Hawaii Beat
Star-Bulletin staff
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Wie still undecided on next major
Michelle Wie had the cast removed from her left wrist this week, according to a source at Punahou School. She sprained it last month while visiting Stanford University. She was accepted into the Pac-10 school in December and plans to enroll this fall.
Wie has about 10 days to prepare for the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the first major on the LPGA Tour. Wie's publicist, Jesse Derris, said last night it was still 50-50.
"Michelle won't play unless she is fully recovered and feels like she can compete," Derris said. "I'd say her status has remained unchanged until she sees how she feels."
The Punahou senior was ranked second in the world at last year's Kraft Nabisco, but has since dipped to 17th in the latest Rolex Rankings released March 12. She was passed by American rival Morgan Pressel last week, who is currently 16th with a point total of 4.18. Wie is at 3.99, just .01 in front of Jee Young Lee.
Wie was invited to play at the Kraft-Nabisco earlier this year, but has yet to officially commit to the tournament played in Palm Springs, Calif. Last year, she finished third, just one shot behind eventual winner Karrie Webb.
Rainbows keep Panthers winless
Justin Frash went 4-for-5 with two doubles and Kris Sanchez had four singles in five at-bats as Hawaii pounded Wisconsin-Milwaukee 9-2 last night in the first of a four-game series at Les Murakami Stadium.
The Rainbows improved to 16-8 with their seventh win in their last nine games. The Panthers fell to 0-10.
Ian Harrington (4-4) started for Hawaii and gave up two runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings for the win. Rob Michalkiewicz (0-3) absored the loss for the Panthers. » B3
Warriors take a step forward
It's a start.
Hawaii is still in 10th place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball standings but the Warriors are no longer stuck at three wins.
Led by senior Lauri Hakala's 16 kills and senior Eric Kalima's nine digs, Hawaii snapped its four-match losing streak with a 30-25, 30-25, 30-26 victory over Cal State Northridge last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The 14th-ranked Warriors also had 11 blocks, five by Matt Rawson, to improve to 4-13 overall, 4-11 MPSF. Dan Rhodes had 15 kills and Eric Vance 14 to lead the Matadors (13-10, 7-7).
The teams meet again at 7 tonight. » B3
Wedemeyer in prep hall of fame
INDIANAPOLIS » Charlie Wedemeyer, a standout in football, baseball and basketball at Punahou, will be in this year's class of inductees into the National High School Hall of Fame.
Jim Plunkett, a former Heisman Trophy winner at Stanford and Super Bowl MVP with the Raiders, and Terry Steinbach, who played with Oakland and Minnesota in a 14-year major league baseball career, head the list.
Wedemeyer, Plunkett, Steinbach and nine others will be inducted July 4 at the annual summer meeting of the National Federation of State High School Associations in Palm Desert, Calif.
U.S. women take over top ranking
ZURICH, Switzerland » The U.S. women's team took over the No. 1 spot in the FIFA rankings following its win in this week's Algarve Cup.
The Americans, who won the Algarve title for the fifth time, knocked defending World Cup champion Germany into second place, according to quarterly rankings released yesterday. The Americans had not held the top spot since August 2003, the last ranking before Germany won the World Cup and the U.S. finished third.
Associated Press
UH diver third at NCAA meet
Hawaii diver Magnus Frick finished in third place with a score of 407.5 on the 3-meter springboard event at the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships at Minneapolis.
Hawaii teammate Mats Wiktorsson took 13th place at 349.40.
UC Irvine's Randall Tom (Seabury Hall '04) finished ninth in the 100-yard butterfly event with a time of 46.71 seconds. He was on the 200 medley relay team that placed 12th in 1:20.0.
Mark Eckert (Iolani '04) came in 11th in the 400 individual medley. The junior at California was timed in 3:46.63. Hongzhe Sun (Iolani '03) swam the first leg in the Stanford 200 medley relay team that finished second in 1:24.85.
Wahine softball falls to Baylor
Baylor (25-6) second baseman Alex Colyer singled in Miriam Romero in the seventh inning to give the Bears a 3-2 win over Hawaii (24-7) on Thursday at Rainbow Wahine Stadium.
Tyleen Tausaga homered for the Wahine and pitcher Justine Smethurst struck out nine Bears in a losing effort.
Seasider freshman wins award
BYU-Hawaii freshman forward Emily Mearns was named the Pacific West Conference freshman of the year. Mearns led the Seasiders with 12 goals and five assists for the season.
Mearns and Jill Haar were named to the first team, while teammates Kristi Astin, Kristina Nibley and Sarah Norton were placed on the second team.
Vulcans sweep in tennis
The UH-Hilo men's and women's teams both swept Northwestern College (Minn.) 9-0 and 8-0, respectively, at Hilo.
The Vulcans dominated both matches, dropping only four total games in the men's duel and six total games in the women's matchup.
Sumo tournament tickets on sale
Tickets for the Hawaii Grand Sumo Tournament in June go on sale today at the Blaisdell Center box office.
The tournament is set for June 9-10 and will feature the top 40 wrestlers from Japan. Tickets range from $35 to $330 and are also available by calling 1-877-750-4400 and online at ticketmaster.com
For more information, call 946-1039.