60 Years of Anteater Athletics: 2011-2025
June 25, 2026 | General
As we close the series on the 60th Anniversary of UC Irvine Athletics, Anteater teams win more national championships, compete in March Madness and the College World Series, and continue the championship legacy started in 1965-66.
May 2012 – Women’s water polo won its fourth straight Big West Conference Tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Championship where they finished fourth.
June 2012 – Charles Jock won the 800 meters at the NCAA Track & Field Championships, becoming UCI's first individual NCAA champion in 34 years. It was his third-straight NCAA appearance and All-America performance.
May 2013 – Men’s Volleyball won its second consecutive national championship and fourth in the last seven years with a 3-0 victory over BYU. Connor Hughes was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, following in the footsteps of Carson Clark who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2012 NCAA Championship after recording a match-high 22 kills in a 3-0 win over USC.
May 2013 – Women's tennis earned its first NCAA Tournament win with a 4-2 victory over San Jose State. Ali Facey won 7-5 in the third set to complete the four-hour, 30-minute match. The Big West Player of the Year Kristina Smith also competed at the NCAA Championship as an individual.
June 2014 – The baseball team advanced to the College World Series after defeating the No. 1 national seed Oregon State in an NCAA regional and No. 3 Oklahoma State in a super regional. The Anteaters ended the season ranked sixth nationally.
November 2014 – Men's soccer advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the third time in program history. The Anteaters beat UNLV and the No. 6 national seed, Stanford before falling to No. 11 Providence 1-0.
March 2015 – The men’s basketball team captured the Big West Tournament title for the first time in program history to earn a spot in the NCAA tourney, where the 13th-seeded 'Eaters narrowly fell to No. 4 seed and three-time national champion, Louisville, 57-55, in the NCAA Second Round.
May 2015 – The men’s volleyball team captured their third MPSF Tournament crown and advanced to the NCAA Championship for the sixth time before falling to eventual national champion Loyola Chicago in the semifinals. Libero Michael Brinkley was named first team All-America for the third straight year, becoming just the 14th player in volleyball history to accomplish that feat.
May 2015 – Women’s water polo became the first Big West team to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship, where the Anteaters finished fifth.
August 2016 – UC Irvine had eight representatives at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The eight Anteaters were the most by a Big West school and third most by a UC school behind Cal and UCLA. David Smith (United States) and Kevin Tillie (France) competed in men's indoor volleyball. On the track, former NCAA Champion Charles Jock represented the U.S. in the 800 meters, while Persis William-Mensah, who was a rising junior at the time, was a member of Ghana's 4x100 relay team. Former UCI athletes Dan Klatt (women's water polo) and Dave Durden (men's swimming) served as assistant coaches for Team USA. Two of the seven member United States badminton team hailed from UCI - alumna Eva Lee (women’s doubles) and student Phillip Chew (men's and mixed doubles)
March 11, 2017 – The baseball team defeated No. 1 TCU for the second consecutive day. The Anteaters scored eight runs in the first inning on Friday and never looked back snagging an 11-2 upset over the top-ranked Horned Frogs at Anteater Ballpark. The next day, the Anteaters did it again with a 6-3 victory. An hour later, the men's volleyball team toppled No. 1 Ohio State, 3-0 at St. John Arena, snapping the Buckeyes' 42-match winning streak. The sixth-ranked Anteaters handed the Buckeyes their first loss of the season and the first defeat in 399 days.
April 2017 – The women's water polo team captured the Big West Tournament championship for the sixth time with an 8-7 victory in sudden-death overtime over Long Beach State. Big West Player of the Year Mary Brooks fed Kelsey Thornton with three seconds on the clock where she lobbed it in as time expired to give UC Irvine the golden goal. UCI advanced to the NCAA Championship, dropping a 9-7 decision to Cal in a quarterfinal game at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis. The Anteaters finished the season ranked No. 5 nationally. Allie Loomis received the Elite 90 Award, which is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA participating at the finals site for each NCAA Championship. She joined baseball player Francis Larson (2007) as the only two Anteaters to win the award. Loomis also earned the 2018 Big West Leadership Award.
May 2017 – Baseball player Keston Hiura led the nation with a .442 batting average, breaking a 46-year UCI record. He also led the country in on-base percentage (.567), earning a spot as a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist and was honored as the Big West Field Player of the Year.
On the first day of the Major League Baseball draft, two Anteaters were taken in the first 10 picks highlighted by Hiura who was selected as the ninth overall pick by the Milwaukee Brewers, the highest-ever pick in UC Irvine program history. Royce Lewis was taken No. 1 overall to the Minnesota Twins. He had signed a national letter of intent to join the program for the 2017-18 school year, but chose to pursue his professional career.
