The women’s cross country team proved to be a formidable opponent over the past few months, facing off against many talented schools during the fall season.  Everything from the team’s wins, to the finishes of individual runners, to the team’s award-winning coach gives reason for its status as the UC Davis Women’s Team of the Quarter.

One of the many reasons that makes this team a clear choice for Team of the Quarter is coach Devin Elizondo. He was given the honor of Big West Women’s Conference’s Cross Country Coach of the Year after he helped lead the team to a first-place victory. The recipient of this award is voted on by the coaches participating in the Conference, and though an honor, Elizondo said that he wouldn’t feel up for it if the women did not perform as well as they did.

“[The award] comes hand in hand with the way the women performed,” said Elizondo.  “While it’s nice – it’s great – it comes out of the women doing exactly what they said they were going to do on paper, and executing it.”

Placing first at the Big West Conference was exactly what the team was shooting for. The goal going into the meet was to have all runners place in the top 20, and when the race ended, the women all finished within the top 15.

The women’s team fosters an environment conducive to success, which is only strengthened with an athlete like junior Christine Hoffman. The junior peaked with her performance at the Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana, where she placed 17th. According to Elizondo, this finish “allowed [her teammates] to see a little bit of themselves at that level. [It’s good to] see her having fun, and smiling and giggling, but then also working her tail off.”

Hoffman added, “I think it helps being in a good place that makes you happy and makes you love what you do.”

The Aggies – though successful in many of their endeavors – fell short of their goals when they competed at the NCAA West Regional meet in Stanford, Calif. While the women gave an admirable performance, sometimes not everything goes as planned. They placed 11th — a disappointment following the previous two years’ results of sixth and seventh. But despite the letdown, Elizondo said that it would provide fuel for next year — to be one last check box to cross off on their lengthy list of goals.

Winning the Big West Conference was the definite highlight of the year, for more reasons than one. It was a moment where every person was proud of how they ran.

“It came together as an entire team success,” Hoffman said.

On an individual level, senior captain Raquel Lambdin was able to hold the Big West trophy for the last time as an Aggie. As the only team member remaining from the last 2011 Big West Championship win, it was a powerful occasion.

“To hand Rocky [Lambdin] the trophy from that day and to see how hard she worked as a captain to grow into that spot, and then all of these ladies helping her lift it over her head — it’s a pretty good moment, one that I’ll definitely walk away with,” Elizondo said.

The UC Davis women’s cross country team bears many accolades and accomplishments, which is a recurring testament to the team’s dynamic drive to succeed. They were able to end the comparatively short season with, most notably, two first-place finishes and one second-place finish. The team is constantly growing in power and versatility, and has high expectations for next year. Their experiences this year will serve to envigor and inspire them as track and field rolls around, all the way until cross country season next year. All of this serves as proof for why they are more than qualified to be named Women’s Team of the Quarter.

11 weeks of hard-fought wins and unlucky losses led the UC Davis men’s water polo team to the highly anticipated WWPA championship tournament two weeks ago. The Aggies added 26 goals in the tournament, giving them over 325 for the season and achieved a glorious, end-of-the-season victory against No. 19, California Baptist. Despite a hard-hit loss in the semi-finals, UC Davis water polo returned home from WWPA with the triumphant third-place title. Completing the season at 16-17, water polo is UC Davis’s Men’s Team of the Quarter.

This season, the water polo team defeated over seven different top-20 teams, and had 2 overtime victories, including a well-earned 7-6 win against No. 15, Santa Clara University. Other victories included those against Pomona-Pitzer, Air Force, Navy, Chapman, Whittier, Concordia, Loyola Marymount and Fresno Pacific universities, prior to the onset of the WWPA championship tournament.

Despite losing six of their first seven games of the season, UC Davis demonstrated remarkable perseverance, and came back strong in late September’s Aggie Shootout. UC Davis accomplished their biggest win of the season during this event, overwhelming unranked team, Cal Lutheran, 17-5. UC Davis went on to finish the shootout, taking four of five games, falling only to 2nd ranked Stanford, at the time.

Junior attacker Sean Grab was at the forefront this season, contributing a team high of 64 goals and 43 assists. Grab had a hat trick in the season’s final match against California Baptist, and received second team All-WWPA accolades in November. Grab sat down with the Aggie to explain the secret behind long-term success. “It’s all about working hard, working smart, and staying together. The result didn’t really indicate how well we played all season because we did have some close games. But as a whole, I’m very proud of the way we performed.”

Other honorable mentions this season include senior utility Chris Richardson, and freshman attacker Cory Laidig. Both Aggies headlined All-WWPA honorees, and had 58 and 26 goals, respectively.

This season marks the fifth time in a row that UC Davis water polo finished within the top four in WWPA standings.The Aggies achieved 2nd place titles in each of the 2013, 2011 and 2010 seasons, a remarkably consistent feat by WWPA standards.

UC Davis head coach Daniel Leyson acknowledged No. 6 ranked UC San Diego for taking the crown this season. “They have a really good team and they have demonstrated all year long that they’re the favorite.”

As for next year, the Aggies will attempt to take out the respectable UCSD. “I expect to win WWPA,” affirmed Grab.

