UC Mercd Magazine-Volume XVI, Issue 2

With veteran coaches on board to lead the Bobcats to victory, UC Merced launched four athletics teams this DFDGHPLF \HDU ǺbPHQǽV DQG ZRPHQǽV ZDWHU SROR DQG PHQǽV DQG ZRPHQǽV RXWGRRU WUDFN New teams, new energy For Bobcat Athletics

He had stints as a volunteer assistant at Santa Clara and Long Beach State prior to San Jose State. On the international level, Bega has served as the USA National Zone 11 junior girls and youth boys head coach. From 1997-2001, he coached in Japan, Hungary, Brazil, Greece and Holland. Water polo is being elevated from a club team. It will call the Aquatics Center home and compete as a member of the Collegiate Water Polo Association. Outdoor track will compete in spring under Bobcat cross country coach Vicente Velarde. Velarde has led his men’s and women’s cross country teams to runner-up finishes in the California Pacific Conference each of the last two years and has qualified 13 individuals for the NAIA National Championships. The track programaims to focus initially ondistance runningevents while competing as a member of the Cal Pac in the NAIA. The inaugural Cal Pac Track & Field Championshipwas held in April. “There is great synergy between cross country and track,” Dunham said. “We have had success in our cross country program for many years and look to build upon that solid cross country foundation while building an competitive track program.” “We couldn't be more excited or grateful for the addition of track,” Velarde said. “I was pleasantly surprised we added it for this upcoming year, but it has been something the team and I have wanted for a while now. This allows us to have more measurable goals in the spring semester, when in the past, we would typically focus on areas we could grow for cross country. “It also opens the possibility of competing for a Cal Pac championship and qualifying for the national meet,” he said. “More than anything, I'm excited to lead this program and set a foundation that we can be proud of in our first season.” For themost part, the roster will bemade up of current men’s and women’s cross country runners.

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“We are excited to be able grow our programs as our campus continues to grow,” said David Dunham, longtime executive director of recreation and athletics.

Water polo, particularly, “has a rich history in the Central Valley and will be great addition to our campus,” he said.

This announcement gives UC Merced Athletics 12 sponsored varsity sports – six men’s and six women’s.

UC Merced last added varsity programs in 2013-14 with the introduction of men’s soccer andmen’s volleyball. Since then, UC Merced Athletics has gone through substantial growth, including new facilities such as Bobcat Field and the Aquatics Center. The first of the new squads to see action was men’s water polo, a fall sport. The Bobcats launched their season in early October and racked up experience in matches against seasoned club teams such as Stanford, UC Berkeley and UC Davis. The team’s head coach, Johnny Bega was an NCAA national champion while on the staff at UC Berkeley and a longtime San Jose State coach. Bega, who graduated from Atwater High, has more than 25 years of coaching experience at various levels, including as a Cal assistant and 10 years at San Jose State, which included three as the women’s water polo coach. Women compete on a spring schedule.

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