November 2017 – The women’s volleyball team advanced to the quarterfinals of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship, its first post-season appearance since 2004. The team’s two post-season wins were the most in program history.
May 2018 – In a span of two weeks, three UCI teams competed at the NCAA Championships. Men’s Volleyball was an at-large selection and played in the opening round against Ohio State. Women’s water polo, who was the No. 3 seed, defeated top-seeded Hawaii in sudden death overtime in the Big West Championship and made its sixth overall appearance in the NCAA’s. Dan Klatt’s team won its opening round game against Pomona Pitzer before falling to Stanford. The men’s golf team won its eighth Big West Championship and made their 14th NCAA Regional appearance.
May 2018 – UC Irvine retired head baseball coach Mike Gillespie’s number 19 in his final homestand before retiring. The Hall of Fame coach amassed 1,156 victories in 31 seasons as a Division I head coach, including a national championship as a player and a coach. In Gillespie's 11 seasons at UCI, he was named national coach of the year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association in 2014 and was named Big West Coach of the Year in 2009. He guided the ‘Eaters to the postseason five times, including regional titles in 2008, 2011 and 2014 and a College World Series appearance in 2014.
November 2018 – Men's soccer's return to the NCAA Tournament drew a challenging opponent in Grand Canyon. UCI found itself down 1-0 early in the second half, but in the 70th minute found a stroke of luck as Ateno Ajeakwa fired a shot into the box that hit a GCU defender and flipped up and over the keeper for the equalizing own goal. The sides battled through overtime without a decisive goal, sending the match to a penalty kick shootout. UCI missed its first attempt, but keeper Greg Patenaude made a save in the second round to knot things back up. In the 7th round of the shootout, Patenaude rose up again, stopping another shot to send UCI through to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
March 2019 – Men’s basketball made its second NCAA appearance after beating Cal State Fullerton, 92-64 in the Big West Tournament final, the largest margin of victory in championship history. The Anteaters picked up their first NCAA Tournament win in program history, upsetting fourth-seeded and No. 18-ranked Kansas State, 70-64. It was the first win over a ranked opponent since beating No. 15 Stanford in 2003 and the second over a Power 5 school. UCI ended the season with several school records including the most wins (31) and longest winning streak (17 games). Russ Turner’s squad went 15-1 in Big West play, tying the program best set in 2000-01. The Anteaters became the first Big West team, current or former, to win 30 games in a season since national runner-up UNLV went 34-1 in 1990-91.
May 2019 – Women’s track & field athlete Barbara Coward advanced to the NCAA West Preliminary Round for the fourth consecutive year in the discus and made her second-straight appearance in the hammer. Coward won both events at the Big West Championships. She easily defended her crown in the discus and became UCI’s first-ever hammer champion on her final attempt of the competition. In 2019, Coward broke her own school records in the discus (186-4) and hammer (196-7), while establishing a new standard in the indoor weight throw (58-04.75).
June 2019 – Paula Smith was named the Director of Intercollegiate Athletics. She became one of then-40 female Division I athletic directors nationally and the second at UCI, following Linda Dempsay (1977 to 1983), who was the country’s first female athletic director at an NCAA Division I school.
November 2019 – UC Irvine retired Scott Brooks' No. 12 jersey during the November 30 men's basketball game against Eastern Michigan at the Bren Events Center. Brooks' No. 12 is only the second jersey retired in men's basketball history, following Kevin Magee, who had his No. 44 retired in 1995. It is also the third number across all athletic programs, joining baseball head coach Mike Gillespie's No. 19 which was retired in 2018.
March 2020 – The Big West announced the canceling all spring conference and non-conference competition and championship events for the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pause continued into the fall where men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer and women's indoor volleyball did not conduct events for the 2020-21 academic year.
April 2021 – Women's golfer Megan Yang fired a round of 65 on the first day of the Big West Championships, recording a new school record, bettering the 66 posted by Jane Chin in 2008 and Patty Chawalitmetha in 2007. The Anteaters led the tournament field for the first two days of action, posting a school record 282 on the first round. The team's round of 282 bettered the old mark of 284 set during the second of the 2009 NCAA West Regional. The next season, Women's golfer Angela Bagasbas fired a school record seven-under 65 on the final round of the Fresno State Classic to match Yang at the top of the record book.
