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Briefs: ‘Eaters in London

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The UC Irvine contingent at the Olympic Games in London includes Amber Neben, a women’s road cyclist who earned a master’s degree from UCI.

Neben attended Orange Lutheran High and competed in track and field at the University of Nebraska, where she was also an undergraduate assistant coach.

She shifted from running to cycling because of recurring stress fractures in her feet and legs and began as a mountain bike racer.

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After moving to road racing, she won the USA Cycling Elite Road Championships in 2003 (road race) and again in 2012 (time trial) and posted runner-up finishes at the same event in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2011.

She won the Tour de l’Aude (the women’s equivalent to the Tour de France) in 2005 and 2006 and won the Pan American Continental Championships in 2012.

She competed in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where she battled mechanical problems and finished 33rd in the road race.

Neben will compete in London on Sunday, tackling the 140-kilomerter Box Hill circuit climb.

She will also compete in the time trial on Wednesday.

UCI is also represented on the men’s volleyball team by former All-Americans Brian Thornton and David Smith, and the Anteaters have three former All-Americans competing for the men’s water polo team in Ryan Bailey, Tim Hutten and Jeff Powers.

UCI women’s volleyball coach Paula Weishoff and first-year UCI assistant Jamie Morrison, are assistants for the U.S. women’s volleyball team in London.

The U.S. men’s volleyball program is aided by former UCI Coach John Speraw, who is an assistant, as well as former UCI Coach Andy Read, who is a member of the support staff.

UCI women’s water polo coach Dan Klatt is an assistant for the U.S. women’s water polo team.

Men’s volleyball runs July 29 through the gold and bronze medal matches on Aug. 12, while women’s volleyball runs July 28 through Aug. 11.

Men’s water polo runs from July 29 through the medal matches on Aug. 12 and women’s water polo runs from July 30 through Aug. 9.

— From staff reports

Knapp finishes tied for 20th at Pacific Coast Amateur

BANDON, Ore. — Jake Knapp, who recently graduated from Estancia High, fired a two-over-par 74 in the fourth and final round of the 46th Pacific Coast Amateur on the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort Dunes Course Friday, as he finished tied for 20th place.

The UCLA-bound Knapp finished at 14-over-par 298, seven shots behind the winner.

David Fink of Corvallis, Ore., won the tournament in a sudden death playoff. He birdied the fourth playoff hole.

Knapp is scheduled to play in the 110th Western Amateur Championship Monday through Aug. 4 at the Exmoor Country Club in Highland Park, Ill.

— From staff reports

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