Bruin digest: Francis, Kwinta earn wins for men’s tennis

UCLA men’s tennis player Alberto Francis won the Flight-A
singles draw of the Fresno State Bulldog Tennis Classic on Sunday.
Francis, a junior, defeated Drew Hoskins of USC, 6-4, 6-4, in the
final.

Francis also teamed with junior Kris Kwinta, a transfer from
Tennessee, to win the Flight-A doubles championship. Francis and
Kwinta defeated Cal’s Tyler Browne and Dean Wallace, 8-6, in
the final.

Junior Chris Lam lost Friday in the quarterfinals of the 2003
Icy Hot/ITA Men’s All-American Championships in Chattanooga,
Tennessee.

Lam, ranked No. 29 in the nation, lost 7-6 (6), 1-6, 6-2 to
Washington’s Alex Vlaski, ranked No. 4.

Vlaski defeated Baylor’s Benedikt Dorsch, the
tournament’s No. 1 seed, 6-1, 2-6, 6-1, in the final.

WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY: The UCLA’s
“B” team won the Triton Classic on Saturday at UC San
Diego.

UCLA finished with 47 points, beating second-place UC Irvine by
one point.

Individually, the Bruins were led by junior Carmen Winant, who
placed fourth in the six-kilometer event with a time of
22:42.5.

Along with Winant, the Bruins had two other runners in the top
10 ““ sophomore Sarah West, who placed fifth (22:49.4), and
redshirt freshman Emily Haigh, who finished 10th (23:15.8).

“Carmen and Sarah both did a good job today in leading our
team to victory and overcoming a strong team effort from UC
Irvine,” coach Eric Peterson said in a press release.
“Sarah went out aggressively and looked strong during the
early and middle stages of the race. Carmen went out more
conservatively and came on strong at the end and led our squad to
the team win.”

MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY: UCLA won the
men’s team title at the Triton Classic on Saturday with 28
points, finishing ahead of second-place Pepperdine by six
points.

The Bruins were led by junior Jon Rankin, who won the
eight-kilometer race in 25:26.3.

UCLA had five runners finish in the top 10. Joining Rankin were
sophomore Martell Munguia in third place (25:54.1); sophomore
Mohammed Qazi in fifth place (26:19); junior Reggie Oronoz in ninth
place (26:33.4) and junior Puneet Mahan in 10th place
(26:36.8).

“It was great to have Jon (Rankin) back in the lineup
today leading our team to victory,” Peterson said.

SOFTBALL: Six Bruins are in China playing for
the U.S. National Team in the Junior World Championships.

Caitlin Benyi, Jaisa Creps, Lisa Dodd, Andrea Duran, Jodie
Legaspi and Emily Zaplatosch are on the Under-19 team’s
roster in Nanjing, China.

The team’s first game is today against the Netherlands.
The United States will have six pool-play games followed by a
tournament.

HOCKEY: The UCLA hockey team lost its game
Friday night at Cal State Northridge 5-4.

UCLA drops to 0-2 for the season with the loss. The Bruins
return to action Friday when they host Cal.