Hawaii Beat
Star-Bulletin staff
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Iolani's Smith heads for UNLV
All-State forward Jamie Smith will still be wearing red and black next season.
Instead of donning the jersey of the Iolani Raiders, the 6-foot senior will wear the uniform of the UNLV Rebels. Smith, recently inducted into the Hawaii High School Hall of Honor, opted for UNLV over Hawaii, Utah, Cal State Northridge, Northern Arizona and San Francisco.
"The coach is awesome, and she's really high on academics," Smith said of new coach Kathy Olivier, a former Rebel player who assisted at UCLA for 15 seasons. Olivier returned to UNLV to become head coach one month ago.
"The team is great. They're all nice and it was easy to hang out with them," Smith added. "The facilities at UNLV are fabulous. It's like a desert oasis."
Smith nearly averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds as Iolani reached the final of the girls basketball state championships. Her skill as a low-post scorer was well executed at Iolani, but Smith added more range to her perimeter shot before her senior year. That bodes well at the next level, where she may play more on the wing.
"I definitely have gotten more comfortable, but this summer I definitely gotta bust my butt and work out as much as I can," she said.
Medals for kayakers Dolan, Campbell
Maryknoll senior Pat Dolan and Kamehameha senior BJ Campbell combined for nine medals at the Pan American Championships/Continental Olympic Qualifier for kayaks that concluded Sunday in Montreal.
Dolan, who won four gold medals at last month's U.S. trials, took gold in the junior K-1 500 meters by more than two seconds by beating Canadian Shaun Fair on Sunday. He barely missed out on a second gold in the K-1 200 when he finished behind Fair by .204 seconds for a silver.
Dolan and Campbell were also part of the U.S. team that took third in the K-4 200. Campbell added one second-place finish (also two other third-place finishes, earning bronze as part of the K-4 500 team; and two thirds, in the K-2 500 and K-2 200.
On Saturday, Dolan was third in the K-1 1,000 and Campbell was part of the K-4 1,000 third-place team.
In senior events, Brandon Woods (Mid-Pacific '02) earned a bronze in the K-4 1,000. Woods, Pat Dolan (Maryknoll '06) and Eric Abbott (Punahou '06) were part of the K-4 500 crew that was fifth.
Abbott and Dolan finished sixth in the K-4 200 and Dolan's K-2 200 team was seventh.
Palileo new volleyball coach WSU
Andrew Palileo (Waipahu '86) has been named the new women's volleyball coach at Washington State.
Palileo has spent the past seven seasons at South Dakota State, compiling a 154-86 record. He was named the Summit League coach of the year last season after the Jackrabbits won both the regular season and conference tournament, earning the school's first trip to the NCAA tournament.
Palileo also coached at Bethel for four seasons, going 85-53.
Conference honors for Fuller
Missouri Valley College shortstop Kimberly Fuller (Roosevelt '05) was named newcomer of the year and first-team All-Heart of America Conference in softball.
Fuller, who transferred from Nebraska, led the NAIA Vikings in seven statistical categories, including batting average (.379), and she tied for most home runs with eight. She also earned academic all-conference honors.
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Sea Warriors add 2 in basketball
Guard Mike Helton and forward Norman Wells have signed to play basketball for Hawaii Pacific next season.
The 6-foot-6 Helton played the past two seasons for Cochise (Ariz). College, where he averaged 8.3 points for the Apaches.
The 6-6 Wells, who played one season at Indiana State, transferred to HPU from John A. Logan College in Illinois, where he averaged 8.4 points and 5.4 rebounds for the Volunteers.