Utah

Story by Deepa Bharath, photo by Kathy Flippin will go to Utah next month. Not as an Olympian herself, but as someone offering a service to thousands of athletes. Flippin, a 32-year-old Newport Beach massage therapist, has volunteered to be a member of the 2002 Winter Sports Massage Team. As part of the distinguished crew, she will try to soothe, repair and rejuvenate tired, injured or aching muscles at what will be the biggest sporting event of the year.

Newport Harbor High softball junior Bella Secaira has verbally committed to the University of Utah, she said Tuesday. Secaira, a catcher, was last year's Daily Pilot Newport-Mesa Player of the Year. She had an area-best .450 batting average and 28 runs batted in for the Sailors (13-16). A team captain and first-team All-Sunset League selection, she helped Newport Harbor win the silver bracket at the Costa Mesa tournament and also win the La Quinta tournament. In June, she also survived a 30-foot fall from an apartment building despite suffering a spinal cord fracture, collapsed lung and a slight concussion.

Jake Knapp, who recently graduated from Estancia High, reached the round of 16 at the 87th U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship at Soldier Hollow Golf Course in Midway, Utah. Knapp, bound for UCLA, defeated Bryson Dechambeau of Clovis, Calif., 1 up Thursday morning. Later in the day, Knapp fell to Alberto Sanchez of Nogales, Ariz., 1 up in the round of 16. Knapp will next play in the Southern California Golf Assn. Amateur Championship July 20-22 at Big Canyon Country Club.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Utah 58, UC Irvine 42 SALT LAKE CITY - The Utes scored 30 points in the paint and out-rebounded the Anteaters, 56-24, in the nonconference game Thursday. Senior guard Anete Klintsone scored all eight of her team-high points in the second half and had a team-best four assists for UCI (3-8). Junior guard Kelly Meggs and freshman forward Mokun Fajemisin each added six points, with Meggs and sophomore forward Methlyn Onogomuho grabbing a team-high four rebounds for the Anteaters.

UC Irvine freshman Lara Bjargardottir and sophomore Molly Donelan broke school records, but the Anteaters women's swimming and diving team, as well as the men's squad, lost to visiting Utah Friday. The meet was the season-opening nonconference dual for the Anteaters. Bjargardottir set a school record in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:52.97, and she also won the 200 individual medley in 2:08.81. Donelan broke a 22-year-old school record with a time of 2:08.

When: Today, 11 a.m. Radio: KUCI/88.9 Records: UC Irvine (2-4); Utah (3-2) Breakdown: The Anteaters, on a three-game losing streak, have never beaten the Utes in seven previous meetings, the latest a 38-point drubbing in 1997 ... UCI is led by 6-foot-8 senior forward Patrick Sanders (12.8 points and 5.0 rebounds per game), while senior Darren Fells (9.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg) is slated to make his first start of the season ... Utah, under first-year coach and former Michigan State assistant Jim Boylen, is led by 7-1 center Luke Nevill (14.0 ppg and 6.8 rpg)

The Sundance Film Festival isn't the only creative-arts competition going on in Utah this time of the year. College theater companies are crowding into the Beehive State in a quest for recognition in the nation's capital. Costa Mesa's Vanguard University is among the colleges vying in the Kennedy center American College Theater Festival's southwest region competition, taking place all next week in Cedar City, Utah. It's the second year in a row for the local thespians, who took last season's production of "The Lion in Winter" to the 2005 festival in Arizona.

Barry Faulkner NEWPORT BEACH - Faced with the prospect of one more year on the sideline, Corona del Mar High product Mark Hatfield has decided to return to the University of Utah football program he left after four practices last fall. Hatfield, the Newport-Mesa District Defensive Player of the Year and an All-CIF Southern Section performer in his senior season of 1998, will complete his second semester at Golden West College this spring. He will then leave for Salt Lake City in June and live there during the summer, preparing to earn playing time at middle linebacker as a redshirt freshman for the Mountain West Conference Utes.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Top-ranked UC Irvine matched a season-high with its sixth consecutive win after recording an 8-3 nonconference victory against Utah Thursday. Catcher Francis Larson led the Anteaters (29-10) with three runs batted in on one for four hitting, while Casey Stevenson and Tommy Reyes combined for four runs with two RBIs apiece. Jeff Cusick paced UCI with three hits and a run scored, while Eric Deragisch and DJ Crumlich added two hits each. Ben Orloff was one for five, extending his hit streak to a season-best 10 games.

SALT LAKE CITY — The UC Irvine baseball team suffered its first loss since becoming the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, falling at Utah, 7-3, in the finale of a three-game nonconference series Saturday. The loss ended a seven-game winning streak for the Anteaters (30-11), who fell behind 3-0 after two innings and never recovered. Junior Kyle Necke making his first start in 55 career appearances, surrendered three runs on five hits, including two home runs, to absorb the loss and fall to 1-3. Noel Avison was the only one of five UCI pitchers not to allow at least one run. He worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings.

