie Appenrodt
of UC Santa Barbara. The senior finished in 17:56.6. Junior
Tania Vander Meulen of Idaho rounded out the top three with
an 18:03.2 performance.
Idaho
earned the team championship, posting a total of 48 points
on the day, seven better than second place UC Santa Barbara.
UC Irvine was third with 72 points.
On
the men’s side, Utah State grabbed the top two places
and had five finishers in the top-10 as they earned the conference
championship. Senior Mitch Zundel and junior Mike Nielson
both put on a strong finishing kick over the last 300 meters
of the 8,000 meter course, but Zundel edged ahead to win the
championship in 24:46.5. Nielson finished in 24:47.4. Junior
Sean Ricketts of Cal Poly finished third in 24:56.8.
Overall,
the Aggies won the team championship with a total of 25 points.
Cal Poly was second with 40 and UC Santa Barbara was third
with 95.
Following
the meet, the coaches selected Marakurwa as Women’s
Athlete of the Year and Idaho Head Coach Wayne Phipps as Women’s
Coach of the Year. Zundel won the Men’s Athlete of the
Year honor and Utah State Head Coach Greg Gensel was named
Men’s Coach of the Year.
Host
UC Riverside finished ninth overall on the women’s side
with sophomore Adriana Alvarado’s 45th place finish
in 19:36.5 the top performance. For the men, Riverside finished
eighth overall. Junior Josh Gonzalez was the top UCR finisher,
coming in 34th in 26:17.9.
Results
are available on Don Chadez’s Flash Results West site
at www.flashresults.com/flashwest.
Men’s Team
Finishes
1. Utah State - 25
2. Cal Poly - 40
3. UC Santa Barbara - 95
4. CS Fullerton - 125
5. Idaho - 128
6. UC Irvine - 159
7. Long Beach St. - 186
8. UC Riverside - 210
9. CS Northridge - 276
Athlete of the Year - Mitch Zundel, USU
Coach of the Year - Greg Gensel, USU
Women’s Team
Finishes
1. Idaho - 48
2. UC Santa Barbara - 55
3. UC Irvine - 72
4. Utah State - 74
5. CS Northridge - 168
6. Cal Poly - 169
7. CS Fullerton - 183
8. Long Beach St. - 198
9. UC Riverside - 263
10. Pacific - 311
Athlete of the Year - Letiwe
Marakurwa, Idaho
Coach of the Year - Wayne Phipps, Idaho
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