Hawaii Beat
Star-Bulletin staff
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Sporting News gives Brennan preseason honor
Hawaii junior quarterback Colt Brennan was named the Western Athletic Conference preseason offensive player of the year yesterday by The Sporting News.
Brennan led the nation in total offense last year with 371.3 yards per game and touchdown passes with 35. He was also tops in total passing yardage with 4,301.
"Obviously accolades at the end of the season are what really counts, but it's nice to be recognized for what we did last year," Brennan said in a phone interview with the Star-Bulletin. "I've already seen a lot of stuff about next season where I'm not even mentioned, so you can use it for motivation both ways."
Senior Tala Esera and sophomore wide receiver Davone Bess were also named to the All-WAC preseason offensive team, and senior defensive end Ikaika Alama-Francis was named to the defensive team by the publication.
Linebacker Korey Hall of Boise State was selected the conference's preseason defensive player of the year.
Hawaii was picked by The Sporting News to finish fourth in the WAC, behind Boise State, Fresno State and Nevada.
"On a national level, people don't seem to be expecting much from us, probably because we went 5-7," Brennan said. "But that doesn't really mean squat, and like I said, that helps our motivation. With the type of team we have coming back, we're real excited. We''ll just focus on games 1 to 13 and see what happens."
BYUH tennis earns split with Barry at NCAA IIs
The No. 2-ranked Brigham Young-Hawaii women's tennis team swept No. 5 Barry yesterday, 6-0, in the opening round of the NCAA Division II National Tournament in Kansas City, Mo. The No. 17 Seasider men's team also happened to play No. 6 Barry in their first-round matchup, but fell 5-4.
The Seasider women face No. 6 Abilene Christian today in the second round, while the men finish the season with a 15-4 record.
» The No. 14 University of Hawaii-Hilo women's tennis team also fell, 5-1, to No. 4 Lynn College yesterday in the tournament. Mai Fujii and Tiana Lum-Tucker won a doubles match, 9-8, over Gedvile Norkute and Leigh Shelton for the Vulcans' only victory of the day.
UH softball tops Nevada, earns third seed
The University of Hawaii softball team defeated Nevada, 6-2, yesterday in Reno to wrap up the regular season and take the third seed entering the Western Athletic Conference tournament today in Fresno, Calif.
The game was a continuation of a protest by the Wolf Pack on Apr. 29. Play resumed in the middle of the fourth inning with Hawaii down 2-1, but the Rainbow Wahine scored four runs in the top of the fifth inning and Justine Smethurst earned a complete-game victory.
The Rainbow Wahine (29-20, 10-7 WAC) will face Louisiana Tech (18-29, 6-9 WAC) in the first round of the double-elimination tournament.
Eguires on top in rodeo
Debbie Eguires of Haleiwa took first-place honors in three events and was the "big money" winner in Saturday's jackpot rodeo at the DK Ranch in Waimanalo. Eguires won the 3D barrel racing, 3D pole-bending and the open poles.
Other winners in the Hawaii Women's Rodeo Association event were Lori Ann Smith, Keiki Barrels, Terry Nii Aplaca in open barrels, Hapaki Aiu in amateur barrels, and Nicole Correa in novice horse barrels.
The other pole-bending winners were Analia Barboza in novice horse poles, Correa in amateur poles, and Monica Porter in keiki poles. Breakaway roping was won by Lani Nascimento.