2024 was a very good year! Four Anteater teams made NCAA appearances, and several records fell. Three players were named conference Athlete of the Year, including men's volleyball Hilir Henno who was also honored as AVCA National Player of the year, the sixth Anteater student-athlete to earn that exclusive distinction all-time. Let's look back at some of the memorable moments.
BEST OF THE BEST
UCI was fourth in the nation in the LEARFIELD Director's Cup D-IAAA (non-football) final standings which highlights the most successful athletic departments based on NCAA Championship success. In 2024, UCI had NCAA appearances in women's basketball, men's volleyball, men's tennis and baseball as well as Josh Farmer participating in the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Â
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
The women's basketball team won the second Big West Championship in program history, trouncing UC Davis, 53-39, in the final at The Dollar Loan Center. Guard Déja Lee, who was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, finished with a game-high 21 points, going 8-of-12 from the floor, including two 3-pointers. The Anteaters would go on to make their first NCAA appearance since 1995 where they faced Gonzaga.
Â
MEN'S VOLLEYBALL
The men's volleyball team made their eighth NCAA appearance, advancing to the semifinals. Big West and National Player of the Year Hilir Henno became the Big West leader in career aces, tying his own UCI and Big West record with nine aces in a win over Princeton. The Anteaters upset two No. 1 teams during the season, including a 3-0 sweep of Long Beach State in the regular season finale.
Â
MEN'S BASKETBALL
The men's basketball team won its ninth Big West regular season title and the seventh in the last 10 years with a 17-3 conference record and was selected to the NIT postseason tournament. The Anteaters were a perfect 13-0 at the Bren Events Center, including an 82-61 Black & Blue Rivalry win over Long Beach State in front of a sold-out crowd. UCI was one of nine teams in the country to have finished the season with a winning record in conference in play in each of the last 12 seasons and is the only California school on that list.
Â
BASEBALL
Ben Orloff's team made its 10th Division I NCAA Regional appearance, finishing with a .763 winning percentage, the best for the program on the Division I level, winning 45 games, third-most in program history. UCI began the season with a 12-game win streak and finished second in the Big West with a 22-8. Pitcher Nick Pinto set a new career record with 334 strikeouts passing his coach, Daniel Bibona. UCI beat Columbia in school record fashion, 32-2, behind Jo Oyama's program record nine RBIs, hitting the program's first cycle since 1981.
Â
MEN'S TENNIS
In the spring, the men's tennis team won the Big West Championship for the second time in three years. As the No. 2 seed, UC Irvine upended top-seeded and 45th-ranked UC Santa Barbara, 4-1 in the title match. Hiroki Sakagawa clinched the victories in the semifinals and championship on court two.
This fall, Noah Zamora became the first Anteater to compete in the NCAA Singles Championships since 2011 and the first to advance in the tournament since 1989, upsetting No. 13 Sebastian Dominko of Notre Dame in the Round of 64. The senior is ranked No. 31 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's NCAA Division I Men's Singles Rankings, a career-high ranking. Â
Â
OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD
The men's and women's outdoor track & field teams combined for six individual Big West titles in 2024. The Anteaters swept the multi-events with Josh Farmer winning the decathlon and Jolie Robinson repeating as the heptathlon champion. The 'Eaters also won three of the four men's throwing events. Liam Miksic defended his title in the javelin, while Jacob Hawkins was the discus champion and Justin Willingham was the shot put champion. Kailah McKenzie, who was tabbed the Big West Women's Freshman of the Year, also brought home the program's first high jump crown since 2009.
Nine Anteaters advanced to the NCAA West First Round in Fayetteville, Arkansas, while Farmer continued on to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships where he finished 12th in the decathlon for his third career second-team All-America honor.
Â
Â
WOMEN'S INDOOR TRACK
Reyna Johnson and Deandra Tyler claimed individual conference titles at the 2024 MPSF Indoor Track & Field Championships. Johnson became the women's indoor track & field team's first MPSF champion with a victory in the long jump. Her winning mark of 5.97m/19-7 was a personal and program best. On the second day of the conference meet, Tyler led wire-to-wire in the shot put (14.93m/48-11.75), which she won by over a foot.
Â
MEN'S WATER POLO
The men's water polo team won their second consecutive Big West regular season title with a perfect 5-0 record. The Anteaters had a nine-game win streak during the season, the longest since 2013.The 2024 season included upsets over No. 4 Pepperdine and No. 6 Cal with UCI reaching a season-best ranking of No. 5.
Â
WOMEN'S GOLF
The women's golf team won the title at the Wolverine Invitational with 54-hole school record score of 853 (283-286-284). Freshman Alona Avery finished second, carding a score of 207 (69-68-70, is third lowest in UCI history. Avery would go lower, shooting the lowest round of the season with a 67 at the Golfweek Red Sky Classic.
Â
IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCES
Field athlete Jacob Hawkins broke a 41-year-old school record in the men's discus at the Challenge Cup in Fullerton. On his fourth attempt of the day, Hawkins unleashed a personal-best 59.03m/193-8.
Women's water polo beat Long Beach State 14-13 in overtime in the regular season finale behind goalkeeper Faith Tedesco's career-high 19 saves, one shy of the school record.
Liam Miksic broke the school record in the men's javelin at the NCAA West First Round in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Miksic had an impressive series, throwing for over 64 meters on all three of his attempts. He hit his personal and school-record 68.34m/224-2 in the second round. The Big West champion was the top finisher in Flight 1 and placed 14th overall, just two spots shy of qualifying for nationals.
Agaton Pourshahidi was men's soccer's leading scorer in 2024, and he did something the program hadn't seen since 2010 when he scored a hat trick in a 4-2 victory over Utah Tech on September 21. The men's soccer team navigating the 10th-toughest non-conference schedule in the country that included a draw against eventual national champion Vermont.
Paul Jing came out of nowhere to as a UC Irvine student to start the season to joining the men's soccer program as its third goalkeeper two weeks into the season, the starting by the end of non-conference play. After a rash of injuries, Jing stepped up to play start in four matches earning shutout victories in three, and not allowing a goal for all 328 minutes he played. He shutout Cal State Bakersfield and CSUN in the same week to earn Big West Defensive Player of the Week honors on October 21.
UC Irvine baseball set multiple program records in 2024. The team set new marks in runs scored, home runs, and walks in a season. Woody Hadeen set single-season marks for runs scored and broke a single-season walks record that had stood for 36 years. Anthony Martinez set a single-season RBI mark that had stood for 52 years. The Anteaters made a new single-season NCAA record as they were hit by pitch 175 times eclipsing a 13-year mark by 23 HBPs.
Justin Willingham broke the school record in the men's shot put four times during the 2024 outdoor track & field season. Willingham initially took down the nine-year-old record at the Ben Brown Invitational with a toss of 18.62 meters (61-1.25). He then bettered that mark at the Vince O'Boyle Classic, Triton Invitational and the Big West Championships where he set the current standard at 18.74m (61-5.75).
Â