May 2021 – UCI baseball clinched its second Big West title with 10-4 win over Cal State Fullerton in Anteater Ballpark, capping a historic 2021 season that featured a Big West record 32 victories with its first-ever home series win over the rival Titans to close out the regular season and earn an NCAA Tournament bid. Nathan Church broke a 33-year program record, registering UCI's first 100-hit season and had an NCAA-best 2.8 RBIs per game in the postseason tournament. He finished as the NCAA leader in triples with eight in 2021. Dillon Tatum broke the UCI single-season homerun record with 15.
June 2021 – Josh Farmer made the first of his three NCAA Championship appearances in the decathlon. He was the first Anteater to qualify for NCAAs in the event since his father, Matt, made it to the national meet in 1991. Josh saw an improvement each year, finishing 16th in 2021, 14th in 2022, and 12th in 2024. He is UCI's only three-time All-American in the decathlon.
August 2021 – UC Irvine affiliates had a very successful Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, bringing home three gold medals. Former UCI All-American and two-time National Champion Kevin Tillie won gold in indoor men's volleyball with France, while UCI head women's water polo coach Dan Klatt and assistant coach Alys Williams along with former UCI assistants Kaleigh Gilchrist and Melissa Seidemann won an unprecedented third straight Olympic Gold medal with the U.S. women's water polo team. Former UC Irvine men's volleyball assistant coach Michelle Bartsch-Hackley helped the U.S. women's indoor volleyball team to its first-ever gold medal. In all, UC Irvine had 16 representatives at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. Seven former Anteater student-athletes were in action, four competing as athletes and three as coaches.
November 2021 – Women’s soccer captured the program's second Big West Tournament title and first since 1997 with a 1-0 victory over Cal Poly at Anteater Stadium. Alex Jaquez's laser in the 32nd minute proved to be the winner for UC Irvine, securing an NCAA automatic tournament berth. Defender Maddy Chavez was named the Big West Tournament MVP. The Anteaters traveled to UCLA for the NCAA first round and pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the nation and school history. A 14th-minute goal by Alyssa Moore and shutout by Glo Hinojosa and the defense shocked No. 2 national seed and No. 3 nationally-ranked UCLA who had not lost in 26 straight matches. UCI advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010 where they lost to Wisconsin.
April 2022 – Men's tennis took down No. 1 seed and 55th-ranked UC Santa Barbara, 4-2, in the Big West Championship final for their fourth tournament title and first since 2011. It was the Anteaters' second consecutive ranked win as they also upset second-seed and No. 60 Cal Poly in the semifinals. Mike Saunders went on to earn Big West Coach of the Year honors, while Noah Zamora was tabbed the co-Freshman of the Year.
November 2022 – For the second consecutive year, women's soccer topped a high-ranked Pac-12 team in the NCAA First Round with Destinee Manzo's first half goal and Alyssa Moore's dagger in the 89th minute dropping 14th-ranked USC, 2-0. Glo Hinojosa had a career-best eight saves against the Women of Troy.
March 2023 – For the first time in school history, both the men’s and women’s basketball teams won the Big West regular season title. The women secured their first conference championship with a 16-2 Big West record, while the men went 15-5.
May 2023 – Women's water polo ended the regular season with a perfect 7-0 record before taking home the Big West Championship with a 10-9 overtime thriller against Hawai'i. Goalie Erin Tharp was named the 2023 Big West Women's Water Polo Championship Most Valuable Player with her 14 saves to earn the win for the Anteaters. After the championship victory, UCI moved up to No. 3 in the national rankings, tying the highest ranking in program history. The Anteaters made their seventh NCAA appearance, falling just short against UCLA, 14-12.
September 2023 – Men's golfer Darien Zhao broke both the 18-hole and 36-hole school records on the first day of the 2023-24 season-opening Nick Watney Invitational in Fresno. Zhao carded a career-best 62 in the second round to close out the afternoon at 14-under 128 (66-62). He went on to claim runner-up honors with a 200 (-13), which is tied for the lowest 54-hole score in program history.
November 2023 – In a span of 15 days, UC Irvine won three Big West Championship titles and had three teams make NCAA appearances, highlighted by women's soccer's Sweet 16 run and men's water polo's return to the NCAAs for the first time in 30 years. Women’s soccer did not allow a goal in three games to win their third straight Big West Championship. The Anteaters then became the first-ever women’s soccer team to win an NCAA first round game against a No. 1 seed, defeating UCLA 1-0 behind an 87th-minute goal from Alyssa Moore. UCI advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive year.
