June 19, 2007
UC Irvine men's volleyball team honored at the White House
By KATHRINE SCHMIDT
WASHINGTON - On the road to their first NCAA championship title, UC Irvine’s men’s volleyball team felt plenty of Anteater pride. On Monday, they got a reason to feel some more -– from President Bush.
After clinching the 2007 title May 5, the team joined the nation’s other college champions at a ceremony on the White House lawn.
“There’s Tigers and Badgers, Huskers and Anteaters,” Bush said to the athletes, dressed in sport coats and sundresses. “Go Anteaters. Fight Anteaters.”
The teams, from men’s basketball (Florida) to women’s bowling (Vanderbilt), took their places as the President”s Own Marine Band played the players’ fight songs.
“You have one thing in common,” Bush said. “You have achieved the great title, ‘champion,’ and nobody can take that away from you.”
Irvine beat Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne at the NCAA Final Four in Columbus, Ohio. UC Irvine has only won one other championship – men’s water polo, in 1989.
For co-captain Brian Thornton, the ceremony helped the victory hit home.
“It’s a reflection of the magnitude, of how large it was, for us to do this,” said Thornton, a UC Irvine senior majoring in sociology. “The support is super-strong when you go to a university like this. Everyone is super-super supportive of other athletes.”
His team rushed back to the hotel from the White House to watch UCI’s baseball team take on the Cal State Fullerton Titans at the College World Series.
Thornton said strong “team chemistry” on and off the court helped the team rise to the top.
Coach John Speraw agreed.
“When you have that much trust in your teammates, when the pressure hits, you’re able to deal with it better, because you believe it what you’ve been doing,” Speraw said.
Speraw said the trip was a relaxing break, particularly the “surreal” experience of meeting the president.
“He’s a pretty funny guy,” Speraw said, noting Bush’s amusement at the team’s mascot. “He got a kick out of that.”
The team spent a day sightseeing in the capital, which impressed Thonton.
“It’s amazing. It makes me think about a ton of stuff,” he said of the city’s monuments, particularly the Vietnam memorial. Visiting it, “is something you should do if you’re an American.”