Chang wins first
collegiate race
Victoria Chang won her first collegiate cross country race yesterday, finishing the 6K UC San Diego Triton Classic in 21 minutes and 46.7 seconds."It is something we have talked about," McInnis said. "Running up front is something that she is going to need to do when we get to Dallas for the WAC championships."
Hawaii came in third in team scoring despite having the two fastest NCAA Division I runners at the meet. Hanna Bremler finished second among attached runners and fourth overall, 24 seconds behind Chang, but made her biggest impact by protecting Chang in the all-important first part of the race.
The Wahine were placed in the middle of the starting line, where teams often get lost in a sea of athletes from both ends trying to take their valuable space. Bremler and her teammates surrounded Chang and allowed her to escape the scrum unharmed and near the front of the pack.
"She's (Chang) is not the fastest philly off the line," Hawaii associate coach Andy McInnis said. "Sometimes I feel like 50 percent of the race is the start. The team did a good job of protecting her, we kind of run an offensive line out there."
After putting Chang in position to win, the rest of the Wahine went on to achieve personal bests. Although Hawaii finished behind UCLA and UC Irvine in points, it did beat WAC rival Nevada by a point.
Sea Warriors sweep: The Hawaii Pacific cross country teams won their home meet at Kaneohe yesterday, with the men beating Irvine Valley by 45 points and the women outscoring Brigham Young-Hawaii by 26.
Christian Madsen won the men's 10K race in 31:33 and Sayuri Kusutani won her third title of the season with a time of 21:33 in the women's 6K race.
Nakama taking over Kalani softball
Former UH assistant baseball coach Les Nakama is back in coaching, taking over the softball program at Kalani.Nakama spent eight years as an assistant at Hawaii and was the baseball head coach at Farrington during three decades. He was also an assistant at Damien, Campbell and Hawaii Pacific.
Na Koa lunch draws Jones, Helton
Hawaii football coach June Jones will be going over the tape of yesterday's win over Nevada at Na Koa lunch tomorrow at the All-Star Cafe.Assistant coach Tyson Helton will join Jones to preview next week's matchup against Tulsa. The program begins at 11 a.m.
Seasiders hit the wall at the end of road trip
The Brigham Young-Hawaii water polo team lost two more games yesterday, falling to No. 16 Cal Baptist and La Verne by 8-7 scores.The Seasiders play Chaminade Friday at 7 p.m.
Seasiders win again over Sea Warriors
Chun Yi Lin hit .600 and led Brigham Young-Hawaii with 13 kills as the Seasiders beat Hawaii Pacific 30-25, 30-27, 30-22 at Laie last night.The Seasiders (14-1, 4-1) took over first place in the Pacific West Conference, passing HPU (9-5, 4-1). Ashley Moeai and Yu Chuan Weng also finished in double-figure kills for the Seasiders.
'Swords sting Vulcans again: At Hilo, Kahala Kabalis torched the Vulcans for 22 kills and Valasi Sepulona contributed 18 as Chaminade (11-3, 4-2) beat UH-Hilo 25-30, 30-24, 30-23, 30-27 last night.
Sara Pilgreen led the Vulcans (6-12, 2-4) with 14 kills.