St. George, UT - Edna R. Jones, age 89, passed away on February 2, 2014 in St. George, Utah. She was born on September 27, 1924, in Salt Lake City, Utah to James and Edna Sullivan. She attended local schools graduating from East High School. She met and soon married her only love, Loren “Bud” Jones. Edna and Bud made their home in Costa Mesa, California and raised their three children. Edna was a talented homemaker; home decorating, cooking and sewing made her home delightful. Edna made a career as a school Food Service Manager in both Newport-Mesa and Irvine school districts and retired from the Irvine Unified School District; while Bud made his career working on yachts in Newport harbor.

Scott E. Coshow Our beloved Scott E. Coshow passed away on November 17, 2013 in Rancho Mirage California, after a long and courageous battle with cancer. Scott was born the son of Grover (Bud) Coshow and Gwen Erickson in Salt Lake City, Utah on July 29, 1958. He is survived by his three children, each of whom he loved dearly, Chauntal, Scott Jr. (Beau) and Chrystal, his mother Gwen Willaims of Thermal California and Corona Del Mar, California as well as his brothers, Bryce Coshow (Candace)

April Ross, a Costa Mesa resident and Newport Harbor High product, teamed with Jennifer Kessy to win the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals' Salt Lake City beach volleyball tournament on Sunday. The top-seeded duo of Ross and Kessy, silver medalists at the 2012 Olympics in London, defeated Lauren Fendrick and Brittany Hochevar, 20-22, 21-18, 15-13, in the final. In the men's AVP event at the same venue, Costa Mesa resident Jake Gibb teamed with Casey Patterson to earn a share of third place.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell were in California this week on a whirlwind tour to woo Golden State businesses to expand or relocate to their states. At the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel in Costa Mesa on Thursday, both state leaders took a breather to talk to The Times about why they were chatting with companies in Costa Mesa, Palo Alto and San Francisco. The governors, who cooked up this joint tour after discussing their mutual interest in job creation, took a much more amicable tack than Texas Gov. Rick Perry . Perry's swing through California in February was punctuated by radio ads that declared, "Building a business in California is next to impossible.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Utah 58, UC Irvine 42 SALT LAKE CITY - The Utes scored 30 points in the paint and out-rebounded the Anteaters, 56-24, in the nonconference game Thursday. Senior guard Anete Klintsone scored all eight of her team-high points in the second half and had a team-best four assists for UCI (3-8). Junior guard Kelly Meggs and freshman forward Mokun Fajemisin each added six points, with Meggs and sophomore forward Methlyn Onogomuho grabbing a team-high four rebounds for the Anteaters.

When it comes to college football, it's safe to say Andrew Albers has come full circle. Albers, a 6-foot-8, 295-pound standout offensive lineman for Costa Mesa High and Orange Coast College, has accepted a scholarship to play at the University of Utah, where he initially committed out of Costa Mesa. Albers' father, Frank, announced on Facebook Tuesday night: "So very happy and proud to report that my son Andrew Albers has accepted a scholarship and has committed to play football for the University of Utah Utes.

Jake Knapp, who recently graduated from Estancia High, reached the round of 16 at the 87th U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship at Soldier Hollow Golf Course in Midway, Utah. Knapp, bound for UCLA, defeated Bryson Dechambeau of Clovis, Calif., 1 up Thursday morning. Later in the day, Knapp fell to Alberto Sanchez of Nogales, Ariz., 1 up in the round of 16. Knapp will next play in the Southern California Golf Assn. Amateur Championship July 20-22 at Big Canyon Country Club.

As he turned the corner and ran toward the finish-line tape, Peter Omae Ayieni knew he would become the men's champion of the eighth annual OC Marathon. Ayieni, a 34-year-old from Kenya, believed he could win the race since the sixth-mile mark, when he said he felt comfortable. He went on to win his second straight men's overall title in 2 hours, 31 minutes, 18 seconds Sunday morning. He finished more than three minutes ahead of runner-up Nate Clayson, a 26-year-old from Murray, Utah, who came across in 2:34:50.

All is fair in cake and war. Costa Mesa native and Estancia High School alumna Megan Faulkner Brown had a winning strategy when she battled on the popular reality TV show"Cupcake Wars. " The Utah resident's dark chocolate, brie, nut, cranberry and red wine cupcakes knocked out the competition in the April 8 episode of the Food Network show. "It turned out as this great combination of sweet and bitter," Brown said. For the episode, she was challenged to create a recipe using ingredients that a rock star might have in his dressing room.

Newport Harbor High softball junior Bella Secaira has verbally committed to the University of Utah, she said Tuesday. Secaira, a catcher, was last year's Daily Pilot Newport-Mesa Player of the Year. She had an area-best .450 batting average and 28 runs batted in for the Sailors (13-16). A team captain and first-team All-Sunset League selection, she helped Newport Harbor win the silver bracket at the Costa Mesa tournament and also win the La Quinta tournament. In June, she also survived a 30-foot fall from an apartment building despite suffering a spinal cord fracture, collapsed lung and a slight concussion.