Briefs: Jock remains in hunt

UC Irvine star Charles Jock finished second in his first-round heat Thursday and advanced to the semifinals of the 800 meters at the USA Track & Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa.

Jock ran a time of one minute, 47.99 seconds, sixth-fastest overall, to earn a spot in today’s semifinals.

Jock was the 2010 Big West Conference champion in the event and the Big West Athlete of the Year in track. His personal best is 1:46.17, a school record.

The semifinals are at 5:30 p.m.

The final is scheduled for Sunday at noon.

— From staff reports

Chin helps U.S. lead

Former UC Irvine All-American John Chin helped the United States sweep foursome matches Thursday to take a 6-2 lead in the Palmer Cup international golf competition at Royal Portrush Golf Club.

Chin and fellow American Daniel Miernicki defeated Rhys Enoch and Andrea Pavan, one-up.

Chin, a three-time Big West Conference Player of the Year and two-time conference individual champion, will compete against David Lingmerth of Sweden in Friday’s singles competition.

Also Thursday, Chin and Miernicki lost to Enoch and Pavan, three and two in a four-ball match.

— From staff reports

Local golfers shine

Newport Beach resident John Davenport and Costa Mesa resident Jake Knapp finished tied for 13th and 17th, respectively, in the ClubCorp Mission Hills Desert Junior boys’ golf tournament, completed Thursday at Mission Hills Country Club.

Davenport, who will be a junior at Corona del Mar High next fall, finished five-over-par 221, including par 72 in his third and final round. Davenport finished third in the Pacific Coast League individual tournament in 2010.

Knapp, the Orange Coast League champion as a sophomore in 2010, finished at 222, including back-to-back one-over 73s in his final two rounds. He finished third at the CIF Southern Section individual championships in May.

Brian Campbell of Irvine topped the 51-player field by shooting six-under 210.

— From staff reports

OCC duo lauded

Football tailback Ray Holley and sophomore heptathlete Liana Fuentes were named men’s and women’s Athlete of the Year, respectively, at Orange Coast College for 2009-10.

Holley, who is now at Louisiana Tech, set a school single-season record with 1,457 rushing yards in 2009, when the 5-foot-9, 190-pounder scored 18 of the Pirates’ 20 rushing touchdowns and produced 97.2% of the team’s rushing yards.

He earned first-team All-National Division honors, finished No. 3 in the state in rushing yards per game (145.7), and led the state in carries (311) and touchdowns. He had six games with at least 150 rushing yards and was the California Community College Athlete of the Month in September.

Fuentes finished second in the heptathlon at the California Community College Assn. state championships in May.

She was in the top three in five of the seven events and finished with 4,651 points, 140 behind winner Sarah Nichols from Butte.

Her 4,949 points in the Southern California Regional broke her own school record, set previously with a mark of 4,469 in March. The latter performance topped the OCC record that had stood since 1981.

At one point, Fuentes was ranked No. 1 in the state in the heptathlon, No. 3 in the javelin, No. 6 in the 100-meter hurdles and No. 6 in the high jump. She also competed on the Pirates’ 400 and 1,600 relay teams.

Fuentes, who is bound for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, also competed for the women’s soccer team.

— From staff reports

UCI’s Hecht honored

UC Irvine crew coach Duvall Hecht, a gold medalist in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, is the winner of the 2010 Orange Coast College Oarsman Award.

Hecht, 80, a Costa Mesa resident, founded the UCI crew program in 1965 and coached there for four years. He coached at UCLA from 1973 through 1979 and returned to UCI for another 10-year stint until 2001. In 2009, he volunteered to guide the Anteaters’ club program.

Hecht rowed for Stanford and competed in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. He and James Fifer won the pairs title at the 1956 Olympics.

Hecht founded Books on Tape, which he later sold to a publishing company.

— From staff reports