Given the current performance, it will serve as no shock if the Aggies do just that.

Senior left tackle Ian Theophilus Joseph, an anthropology major from Placer, Calif., is on his way to becoming a medical doctor, but he might take a quick pit-stop in the NFL. From a young age, Joseph was inspired by his mother and had it engraved in his mind that he would one day become a doctor. But as he was growing up, he fell in love with football as well and decided to pursue both of his goals at UC Davis.

After redshirting his freshman season, Joseph has started 45 consecutive games as the Aggies’ left tackle – for every game during that stretch – a feat that few have accomplished. Joseph has been an anchor for the UC Davis offensive line for the last four seasons.

This season, Joseph was part of an offensive line that provided exceptional protection for the backfield. UC Davis only allowed a total of 14 sacks for a loss of 90 yards. This is second in the Big Sky Conference to Portland State’s 10 sacks allowed. Joseph had a big part in this feat, bringing four years of experience that most linemen do not have on their resume.

In addition, in 11 starts this season, Joseph recorded 16 cuts, 18 knockdowns, 3 pancakes and graded out over 90% five times – excellent statistics that the coaches keep track of after reviewing the game film. In football, it is difficult to evaluate linemen without any official statistics, but Joseph’s presence on the field has been anything but quiet. He led an offensive line that allowed sophomore quarterback Ben Scott to throw 19 touchdown in just six starts.

In addition, this offensive line opened up huge gaps for senior running back Gabe Manzanares who earned 831 yards and five touchdown in nine games this season. Manzanares ranked third in the Big Sky with 92.8 yards per game. The offense as a whole earned 1,585 rushing yards with 15 rushing touchdowns and averaged 144 yard per game.

Despite losing a majority of their games, Joseph and the rest of the team stayed motivated and competed hard every Saturday of the season.

“We believed we were a good team. We first started to believe that during the very first play against Montana State….We all hit off the ball, we all hit our guy, and I’m pretty sure that on that first play we had three or four knockdowns,” said Joseph. “We started to build our confidence and play more consistently.”

This season, Joseph was finally recognized by the conference. He earned an All-Big Sky Conference first team consideration, his second Big Sky honor after receiving an honorable mention last season. Joseph, along with the rest of the team, believes that this recognition was long overdue.

“It was a long time coming. I thought I deserved at least second team last year. I really thought it was a long time coming,” restated Joseph. “I didn’t feel entitled, but I did believe that I was the best left tackle in the conference. I still believe that.”

Joseph was also just nominated for the American Football Coaches All-American team, yet another accolade for the outstanding lineman.

Despite leaving behind a program that ended its season with a 2-9 record, Joseph believes that UC Davis is heading in the right direction. The team showed a lot of potential this season and Joseph believes that Aggies football will turn it around.

“Success is coming,” Joseph stated.” We worked harder than any team in the conference, and the only thing that has been holding us back has been us and our mindset. No one can really fix that but us, collectively. It doesn’t just start when the season starts, it starts when the previous season has ended.”

As he leaves behind a struggling program with outstanding potential, Joseph looks forward towards the future and towards his life goal. Joseph has one objective, and that is to become a doctor. Still, he recognizes that he has opportunity to make it to the NFL and accomplish another one of his goals.

“I still don’t know much about the process, I’ve been talked [with] agents here and there,” said Joseph. “I’m still looking into it, but my plan is to just burn the bridge and just go for it. Go 100% and give it all I can. Because I love the game.”

There must be something about the left tackle position at UC Davis that attracts players who have aspiring life goals. Prior to Joseph, Elliot Vallejo held down the left tackle position for the Aggies. He started his college career at UCLA in 2002 and wanted to become an engineer. After starting his career at UCLA he later transferred to UC Davis where he could balance football and earn his engineering degree.

In 2006, when Vallejo finished his college career and earned his Bachelor’s degree in engineering. He was later signed as an undrafted free agent with the Arizona Cardinals where he would eventually make an appearance at the Super Bowl. In 2010 he retired from his football career, received his Master’s degree in engineering and is currently a systems engineer in the Northwest.

With a degree from UC Davis soon to be under his belt, Joseph is one step closer to accomplishing his goal and becoming a doctor. He recognizes all the work that he needs to accomplish his goal, while acknowledging the various resources that  available to student-athletes. This helped Joseph reach his goals while playing the sport that he loves. First, however, Joseph must first take on a huge challenge and train for the NFL combine. Ian Joseph has left his legacy on the UC Davis program, and is certain that his time as an Aggie has prepared him for the unknown that the future brings.

Back in August, while most UC Davis students were busy soaking up their final month of sunshine and summertime, our female Athlete of the Quarter was already kick-starting her most successful volleyball season to date.

Junior outside hitter/middle blocker Kaylin Squyres wasted no time in setting her standards high for the 2014 season. At the team’s first official outing, the Rice Invitational, Squyres totaled 47 kills in 9 sets, earning all-tournament honors. Just a month later, she went on to capture the Big West Player of the Week award. She accomplished this feat three more times this fall, setting a new school record and out-earning every other student-athlete in the league in this category for the season.

