Upstart UC Davis held off the top-10 teams to win the inaugural women's championship yesterday while San Diego State, which finished second last year, held on to win the men's title in the ninth annual Turtle Bay Resort College Invitational.

Both teams went wire-to-wire at Turtle Bay's Arnold Palmer and George Fazio courses.

Punahou graduate Stephanie Kono (76—214), an All-America sophomore for top-ranked UCLA, claimed fourth in the women's individual championship. USC's Lizette Salas fired a final-round 70 to win by five shots, at 8-under-par 208.

The Rainbow Wahine took 12th in the 18-team field with a score of 320—926 — their best of the fall. Davis, ranked 27th, finished at 297—868, with UCLA (296—877) second, eighth-ranked USC (298—879) third and 10th-ranked Cal (306—883) third.

Moanalua High School graduate Kristina Merkle, a freshman at Tulsa, tied for fifth at 70—216. Senior Corie Hou (74—224) tied for 21st to lead the 'Bows for the third time this fall.

Hawai'i coach Lori Castillo, who has five first-year players, was happy with her team's tenacity, but ready to work on course management between now and the next event in February.

"We have to keep working on being smarter," Castillo said. "The teams ahead of us make less mistakes. They are not hitting it further or straighter. It's about managing the game."

The UH men (291—884) took eighth in their 12-team field, paced by freshman Cory Oride out of Kaua'i High. Oride closed with a 1-under-par 71 to tie for 13th at 216. Sophomore TJ Kua, also from Kaua'i, finished at 72—219 for a share of 18th.

"We're still learning," said UH coach Ronn Miyashiro, who has seven underclassmen. "We'll probably have depth down the line. I'm still waiting for that to happen. Consistency-wise, as we saw here, we are still not there. Once we get that we'll be OK."

San Diego State's Alex Kang beat teammate Andrew Cooley on the third playoff hole to win medalist honors. Kang nearly holed his approach shot to win with birdie. He shot a final-round 68 to pull into a tie for first at 7-under 209 with Cooley, who shot 71.

The Aztecs, ranked 31st, had a team score of 26-under 838 after a final-round 274. That was 18 better than fourth-ranked Illinois (277—856). Hawai'i Pacific (286—886) took ninth, paced by Charlie Renfro's 11th-place finish at 69—215. BYU-Hawai'i (301—921) was 11th.