StarBulletin.com

Trio of Dana wrestlers reach NAIA nationals


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POSTED: Friday, February 13, 2009

Ryan ”;Bulla”; Tuzon (Baldwin '05) will have company in the NAIA wrestling national championships.

The Dana College (Neb.) junior will be joined by teammates Torey Seminara (Pearl City '05) and Travis Okano (Lahainaluna '08) in the season-ending meet March 5-7 in Oklahoma City.

Seminara qualified for the national championships in the Briar Cliff Open last Saturday.

He opened the tournament with three consecutive wins in the 149-pound division, including a pinfall victory over Jake McClure of Sioux Falls, before losing to the No. 1 seed. He lost his next two matches, but sixth place was still good enough to qualify.

Freshman Tyler Lauifi (Pearl City '08) wasn't as fortunate, just missing out on qualifying. He opened the tournament with two consecutive victories, but was knocked out of the championship bracket by Spencer Bauer. He won his next match by decision and needed to beat Matt Meuleners for a chance to qualify, but lost a 13-1 decision.

Tuzon, Seminara and Okino competed a day earlier in a dual meet against Sioux Falls. Tuzon defeated Tyler Reibsamen by technical fall, 18-3, at 165 pounds, and Seminara pinned McClure in 22 seconds at 149. Okino came up just short against Chris Strand at 125 pounds, losing a 5-4 decision, but the Vikings won the meet 35-10.

 

BASEBALL

» Colorado School of Mines sophomore shortstop Nick Wong (Roosevelt '07) went 8-for-15 with two doubles, a triple, two runs scored and six RBIs as the Orediggers opened the season by winning three of four games against Midland Lutheran (Neb.).

 

MEN'S GOLF

» Oregon sophomore Sean Maekawa (Honokaa '07) shot consistent rounds of 76, 76 and 75 to finish at 11-over 227, good for a tie for 50th place in the Hawaii-Hilo Intercollegiate last Friday. San Francisco senior Kurt Nino (Damien '05) finished in a tie for 87th.

 

WOMEN'S GOLF

» Willamette senior Whitney Ueno (Hilo '05) shot a final-round 8-over 82 to finish in second place in the CMS Invitational Feb. 3 in Chino Hills, Calif. Puget Sound sophomore Natalie Nakamine (Roosevelt '07) placed fifth, six shots behind Ueno. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps freshman Brittany Isobe (Punahou '08) placed fourth to help the Athenas finish first in the team standings.

 

SOFTBALL

East Carolina junior Marina Gusman-Brown (Pearl City '06) finished 4-for-10 with a home run, two doubles, five runs scored and an RBI as the Pirates finished 3-1 in the ECU Invitational last weekend. Charina Sumner (Kamehameha '06) finished 3-for-12 with a double and two runs scored and Kaui Tom (Kamehameha '06) went 3-for-11 with a double and two RBIs. Third baseman Cristen Aona (Punahou '06) was held to one hit in 10 at-bats.

 

MEN'S VOLLEYBALL

» Southern California sophomore setter Riley McKibbin (Punahou '07) had 127 assists over two matches as the fifth-ranked Trojans beat No. 9 Brigham Young on back-to-back nights last weekend. McKibbin followed up a 63-assist performance on Friday with 64 on Saturday. He also had six digs and four block assists in the second match as the Trojans beat the Cougars in five. Cougars freshman middle blocker Futi Tavana (Kauai '05) rebounded from a poor performance on Friday night with a career-high 16 kills, five digs and three blocks and hit .517 on Saturday.

» UC San Diego sophomore outside hitter Will Ehrman (Punahou '06) finished with 14 kills, six digs and an ace in a five-set victory over UC Santa Barbara on Friday. The Tritons (4-6) moved up two spots to No. 13 in the latest AVCA poll.

 

WOMEN'S WATER POLO

» Pacific (Calif.) sophomore Dara Tawarahara ('Iolani '07) scored all three of her goals in the first half of a 10-3 win over Cal State Monterey Bay on Saturday. Tawarahara scored a game-high four goals earlier in the day in a 10-7 victory over Cal State East Bay. Tawarahara has a team-high 15 goals scored in the Tigers' first six games this season.

» UC San Diego sophomore Hanalei Crowell (Kamehameha '07) scored a goal in both a 12-6 win over Marist and a 10-9 overtime loss to No. 9 UC Davis on Saturday.