Despite such personal success, Squyres was admirably humble and team-oriented in regards to her season.

“I would say that my favorite moment — I guess it’s not one particular moment, but it’s the time when our team started to peak in skill and in the way that we started to come together as an entire team and not just as individuals,” Squyres said when asked about her favorite moment from this season. “I think that was really evident in the game against UC Irvine at home. That particular game was my favorite, showing how far we’ve come in skill and as a team.”

In spite of Squyres’ modest response, it’s clear that one of her season highlights was her career high of 25 kills in the match against Cal State Fullerton in mid-October. She also managed 20 or more kills in six other matches. Performances like this allowed Squyres to rank fifth in the AVCA Pacific North Region in kills per set, and improved her average kills per set from a rate of 2.72 in 2013 to a conference-leading rate of 4.12 for the 2014 season.

Squyres commented that her vastly improved rate for kills per set was the result of a tougher mindset this season.

“I became a lot more aggressive, I had a higher attack mentality and I was trying to take risks without making too many mistakes,” Squyres remarked.

Notably, Squyres also led the Big West in total points (498.5) and in points per set (4.7). The culmination to all of Squyres’ accomplishments this fall came when she made the All-Big West Conference first team, an accolade that is part of the league’s year-end awards.

“I’m really glad I got to be a part of that team. Our conference is really tough competition — there are so many good girls playing in Big West. It’s a great honor,” Squyres said regarding her accomplishments.

Squyres looks forward to a promising finish to her athletic career with UC Davis next fall.

The Aggies were down by just 6 points, 14 seconds left on the clock and the ball in the hands of sophomore phenom quarterback Ben Scott. The quarterback had just driven the Aggies 49 yards in five plays that took a total of 37 seconds. Two incomplete passes later, on third down with under 10 seconds to go, Scott threw an interception on a clear miscommunication with his receiver.

These final moments represented one of the most exciting times in a difficult Aggies football season. Scott, in just his second game at home as a starter, made it obvious throughout the day that he was the quarterback of the future. Still, the crowd was nearly silent as the young leader almost pulled off an improbable comeback. Under 6,000 people had come to the game that day, only barely above half of the capacity of Aggie Stadium.

For the past four seasons, the time that most UC Davis seniors have been on campus, attendance at football games has plummeted. While there are obvious struggles on the field, it is important to note that UC Davis Athletics simply has not done an adequate job of creating a lively football atmosphere.

The average attendance at a football game four years ago, minus games when no students were in town, was 9,192 people. This year? 6,752. No game in the 2011 season had attendance as low as 7,152, which is the most people to come to a game this season. Arguments can be made that this is simply due to the poor product that the football team has put on the field. Fellow Big Sky Conference school Weber State, however, averaged an attendance of 8,504 people this year despite finishing 2-10 and in second-to-last place in 2012 and 2013. Meanwhile, our conference rival Cal Poly has averaged 8,954 guests at each game with a student population over a third smaller than that of UC Davis.

I grew up and went to high school in San Luis Obispo, Calif., where Cal Poly football reigns supreme. Throughout the city, there is genuine excitement and pride for the school’s football program and the town is usually buzzing on game days. Even as somebody whose allegiance has clearly turned against Cal Poly, I far prefer catching a game at the Alex G. Spanos Stadium. This year, in the Battle of the Golden Horseshoe, a man landed on the field with a giant American flag to start a game that over 10,000 people came out to see. At Aggie Stadium, you simply won’t find anything like that.

I’ve heard Athletic Director Terrence Tumey speak several times and he generally touches on the importance of UC Davis creating a gameday product that rivals that of Division I programs. Still, I have yet to see any improvements since he took over. Under “Athletics; Marketing, Promotions, and Aggie Pack,” on the athletics directory, there are only three full-time positions listed with two additional interns. The remainder of this task falls to Aggie Pack student interns who, while doing a commendable job, simply should not be heading this expansive undertaking. The assistant athletic director of marketing, meanwhile, has been in charge for a number of years and has accompanied the attendance downfall of the past four seasons.

A large percentage of student fees goes into UC Davis Athletics, one way or another. A portion of the $549 per year for the “Campus Expansion Initiative,” goes toward athletic awards for Division I play, part of the $404 for “Facilities and Campus Enhancement,” went to the building of Schaal Aquatic Center and Aggie Stadium, while some of the $344 for “Student Activities and Services,” goes to intercollegiate sports and the Pavilion.

It is time that UC Davis Athletics puts effort into increasing the outreach to both students and the larger Davis community while making games a more enjoyable experience. Students put a significant amount of their yearly fees into athletics and are simply not receiving anything in return. If UC Davis wants to begin to compete at a Division I level, as Tumey has stated, they must realize that they are not living up to those expectations with the way that they are currently operating. They must adapt their organization in order to change the atmosphere throughout the UC Davis and Davis communities. We, as students, are being robbed of a quintessential college experience in pride and excitement for our athletics and deserve the changes that they must make.

Share how you feel about how UC Davis Athletics is doing with Sports Editor Ryan Reed at sports@theaggie.org.