Washington,
By Paul Arnett
Michigan State accept
Star-BulletinThe University of Washington accepted an invitation yesterday to play Michigan State in the 16th annual Jeep Eagle Aloha Bowl on Christmas Day. The Huskies are making their third appearance in the Aloha Bowl. They beat Maryland, 21-20, in the inaugural game and came back the next year to lose to Penn State, 13-10.
Four local players are on the Washington roster, including top Pac-10 center Olin Kreutz. The former St. Louis School standout may be playing in his last college game. The junior has hinted he may go out early in next April's NFL draft.
The other three local products on the No. 21-ranked Washington team are Stuart Williams of Kamehameha Schools, Petrocelli Kesi of St. Louis and Brian Bell of Punahou School.
"We're very excited about this game," Aloha Bowl chief executive officer Lenny Klompus said. "We've got two ranked teams, who are coming off excellent seasons. We would probably have worked out a deal with Notre Dame had Michigan State not beat Penn State. Notre Dame will probably end up playing Arizona State in the Sun Bowl."
It will be Washington's third career game with No. 25 Michigan State. The Spartans won the first matchup in 1969, 27-11, in East Lansing, Mich. In 1970, the Huskies had a 42-16 victory in Seattle.
This is the second Aloha Bowl appearance for Michigan State, which knocked off the University of Hawaii, 33-13, in 1989. It was the game's only sellout and was the most-watched matchup nationally in the bowl's history.
"We think we have one of the better bowl games this year," Klompus said. "We feel fortunate to have two-ranked teams with 7-4 records. Our sponsor and ABC are very happy with the two teams."
The Spartans are led by running backs Sedrick Irvin and Marc Renaud. Each rushed for more than 200 yards in the stunning 49-14 win over then No. 4-ranked Penn State. Washington counters with talented tailback Rashaan Shehee, who has missed most of the season with a bad ankle sprain.
For Aloha Bowl ticket information, call 947-4141.
HILO, Hawaii -- It wasn't that long a trip for Stanford to get to Hawaii. It turned into a big one, though. Stanford enjoys Hilo trip
Associated PressThe 12th-ranked Cardinal beat Butler, 99-86, last night to win the Big Island Invitational and improve to 4-0.
"Everyone learned a lot while we were here," Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said. "Hopefully, it will make us better, and hopefully, we can come back again sometime."
Stanford scored 19 of its last 21 points from the free throw line to hold off the Bulldogs (4-2).
Kris Weems led the Cardinal with 29 points, while Mark Madsen added 17, Peter Sauer 16 and Arthur Lee 15.
Oklahoma 86, UH-Hilo 70: The Hilo tournament wasn't as big a success for the Sooners (4-2), who opened with losses to Butler and Wisconsin before finally beating the host Vulcans (0-3) in the seventh-place game. The stumble cost the Sooners their spot in the Top 25 as they fell out of the poll from 18th.
Coach Kelvin Sampson tried to shake some things up in the final game and Evan Wiley responded to the benching with 29 points.
Wiley scored the first six points of the third quarter to give Oklahoma a 41-32 lead. Corey Brewer then scored all nine of his points in a span of four minutes to give the Sooners a 48-36 lead and Hawaii-Hilo never got closer than nine points the rest of the game.
In the other two Big Island Invitational games, Valparaiso beat Pacific 75-73, to take third place, and Wisconsin downed Montana, 78-61, in the fifth-place game.
The world's best surfers spent the weekend giving thanks to the ocean for providing bountiful surf to finally get the Rip Curl World Cup and Quiksilver Roxy Pro under way. Little, Ho lead advance in
By Greg Ambrose
Rip Curl World Cup
Star-BulletinThe 8-to 10-foot surf that brought Sunset Beach to life Saturday was just what Santa Cruz surfer Peter Mel was praying for. He showed his appreciation by powering through several tube rides while racking up a perfect 10 score, and tacked on a 9.33 and a 8.00 for the day's highest point total.
Not willing to let the visitors dominate, Hawaii surfer Brock Little also posted a perfect 10 for his own tube ride, and followed that by taking second in his second heat and moving on to the next round of competition in the $80,000 Rip Curl World Cup.
The wahines started things off yesterday in the $12,500 Quiksilver Roxy Pro, with a busy day of competition in 5-to 7-foot waves at Sunset Beach.
Hawaii's Rochelle Ballard was a shock elimination when she caught only one wave in her heat, but fellow Hawaii surfers Keala Kennelly, Kirsten Klaus and Cathy Beauford made it through to the quarterfinal rounds of competition.
Waialua surfer Megan Abubo won her heat, which put her in the quarterfinals and in prime position to win the historic womenUs Triple Crown of Surfing title.
The surf picked up in the afternoon yesterday for the continuation of the men's competition in the Rip Curl World Cup, the second event in the G-Shock Triple Crown of Surfing.
Wily veteran Michael Ho, a two-time Triple Crown Champion, showed with his first wave why he is still dominating the competition at the age of 40.
Ho took a late drop on a set wave, jammed a bottom turn that took him at full speed into the tube, came flying out and smacked the lip. Ho's heroics earned him a trip to the next round of competition, where he will be joined by fellow Hawaii trialist surfers Shawn Sutton, Brock Little, Garrett McNamara, Kolohe Blomfield and Aussie surfer Tony Ray, who won the first Triple Crown event, the OP Pro at Haleiwa.
For contest information, call 638-5024.
Peter Sohn, a former University of Hawaii standout, won the Hawaii State Open men's singles title yesterday at the Turtle Bay Hilton. Sohn takes two state tennis titles
Sohn beat Andy Nguyen, 7-5, 6-3.
Sohn also teamed with David Lam to win the men's doubles title, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, over Richard Sotelho and David Chang.
Stacey Hakikawa took the women's title with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Connie Zepeda.
HAWAII DOMINATED TOURNEY: Three Hawaii athletes were the top medal winners at the Junior Olympics & Masters Karate Championships, held this weekend at the Neal Blaisdell Center Arena.
Aaron Oandasan took three gold medals, one silver and one bronze. Jaime Migia and Victor Rapez each took four gold and one silver.
More than 800 athletes took part in the U.S.A. National Karate-do Federation-sanctioned event. Medalists are eligible to compete in karate's Junior World Cup, Friday through Sunday in Budapest, Hungary.