The husband-and-wife coaching tandem of Jon and Deanne Vochatzer lead a class of seven new inductees, which also includes golfer Louie Bishop, water polo player Katherine O’Rourke (Shroyer), football’s Dave Roberts, women’s basketball player Kari Sivesind (Montero) and baseball’s Robby Tulk.

Additionally, former UCD football and soccer standout Rolf Benirschke — who starred for the San Diego Chargers — will receive the Aggie Legacy Award for outstanding achievements in an athletics-related field since leaving the university. Jane Arp was selected as the recipient of the Special Recognition Award for volunteer contributions to the athletics department.

The same night, three-time Big West Golfer of the Year Demi Runas, Mid-Major basketball All-American Corey Hawkins and Academic All-America soccer player Mustafa Chopan will get Aggie Athletics awards for the 2012-13 season.

Runas, who finished tied for 37th at the recent NCAA Division I Golf Championships for the 17th-ranked UCD squad, has been named the Dr. Hubert Heitman Award winner as the outstanding female student-athlete. Hawkins, a sharp-shooting guard who recently completed his inaugural season, is the recipient of the Colby E. “Babe” Slater Award as the outstanding male student-athlete.

Chopan, an Aggie team captain who helped UCD to its first Big West North Division title, will receive the W.P. Lindley Award as UCD’s outstanding student-athlete.

Those awards will be handed out while UCD celebrates some of the most important athletes and coaches in school history.

The Vochatzers combined for nearly a half-century of coaching for the Aggie track and field teams, bringing prominence to the athletics program both with the success of their UCD athletes and with their contributions on the international scene. Both coaches retired after the 2010 season.

In 30 total seasons, Jon Votchatzer earned 12 West Region Division II Coach of the Year honors — six indoors and six for the outdoor season. He also mentored 80 NCAA All-Americans, including nine national champions, while guiding the program to four top-10 NCAA finishes and 14 conference championships.

Deanne Vochatzer won 19 total Coach of the Year awards: 10 for the conference, eight for the West Region, plus the 1999 NCAA Division II Coach of the Year nod. Deanne Vochatzer also mentored 67 individuals and 11 relay squads that earned All-America honors.

Deanne Vochatzer was the head women’s coach for the U.S. Olympic team at the 1996 Centennial Games in Atlanta to highlight a brilliant international career, while Jon Vochatzer also served on the American coaching staff.

Bishop led UCD golf during the university’s reclassification period, becoming the first Aggie to win PING Division I All-America honors as a senior in 2007. He set school records for career and season stroke average, and won three tournaments.

O’Rourke Shroyer scored 154 goals as a center and defender for the Aggie women’s water program from 2004 to 2007. Relatively unheralded out of high school, she emerged into the team’s leading scorer in her final two seasons, earning All-America third-team distinction as a junior and honorable mention as a senior.

An offensive tackle from 1970 to 1972, Roberts owns the distinction as the first player in UCD football history to earn first-team All-America honors, making the coaches association’s top squad as a senior.

Sivesind Montero starred as a wing during head coach Jorja Hoehn’s streak of seven straight NCAA postseason appearances. She set a school record with 232 assists and continues to rank among the program’s all-time career leaders in points, assists and blocks.

Tulk started 201 of the Aggie baseball team’s 211 games in center field during his career from 2001 through 2004. Entering this season, he continues to hold school records for career games played and doubles, while ranking second all-time in at-bats, hits and runs. In 2004, he was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 25th round of the MLB draft.

Benirschke, formerly a soccer and football standout for UC Davis in the mid-1970s, went on to become one of the great inspirational stories of the sporting world during and after his professional career with the San Diego Chargers. On the field, he kicked for 10 years and set a club record of 766 points.

Perhaps more remarkable, however, was that the 1977 zoology graduate played most of his career after undergoing emergency abdominal surgery that resulted in the removal of big portions of his large intestine. Even in January 1982, after he had kicked the winning overtime field goal in the AFC divisional playoff game in Miami, Benirschke was still battling his illness. He was hospitalized again mere weeks after the conference championship to endure additional surgery.

Off the field, Benirschke’s career is one of advocacy and philanthropy. He founded the Great Comebacks program, which later became a community for those living with Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and other similar conditions. He also began the Legacy Golf Invitational as a benefit for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America and other charities.

Benirschke’s undergraduate studies continued to play a major role in his life. He founded Kicks for Critters to aid what is now known as the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research.

Benirschke received the NFL’s Man of the Year (now known as the Walter Payton Man of the Year) and NFL Player Association’s Byron “Whizzer” White Man of the Year awards in 1983. He also earned spots in the Chargers Hall of Fame and on the team’s 50th anniversary team.

Arp, wife of former assistant football coach Fred Arp, volunteered her services as a photographer for the UCD football program for four decades, never missing a home or road game.

The Gaucho victory, combined with an 8-1 win on Friday, gave UCSB (34-23, 17-10) the series sweep.

On Saturday, senior Ben Burke got the start for UCD (19-37, 5-22) but Evan Wolf, normally a starter, took the loss in relief.

Senior third baseman Paul Politi went 1-for-4 and knocked in a run to finish his five-year career with 114 RBIs, good ninth on the all-time Aggie list. He also ranks third in program history in both hits (228) and at-bats (773), No. 4 in games played (197) and No. 5 in doubles (44).

Fellow senior Austin Logan drove in a run and went 1-for-4, while Aggie catcher Spencer Brann was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

The game was tied at 3-3 before UCSB’s Tyler Kuresa’s solo homer in the sixth inning. After the Gauchos tacked on another run in the top of the ninth, UCD had its chance to tie in the bottom half.

