Three UC Irvine Athletes Qualify for NCAA Track Championships

IRVINE —  UC Irvine sprinter Dustin James, who learned Tuesday that the Anteater men’s track and field program is being discontinued because of a budget crisis, has been invited to the NCAA track championships.

James, who had a provisional qualifying time of 46.02 seconds in the 400 meters, learned Saturday that he made the field for the NCAA championships, which begin Wednesday at Austin, Tex.

Irvine, faced with a projected $319,000 deficit and expecting cuts in university funding of at least 10%, announced Tuesday it is eliminating baseball, men’s track and field and men’s cross-country.

Two Irvine women also made the NCAA field. Traci Goodrich earned an invitation with a provisional qualifying time of 34 minutes 19 seconds in the 10,000. Marieke Veltman is an automatic qualifier in the long jump with a leap of 21 feet, and in the heptathlon with a mark of 5,366 points.

The athletes were rumored to be planning to protest the discontinuation of men’s track and cross-country by taping over the words “UC Irvine” on their uniforms at the NCAA championships. But Coach Vince O’Boyle, who retained his title of director of track and field at the school, said they are more likely to wear a black band.

“Black tape, like someone died,” he said.

Ironically, the last race of the Irvine men’s track team might be run in a new uniform. Nike, which provides athletic wear and shoe discounts to about 40 top track programs through contracts with coaches, recently gave Irvine 80 uniforms, 40 of them for the men’s team.

Since the announcement that the programs will be dropped, many of the affected athletes have been scrambling to transfer or find scholarships.

By contrast, James, a sophomore, is able to field offers. Saturday, he said he has received offers of aid from UCLA, Arizona, USC and Utah State.