ISLE FILE
Hawaii still second at WAC track meet
Advertiser Staff
The University of Hawai'i women's track and field team captured three bronze medals and remained in second place yesterday at the Western Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships in Boise, Idaho.
Idaho has scored 88 points through the first seven events. Hawai'i has 38.5 points, followed by Nevada (33), Fresno State (29.5), Louisiana Tech (28), Utah State (23), New Mexico State (20.5) and Boise State (12.5).
"I'm pleased with our effort and where we are in the standings, but we all know that the Louisiana Tech train is coming down the track with the sprints tomorrow," UH coach Carmyn James said. "We'll pick up more points tomorrow with the long throws and high jump. We also have athletes in the 5K and 800 and we'll contend in both relays."
Hawai'i got bronze medals from Meghan Weaver in the shot put (50 feet, 10 inches), Chantelle Wilder in the 10,000-meter run (38 minutes, 49.71 seconds) and Annett Wichmann in the javelin (149-7). Shortly after the end of the javelin event, Wichmann returned to compete in the long jump (10th in 18-1/2) and shot put (ninth with 45-1).
Also yesterday, Samantha Weaver placed fourth in the pole vault (12-7 1/2) and Jessica Custance finished sixth (12-1 1/2). Mariana Monasi placed eighth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 13:02.51.
The meet concludes today, with Hawai'i hoping to improve on last year's sixth-place finish. Louisiana Tech is the three-time outdoor champion.
TENNIS
BYUH FALLS IN NATIONAL
The top-ranked Brigham Young-Hawai'i women's tennis team was upset in the semifinals of the NCAA II National Championship Tournament yesterday by second-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State, 5-1, in Houston.
The loss ended the Seasiders' winning streak at 88 matches.
BYUH ends the season at 28-1. Armstrong Atlantic State (31-1) will play for the national championship today.
The Seasiders, who played with four freshmen and one sophomore in the lineup, trailed 2-1 after the doubles matches and were unable to pick up any wins in the singles matches before play was halted.
BYUH took an early 1-0 lead when Jenny Chin and Ayako Ikeda won 8-2 at No. 3 doubles. However, top-ranked Elwen Li and Maggie Deng were upset at No. 1, 8-5, by the nation's third-ranked team of Iulia Stupak and Gabriella Kovacs to even the match. BYUH's Ramona Husaru and Becky Lu were then toppled by Martina Beckmann and Alida Muller-Wehlau, 8-6, at No. 2 doubles.
In singles play, Armstrong Atlantic State picked up wins at No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 to end the match.
GOLF
JANG LEADS JENNIE K.
Punahou School junior Anna Jang shot a 1-under-par 71 yesterday to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the 58th Jennie K. Wilson Invitational at the Mid-Pacific Country Club course.
Jang, who won the state high school championship last year, leads this year's state prep champion Kristina Merkle by a stroke. Merkle, a Moanalua High junior, is seeking her third straight Jennie K. title.
Xyra Suyetsugu, the 2007 women's stroke play champion who recently completed her collegiate career at the University of Hawai'i, is alone in third at 73.
Mid-Pacific Institute's Hayley Young and Kalani High's Nicole Sakamoto are tied for fifth at 74.
Maui schoolteacher Bobbi Kokx, who won the Jennie K. in 1984 and 2000, shot 75 to share seventh with Traci Kashiwabara-Ayabe.
The second round of the 54-hole tournament will tee off at 7 a.m. today.
CYR WINS NAIA TITLE
Point Loma Nazarene junior Sam Cyr, a King Kekaulike graduate, won the NAIA Men's Golf Championship yesterday at Indiana National Golf Club in Plymouth, Ind.
Cyr, who was tied for the lead after the second round and slipped into second after Thursday's third round, shot a 2-under 70 in yesterday's final round to finish at 8-under 280.
Cyr, who finished second last year, had rounds of 69, 70, 71 and 70 en route to his third straight All-America honor.
FOOTBALL
MAIVA SHIFTS TO UCLA
Offensive lineman Kai Maiava said he is transferring to UCLA after earning freshman All-America honors at Colorado last season.
"It's close to my brother (Kaluka Maiava, a rising senior linebacker at Southern California) and my family," Maiava said in an interview with The Maui News.
Maiava, a 2007 Baldwin High School graduate, was released from his scholarship at Colorado last month. He will redshirt this season.
Maiava said he was excited about the prospect of working with UCLA offensive coordinator Norm Chow, a Punahou School graduate, who joined the Bruins staff this offseason, after Rick Neuheisel was hired as the head coach.
"Norm Chow is a great coach of everything," Maiava said. "He's probably one of the best coordinators in the nation."
Maiava was named a freshman All-American by scout.com last season after starting the Buffaloes' last nine games. Colorado's statistics credited him with 74 "knockdown blocks," the second-best total on the team.
