ISLE FILE
Hawaii trio with U.S. junior volleyball
Associated Press
Hawai'i players make up 25 percent of the U.S. Junior Men's National Team that will compete at the 2008 NORCECA Men's Junior Continental Championship this week in San Salvador, El Salvador.
Advertiser Player of the Year Erik Shoji, a recent Punahou graduate, is the team's libero. 'Iolani graduate Brad Lawson and Maryknoll graduate Tri Bourne are hitters on the 12-man team. They are three of the seven junior national players who were on last year's U.S. Boys Youth National Team, which went to the FIVB World Championship.
The team was chosen following a training camp at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. The team's head coach is Shawn Patchell, head coach for Brigham Young's men's team.
The NORCECA Men's Junior Continental Championships is a qualifier for the 2009 FIVB Junior World Championship.
DIVING
NO OLYMPICS FOR FRICK
University of Hawai'i senior Magnus Frick, who secured an Olympic qualifying spot for Sweden in the 3-meter springboard at this year's FINA World Diving Cup in Beijing, was told yesterday that he would not be selected to represent his country at the 2008 Olympic Games.
Frick was told that the Swedish Olympic Committee felt his results at FINA Grand Prix events this summer were not high enough to secure a place on the team. Frick was runner-up on the 1-meter and sixth on the 3-meter at this year's NCAA Championships.
Last week, UH junior Emma Friesen placed fifth in 3 meters at the Canadian Olympic Diving Trials, in Victoria, British Columbia. Only the top two Canadian divers qualified for the Olympics. Friesen is the reigning NCAA champion 1-meter.
Frick and former UH teammate Mats Wiktorsson will compete this weekend in Jonkoping, Sweden, at the Swedish National Championships.
ACADEMICS
PACWEST HONORS FIVE
Five Hawai'i student-athletes were honored by the Pacific West Conference for excellence in the classroom.
BYU-Hawai'i led the league with four scholar-athlete of the year winners: Junior Amanda Whitford (3.82 GPA) in women's cross country; senior Sarah Norton (3.79 GPA) in women's soccer; sophomore Lucas Alves (3.56 GPA) in men's basketball; and senior Golden Harper (3.62 GPA) in men's cross country.
Chaminade junior Audra Takara (3.83 GPA) was named the top women's tennis scholar-athlete.
SWIMMING
SUN EYES OLYMPIC SPOT
'Ewa Beach native and 'Iolani and Stanford alum Hongzhe Sun qualified for a spot in today's semifinals of the 100-meter backstroke at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Omaha, Neb.
Sun is seeded ninth with a time of 54.83 seconds. He must finish with a top-eight time to advance to the finals.
The winner of the finals automatically qualifies for the Olympics.
