Tuesday, September 11, 2001
[AMERICA ATTACKED]
Wahine soccer team The University of Hawaii soccer team is stuck on the west coast in the wake of terrorist attacks on the mainland today.
stranded on mainland
One UH volleyball match
canceled, football decision
due tomorrowStar-Bulletin staff reports
The Wahine were scheduled to return to Hawaii today after a match at Eastern Washington. They were at their hotel in Spokane, Wash. this afternoon after returning from the airport, where they learned of the attacks and flight cancellations.
"They were supposed to come home today, this afternoon," said Brendan Sagara of the UH sports media relations department. "But it's a wait-and-see situation."
All airline flights throughout the country have been canceled until noon tomorrow at the earliest.
The Wahine are scheduled to host a tournament beginning Thursday with visiting teams from California-Riverside and Cornell. Even if the UH team can get back in time, the visiting teams could have difficulties getting here.
UH volleyball coach Dave Shoji said Loyola Marymount has decided not to play in matches scheduled for Thursday against Brigham Young and Friday against Hawaii at the Stan Sheriff Center.
A decision regarding Hawaii's home match against BYU on Saturday has not been made, Shoji said.
"(The attacks) make the games a little insignificant," Shoji said. "It puts things in perspective. I don't know how it's going to play out this week but it's going to be far-reaching."
A decision will be made tomorrow on whether UH will carry on with any athletic events scheduled for this week, athletic director Hugh Yoshida said.
The football team is scheduled to leave Thursday to play Nevada in Reno on Saturday.
Yoshida participated in a teleconference with other Western Athletic Conference athletic directors and WAC commissioner Karl Benson this morning. They will meet by phone again tomorrow and make a decision, Yoshida said.
"Right now the NCAA is assisting in discussions, but they're leaving it up to the individual conferences," Yoshida said. "We'd like to take our cue from the national level and work from there. It comes down to a lot of issues, many of them emotional."
Nevada athletic director Chris Ault said the Wolf Pack will go along with the WAC's decision on the football game against UH, but two road events involving Nevada's soccer and tennis teams this week have been canceled, Ault said.
The Brigham Young-Hawaii water polo team will play its scheduled match tonight at Claremont (Calif.), BYUH sports information director Scott Lowe said.
BYUH volleyball coach Wilfred Navalta said his team is prepared to play its match tonight at Montana State-Billings.
"But I'm expecting (Montana State-Billings) to cancel it," Navalta said.
In Hawaii high school sports, the Interscholastic League of Honolulu has canceled seven bowling and volleyball events scheduled for today and tonight.
"The events for today are canceled until further notice," ILH executive secretary Clay Benham said. "We're still deciding on events for the rest of the week."
The Maui Interscholastic League has postponed tomorrow's bowling and volleyball matches.
Hawaii High School Athletic Association executive director Keith Amemiya said the state's five leagues will decide on other postponements and cancellations.
"Since there are no state tournaments involved and we are still in regular-season play, each league will determine whether or not to proceed with their athletic events. They are in the best situation to determine what course to take," Amemiya said.
Several other state associations are taking the same approach, Amemiya said.
The Oahu Interscholastic Association, which has no events scheduled until Thursday, will defer to the decision of state schools superintendent Paul LeMahieu, who is expected to make an announcement tomorrow.
The Kauai Interscholastic Federation has no events scheduled until Thursday. The Big Island Interscholastic Federation has four bowling matches scheduled for tomorrow, but there was no word at 1:30 p.m. today regarding their status.
Star-Bulletin sports writers Dave Reardon,
Grace Wen, Jason Kaneshiro, Jerry Campany, Al Chase
and Ben Henry contributed to this report