Sports Update
Punahou runner Eri Macdonald gains national acclaim
It was a performance so stunning that it has catapulted Punahou's Eri Macdonald into the stratosphere of national track prospects.Macdonald, a junior, clocked 2 minutes and 10.3 seconds for 800 meters at a dual meet at Rocklin High in Northern California on March 25.
She finished just behind the nation's No. 1 female prep runner at the distance, Lindsay Hyatt of Placer High (Auburn, Calif.). Hyatt clocked 2:09.96.
Hyatt, also a junior, led the nation last year with a 2:09.16 time.
Finishing second to Hyatt, according to Mike Kennedy, a Los Angeles Times sportswriter who compiles top girls' performances for Track and Field News, makes Macdonald the No. 2 runner at 800 meters in the country this year.
He said that ranking will hold up at least until April 11 when the top 800-meter runners in the region meet at the Arcadia High School Invitational in Southern California.
Macdonald and Hyatt will both be there.
For vonAppen, it's deja vu all over again
You'll have to forgive Fred vonAppen if he feels like he took a brief trip in the way-back machine with Sherman and Mr. Peabody.The similarities between this spring and his first one in 1996 are striking for the University of Hawaii head coach.
Come Monday, vonAppen begins his third UH football season with many of his impact players not due until fall camp. He also has two new coordinators and a returning starting quarterback, who may not be a comfortable fit for the planned alterations.
That's not too dissimilar to vonAppen's first season when new offensive coordinator Guy Benjamin tried to put a West Coast engine into an option chassis. He also wound up starting lifelong option quarterback Glenn Freitas. Not surprisingly, the Rainbows finished last in the league in scoring and total offense.
New offensive coordinator Don Lindsey is in the same predicament. Over the next few weeks, he must install a new offense that not only caters to returning starter Josh Skinner, but must be flexible for the other candidates as well.
Kroeger will get tryout as wide receiver
The basketball-football connection at the University of Hawaii is becoming a two-way street.First, senior cornerback Robbie Robinson decided to play a little basketball this year after three seasons on the football field.
Now, after three years on the basketball court, Micah Kroeger is ready for some football. Rainbows offensive coordinator Don Lindsey said yesterday he's going to try the small forward at receiver.
"He's a big, athletic kid, who should offer our quarterbacks quite a target," Lindsey said of Kroeger, who will be at Monday's opening of spring practice. "I know he told (UH head coach) Fred (vonAppen) that he played football when he was younger, but decided to concentrate on basketball in high school.
"I don't know what kind of athlete he is on the football field. But he played hard and contributed well for the basketball team. We're glad to have that kind of athlete on our team."
Hawaii beats Irvine, braces for BYU
Looking ahead and looking behind, the University of Hawaii men's volleyball team was nearly caught overlooking UC Irvine Friday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.Thoughts instead were on Saturday night's 7 p.m. match against No. 4 Brigham Young, with the fifth-ranked Rainbows knowing a victory would clinch the top seed in the Pacific Division. It would also avenge the disheartening five-set loss to the Cougars in last season's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament's first round.
"I think some of us were looking past Irvine to BYU," admitted Hawaii senior hitter Jason Salmeri after the Rainbows won their fourth straight with a sweep of the Anteaters, 15-9. 15-10, 15-7. "That's the big match to us but we shouldn't have done that because this was a league match, too. I know some of us weren't going 100 percent, thinking about saving up for BYU.
"We weren't really connecting in the beginning. But even when we got behind (to UCI), we knew we could come back and beat them. We just had to play our game."
The Rainbows (19-5, 13-3) appeared to battle boredom as well as the Anteater block, watching as UCI (9-11, 5-10) took leads of 8-3 in Game 1 and 6-1 in Game 3. Both times, the Hawaii offense flipped an unseen switch, closing out the respective games with runs of 12-1 and 14-1.
See expanded coverage in Saturday's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
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