Sports briefs: Reilly runs to a national title

Davis High graduate Chelsea Reilly ran to a surprising win at the USA Women’s 10K Championships on Sunday in Boston.

Her time of 32:40.1 — which was more than five seconds ahead of the second-place finisher — came in her first-ever attempt at a 10K race. The result was her first U.S. championship.

“I’m a little bit shocked,” Reilly told Runnerspace.com after the race. ”I had no idea how I would feel. I kept on waiting for it to get hard, and it didn’t. I was pleased that I was still there with five miles to go and was able to use my speed at the end.”

Reilly had previously used her speed while competing for Cal, qualifying for the NCAA national championships as a senior last June and taking ninth in the 5,000 meters.

“I want to be able to be competitive in any race that I enter; the road races are fun,” Reilly added. ”(The 10K win) just opens doors for me and allows me to keep running.”

As a Blue Devil senior in 2007, Reilly won the 1,600 at the Sac-Joaquin Masters meet and took fourth at the CIF state meet.

DHS boys water polo

Despite facing the best of the best in California prep water polo, the Blue Devils used an exciting victory in the tournament finale to take 11th out of 16 teams at the prestigious S & R Cup in Irvine last weekend.

After winning one of its first three games, DHS (10-4) faced Acalanes in a matchup for 11th place — and won 10-9 on Connor Stapleton’s game-winner in sudden-death overtime.

It was the third goal of the game for Stapleton, matching teammate Graham Fullerton’s hat trick, and Conrad McCarthy added a pair of goals for the Devils.

McCarthy had a hat trick of his own in the locals’ other victory, a 15-6 decision against Irvine in Game 2. Brad Nicholson and Stapleton also had three tallies apiece in the win, while Garrett Fisk and Fullerton added two goals each. Sam Burke and Jack Blattner also found the net for DHS.

Stapleton led the way in losses to Corona Del Mar (14-6) and Harvard Westlake (14-5), scoring twice in each game. Fisk added a pair of successful attempts against Westlake.

The Blue Devils are back in the pool Wednesday (3:45 p.m.), hosting Monterey Trail at Arroyo Pool. Thursday finds Davis at St. Mary’s (Stockton).

UCD women’s golf

Demi Runas was tied for 11th and fellow senior Amy Simanton was tied for 15th on Monday as the seventh-ranked Aggies opened in a tie for fourth place after the first day of the 54-hole Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational hosted by the University of Washington.

Runas, the Big West Golfer of the Month for September, scrambled early before finishing with a 2-over 74 at Sahalee Country Club, while Simanton finished strong to post a 75.

Freshman Andrea Wong added a 76 and was tied for 25th, freshman Raegan Bremer had a 77 and was tied for 30th, and sophomore Beverly Vatananugulkit shot 78 and was tied for 35th.

UCD combined for a 14-over 302 and was tied for fourth with No. 39 Oregon and San Jose State.

The Aggies were set to tee off for their second round at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, playing with UNLV, Gonzaga and Washington.

UCD men’s soccer

Alex Aguiar converted a penalty kick in the first half, then Alex Henry scored a beautiful goal in the 79th minute as the Aggies got past Cal State Fullerton, 2-1, on Sunday at Aggie Soccer Field.

It was the third straight win for UCD (5-4-4, 3-1 Big West), which has outscored the three opponents 6-2.

“We talked as a team and it was our objective to start fast,” said Aggie head coach Dwayne Shaffer. “We created some chances right away and had some great opportunities to score a goal in the first half. I told the team that if we got up on them, we’d have a great chance to win.”

Henry got UCD started offensively, lining up a direct free kick at the 8:59 mark, but the shot was stopped by the Titans’ defensive wall. From there, the Aggies had a 7-3 first-half shooting advantage over Fullerton (4-9-1, 0-3-1).

In the 30th minute, UCD’s Ryan Gross, a DHS grad, received the ball on the right sideline, dribbled through several Titan defenders, then took a low, hard shot on the ground, but his attempt was wide left.

Aguiar then put the Aggies up with a successful penalty kick in the 36th minute, his third goal of the year.

After the Titans put away the equalizer in the 63rd minute, Henry scored the game-winner in the 79th minute. Attempts by UCD’s Kevin Schulte and Pat Reese were cleared away by the Titan defense, but Henry controlled the clearance and hit a low laser shot into the far right corner of the net from 35 yards out. It was hist first goal of the year.

Next up for UCD is a big home match against UC Santa Barbara on Saturday at 3 p.m.

UCD men’s water polo

Sophomore Chris Richardson scored four goals, while DHS graduates Trevor Allen and Teddy Nicholson each added two tallies on Sunday, but the 17th-ranked Aggies fell to No. 3 UCLA, 15-8, at Schaal Aquatics Center.

Richardson scored all four of his goals in the second half, as UCD (11-9) tried to erase an 8-1 halftime lead by the Bruins (17-2)

Junior goalkeeper Tony Dito posted eight saves for the Aggies, including one on a power play.

In all, UCLA had seven power plays, converting four, while UCD drew 12 exclusions and scored on three.

The Aggies head out of state for their next contest, a 10 a.m. Western Water Polo Association game Saturday at Air Force.