Hawaii Beat
Star-Bulletin staff
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Seasiders women repeat in tennis
The second-ranked doubles team of Jing Jing Liu and Maggie Deng won the opening match 8-1 to set the tone for Brigham Young-Hawaii's dominating title performance yesterday at the NCAA Division II women's tennis championship in Altamonte Springs, Fla.
The top-ranked Seasiders (33-0) swept No. 4 Western Florida 5-0 for their second straight D-II crown and seventh in the past nine years. BYUH has won 60 consecutive dual matches dating back to last year and are 293-2 since moving to the D-II level.
All six of BYUH's singles players were undefeated this season. Including NAIA play, the Seasiders women have won nine national titles in the past 11 years.
Fujikawa, Song top golf qualifiers
Moanalua High School's Tadd Fujikawa earned a spot in the U.S. Open Sectional Qualifier and Jennifer Song of Korea led the qualifiers for the U.S Women's Open Sectional with the top rounds yesterday at the Turtle Bay Resort's George Fazio Golf Course, the first time the Hawaii men's and women's qualifiers were conducted jointly.
Fujikawa, who drew national attention when qualifying for last year's Open at age 15, carded a 5-under 67 to advance. Shunsuke Sonoda (69) of Japan and California Naoya Takemoto (70) are the first and second alternates.
Takemoto tied Punahou product Parker McLachlin for third, but McLachlin, a PGA Tour pro, declined the opportunity of a playoff and deferred to Takemoto to avoid a potential conflict with the sectional and his brother Spencer's graduation from Punahou.
Song shot a 69 to earn one of three women's spots. Also advancing to the sectional were Wailuku's Kim Kyung (73) and Miki Ueoka (74) of Lihue.
Power on all-tourney team, UH waits
Senior infielder Alana Power was the sole Hawaii player to be named to the Western Athletic Conference softball all-tournament team yesterday, a day after the 12th-ranked Rainbow Wahine saw their hopes for the automatic NCAA tournament berth derailed.
Instead, it was host Fresno State that earned the WAC's automatic spot after defeating Nevada 5-3 yesterday in front of 1,143 fans at Bulldog Diamond.
Hawaii (46-11) will learn its postseason fate during today's tournament selection show on ESPNews beginning at 9 a.m. Hawaii time.
Murray takes discus, Wahine sixth
Senior Novelle Murray won her third conference discus championship and added a silver in the hammer to lead the Hawaii women's track and field team to sixth place as the Western Athletic Conference Championship concluded yesterday in Fresno, Calif.
Murray, who took a bronze in the shot put Friday, had a personal-best throw of 185 feet, 2 inches in the discus, the second-best throw in the country this year. The Canadian's hammer throw of 196-1 was also a personal best.
Murray finished with three of Hawaii's six medals. Two other medals came in the high jump as the Wahine went 1-2. Sophomore Emily Sheppard successfully defended her WAC title with a jump of 5-8.75, winning the tie-breaker over teammate Mallory Gilbert, who took the silver.
Louisiana Tech won the title with 162 points. Hawaii was sixth with 97.
» Logan Taylor (Word of Life '04) qualified for today's finals in the 110-meter hurdles at the Pacific-10 Conference track and field meet at Stanford. The junior at Southern California finished fifth with a time if 14.11 seconds in yesterday's prelims.
Jones, Bolla headline QB Club lunch
Hawaii football coach June Jones and Rainbow Wahine basketball coach Jim Bolla are among the featured speakers at tomorrow's Honolulu Quarterback Club meeting at the Pagoda Hotel main ballroom.
Also speaking will be Sacred Hearts girls basketball coach Alan Matsui. Lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. followed by the program.
The weekly meeting is open to the public.
Wahine 14th at NCAA Regional
The Hawaii women's golf team finished 14th out of 21 teams yesterday in its first NCAA Division I West Regional appearance played at the Entrada at Snow Canyon Course in St. George, Utah.
The Rainbow Wahine were led by Dale Gammie and Xyra Suyetsugu who tied for 48th place with 230 totals.
Stanford and Oklahoma State shared the team title with 874s.
Mari Chun (Kamehameha '05) led the Cardinal with a 73-72-69--214. The sophomore finished in a two-way tie for third place.
Kelly Nakashima (Baldwin '04) posted the top score for the Idaho Vandals who came in 12th. The junior had rounds of 74-73-75---222 to finish tied for 15th place.
Lehua Wise (Kauai '03), who received an at-large invitation, tied for 18th place. The senior at New Mexico State shot a 73-72-78--223.
» Emily Lau (Iolani '03) finished 38th on Friday at the NCAA Division III Championships on the El Campeon Course at Mission Inn Golf and Tennis Resort in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.
The Puget Sound senior shot 87-84-85-81--337 in her final collegiate competition.
Vulcans shut out in regional semifinal
Hawaii-Hilo was shut out by Cal State Stanislaus 7-0 yesterday in a semifinal of the NCAA Division II West Region Softball Tournament.
The Vulcans (42-12) dropped into the consolation bracket of the double-elimination tournament.
Dana Lee and Zoie Sevilla, had two hits apiece to account for all of the Vulcans' offense.
Gangwes busy at Cascade meet
Kealani Gangwes (Ka'u '06) scored points for Warner Pacific in three of four events at the Cascade Conference track and field championships Friday and Saturday.
The freshman was fourth in the triple jump (33 feet, 8 1/2 inches), sixth in the long jump (14-11 1/2), seventh in the 100-meter hurdles (17.14 seconds) and 12th in the 100-meter dash (13.83.)
Anthony Taylor (Kamehameha '06), a sophomore at Southern Oregon, placed fourth in the triple jump (42-4 1/4) and fifth in the long jump (20-7). Teammate, freshman Christopher Andres-Paguirigan (Waipahu '06), was 10th in the triple jump (36-11).
James leaves Silverswords
Chris James, women's tennis coach at Chaminade, has resigned his position to pursue other opportunities.
The Silverswords were 2-12 this past season.