Brann and pinch hitter Nick Lynch singled to start the inning before Tino Lipson’s sacrifice bunt put runners at the corners. Cameron Olson followed with hard grounder to second that resulted in a 4-6-3 double play.

On Friday, five different Aggies had hits in the loss. Logan scored UCD’s only run after he doubled in the seventh inning and came home when Mike Mazzara’s ground ball forced a throwing error.

Pitcher Patrick Hennessey joined Burke, Politi, Logan and Mazzara in playing their final games as Aggies.

Who could blame them?

On a night when the Blue Devils sent nine athletes to the CIF state meet, set for next weekend in Clovis, seemingly every DHS athlete had a performance worth talking about.

There was Paul Mohr, who, in the 800-meter dash, had the patience to let a runner from Nevada Union pass him midway through the final lap. When the runner began to burn out down the stretch, Mohr nonchalantly shot back in front to cross in first place. His time of 1:53.98 set a new school record.

There was Nick Denton, who took first in the shot put with a throw of 56 feet, 9.5 inches.

And there were Han-ah Sumner and Ellie Eaton, who placed second in the 800 and 200 meters, respectively. Sumner hit the afterburners down the stretch to finish with a personal-best time of 2:15.16 and Eaton was her usual speedy self — and more — as she crossed the line in a personal-record 55.54 seconds.

“Overall, it was a good meet,” Elliott said. “We had some really incredible accomplishments and some really great performances and then we also had a couple of disappointing ones as well, so (it was) a full range of emotions.

“Anyone who qualifies for state stands out to me and is worth mentioning.”

Freshman Fiona O’Keeffe outlasted senior Karlie Garcia from Oakmont, pulling ahead at the end of the 3,200 to secure a third-place finish (10:40.17).

Two of O’Keeffe’s Blue Devil cross country teammates, Sophie Meads and Jack Scranton, both qualified in the 1,600. Meads was consistently strong throughout her race to finish third (5:02.86). Scranton appeared to overexert himself taking the lead in the final lap before struggling down the straightaway and getting passed by three runners. Still, his time of 4:15.94 was good enough to earn him an at-large berth to the state meet.

Davis sophomore Blake Croft crossed the line a second after Mohr to claim third in the 800.

“It was probably the best Masters meet we’ve ever had,” Gregg said. “Finishing in the top three is a real big challenge and Sophie’s put it together three weeks in a row now and she was super-pleased. Jack’s been up and down all season and he put it together as well. Going one-three in the 800 for the boys is just amazing.

“Fiona’s race was just fabulous. We’ve had to bring her on a little bit at a time because she’s coming back from injury. She ran 10:40 (Friday) and that was another 15-second improvement.”

Kyle Clancy, a sophomore, placed seventh in the long jump, but his mark of 22 feet. 0.5 inches met the requirement for a CIF at-large bid.

Many of the Blue Devils who didn’t qualify also had impressive outings. Jasper Laca set a new personal record in the 3,200 (9:30.70) en route to an eighth-place finish and Brian Song also reached a new plateau, finishing the 1,600 in 4:25.97. His time was good for 11th in the race.

Courtney Meyer and Spencer LaHaye finished seventh and ninth, respectively, in the pole vault, and the record-setting girls 4×400 relay team — made up of Rose Stephens, Laney Teaford, Sumner and Eaton — ran one of its fastest times of the season, 3:54, and took fifth place.

Last year, the Blue Devils squad — with graduated Hannah Krovetz in place of Stephens — rode a brilliant effort by Eaton down the stretch to a first-place finish. This time around, however, Eaton started too far back to have a chance at catching any of the frontrunners.

“Last year, when we went to state, we talked about not taking it for granted because you just never know what’s going to happen during the year,” Elliott said of this relay team. “They race for it. It was one of those things where we didn’t move on, but it wasn’t because they didn’t try harder or because they didn’t prepare for it or because they didn’t race well. Other teams ran faster and that’s OK.

“It’s disappointing, but we’re also very proud.”

Elliott, Gregg and the Davis nine now turn their attention to the state meet, which begins with trials on Friday and ends Saturday at Buchanan High School.

— Reach Will Bellamy at wbellamy@davisenterprise.net. View galleries and purchase prints of Blue Devil sports photos at http://davisenterprise.zenfolio.com

They were 21st in 2008 and placed 20th in their last appearance in 2011.

Friday proved to be the toughest day on the course for the 24 teams, with only champion USC shooting par. No. 17 UCD was 25-over in the last round, finishing at 51-over 1,203 for the 72-hole championship.

Freshmen Betty Chen tied for 32nd in her first NCAA Finals appearance, senior Demi Runas capped her spectacular Aggie career by tying for 37th and Vatananugulkit tied for 73rd. Standout senior Amy Simanton tied for 102nd while freshman Andrea Wong tied for 109th.

Top-ranked USC ran away with the championship, finishing 19-under for a 21-stroke win over Duke. UCD was just two shots behind No. 24 Northwestern and only three back of No. 5 Arkansas and No. 13 Stanford, as those two squads tied for 13th.

Runas ended her career by shooting a 79 on Friday, peaking on her final nine holes, which she covered with eight pars and just one bogey. Runas captured three straight Big West Golfer of the Year Awards and earned all-conference first-team honors all four seasons.

Simanton, another four-year All-Big West first-team selection for the Aggies, was just three shots above par on the front nine and ended the day with a pair of birdies.