Men’s soccer claimed its fifth Big West Championship and first under head coach Yossi Raz on the way to their seventh trip to the NCAA Tournament after beating UC Davis 8-7 in a dramatic penalty shootout. In the sudden death rounds, Rafael Espinoza, Nolan DiCenzo, Josh Kenworthy and Kellan Barry were all true to extend the shootout. In the ninth round, goalkeeper Luke Pruter came through with a big save.
At the Big West Championship, men’s water polo beat UC Davis in the semifinals, 11-10 and UC Santa Barbara, 11-9 in the final to capture the title and earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Championship, their first appearance since 1993 and 22nd all-time.
March 2024 – Women’s basketball captured their second Big West Championship, beating UC Davis 53-39 in the final. Déja Lee, who was named the Big West Player of the Year and the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, finished with a game-high 21 points, going 8-of-12 from the floor. The Anteaters earned a No. 13 seed, traveling to Gonzaga for the NCAA first round.
April 2024 – Men's tennis won the Big West Championship 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.
May 2024 - 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
June 2024 – 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 at 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.
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.
September 2024 – Women’s golf captured the Wolverine Invitational title for their first tournament win since 2017. The Anteaters’ victory came in record-breaking fashion as they topped the 10-team field with a score of 11-under 853 (283-286-284) for the lowest 54-hole total in program history. Alona Avery claimed runner-up honors with a 207, which was UCI’s third-best three-round total.
November 2024 – Men’s tennis player 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 earned a career-high ranking of No. 31 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's NCAA Division I Men's Singles Rankings.
Anna Vogtmann broke her own 6K school record and claimed runner-up honors at the Big West Women’s Cross Country Championships in Riverside. Vogtmann clocked in at 19:49.3, improving her previous standard that was set on the same course in 2022 by three seconds. Her second-place conference showing was the best by an Anteater since 2008.
March 2025 – Men’s basketball earned a No. 1 seed and regional hosting duties in their third-straight NIT appearance. The Anteaters drew Northern Colorado in the first round and after trailing by four at the half, they outscored the Bears, 45-31, over the final 20 minutes for the 82-72 victory. Devin Tillis led the way as his game-high 24 points (10-15 FG) put him in the 1,000-career point club. It was UCI’s first NIT win since 1986. The team would go on to beat North Texas, 69-67 using a late 7-0 spurt to pull away in the semifinals at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. It was the Anteaters’ school-record 32nd win of the season, while they advanced to the NIT championship game for the first time in program history.
April 2025 – Hilir Henno fired six aces against Hawai’i in the semifinals of the Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship, giving him 255 in his career to tie the NCAA all-time record.
May 2025 – Women’s track & field made history, winning the program’s first Big West Championship. The Anteaters held off a late Cal Poly push to claim the team title, 150.5-149. Jazzmine Davis was named the Big West Women’s Track Athlete of the Meet after scoring 20 individual points, highlighted by an individual victory in the 400m hurdles. Luz Mercado was also the conference champion in the 800m. On the men’s side, Liam Miksic won his third-straight conference title in the javelin. He broke his own school record with a final throw of 71.06 meters (233-1). Miksic and Zharia Taylor (women's high jump) both went on to qualify for the NCAA Championships where they earned second-team All-America honors in their respective events.
Men's tennis defended its Big West Championship title with a 4-3 victory over top-seeded UC Santa Barbara. Noah Zamora, who was named the Big West Player of the Year, clinched the win with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 triumph at the top of the lineup. Mike Saunders earned his third career Big West Coach of the Year award.
June 2025 - Baseball claimed the Big West regular season title and earned an at-large bid into the NCAAs. With the season on the line in an NCAA Regional elimination game against Arizona State, Anthony Martinez's RBI on a sacrifice fly late in the game helped the ‘Eaters survive and advance. That put Martinez atop UCI's all-time sac fly list (16), and made him the Anteaters’ all-time RBI leader at 190, breaking Jeff Malinoff's 51-year-old school record.
UC Irvine Athletics won its first-ever Dennis Farrell Big West Commissioner's Cup. The Dennis Farrell Big West Commissioner's Cup is awarded annually to The Big West institution that has the highest degree of success in all men's and women's conference-sponsored sports during the academic year. The Anteaters tallied 148.8 points, the second highest total all-time, just shy of Cal Poly's mark of 149.4 set last year. UC Irvine totaled 2,530 points with 11 of its 17 teams earning top-three points.
60 Years of Anteater Athletics
1998-2010
1976-1997
Celebrating Women's Athletics
1966-1975
1965-66
Peter the Anteater History
Our 2025-26 Year in Review will follow in the coming weeks. Here's to 60 more incredible years!
