Beschen is Xcellent
in winning Xcel Pro

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California's Gavin Beschen tamed the large surf at Sunset Beach to win the $4,000 top prize in the Xcel Pro yesterday.

Beschen beat Australia's Paul Paterson and Matt Thompson and Kauai's Bruce Irons in the final. Irons, who earned $1,500, finished third behind Paterson.

Hawaii surfers took the top two places in the Longboard Invitational, which was won by Rusty Keaulana with Lance Hookano in second.

Champs lead in bowling

Defending champion Aiea and Pearl City are the early leaders in the Sam Choy's State Bowling Championships after yesterday's first day of the two-day competition at Leeward Bowl in Pearl City.

The Aiea boys team has a pinfall of 5,885 and holds the top spot over Pearl City (5,743) and Kalani (5,432). Seven other boys teams are still aiming for the state title.

The Pearl City girls team has a pinfall of 5,315 for the lead over Hawaii Baptist Academy (4,963) and Maryknoll (4,862), with eight other teams shooting for the championship.

The top three individual bowlers so far are Aiea's Grayson Kealalio (1,311), Hilo's Sakae Watanabe (1,301) and Kamehameha's Kala Stringert in the boys competition, and Kapolei's Shayna Carnate (1,217), Nanakuli's Desiree Mariani (1,176) and Pearl City's Sky Hieda (1,128) in the girls event.

Division II performers

Sara Pilgreen, Hawaii-Hilo volleyball: The sophomore outside hitter from Springfield, Ore., earned PacWest Player of the Week honors by becoming the first to tally 30 kills this season when she pounded her Vulcans past Montana State-Billings a week ago. She's also the first from Hilo to turn the trick since 1994.

Hawaii Pacific cross country: The Sea Warriors qualified three of their female and one of their male runners for the NCAA-II National Championship meet Nov. 17 in Slippery Rock, Penn. All four qualified based upon their individual performances at last weekend's West Region Championship, with Nina Christensen, Lisa Blomme and Sayuri Kusutani taking first, second and fifth, respectively, in the women's race, and Christian Madsen winning the men's.

Hopkins named Player of Year

Shanon Hopkins has been named the Northwest Conference men's soccer Player of the Year. The senior striker from Hilo High School led the Linfield Wildcats in scoring with 10 goals. Hopkins has earned first-team honors for three straight years.

Mike Semenza, a junior striker for Willamette and a Punahou graduate, also was named to the first team.

Ryan Stanley (Kaiser), a goalkeeper for Pacific University, was selected to the second team for the second consecutive season.

Moani Lau, a sophomore midfielder/striker for Pacific was a first-team pick on the Northwest Conference women's team. She is a Kamehameha graduate.

Kagawa assists on Whitworth winner

Kurt Kagawa sent a diagonal pass from the left side in to Brandon Carlson, who scored from 10 yards out as Whitworth beat Colorado College 1-0 in an NCAA Division III men's soccer tournament first-round match Wednesday.

Kagawa, a sophomore midfielder from Mililani High School, has four assists and one goal for the 14-4-1 Pirates.

Taekwondo champion to visit Hawaii

Steven Lopez, an Olympic gold medal winner in taekwondo, will visit Hawaii and give two seminars at the Oahu Taekwondo Center in Aiea on Sunday.

An autograph and photo session is planned along with a junior seminar and an advanced senior black belt seminar. For more information, call 486-2500.

1 fan has chance to win $10,000

One lucky audience member at the Hawaii men's basketball exhibition game against the EA Sports All-Stars on Sunday will have an opportunity to win $10,000 in a halftime half-court free throw contest sponsored by Papa John's Pizza.

The contestant will have one shot from half-court to win the money. The game starts at 4 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center.

UH-Hilo drops Western New Mexico

Sara Pilgreen had 20 kills and 24 digs to lead the Hawaii-Hilo volleyball team past Western New Mexico 30-11, 30-24, 27-30, 30-10 in Hilo on Wednesday.

Emily Hutchinson had 14 kills and six blocks for the Vulcans (16-13, 6-8 PacWest).

Western New Mexico dropped to 16-18 and 6-10.

Waterhouse football awards for UH

The Alec Waterhouse Memorial UH Football Warrior Awards Banquet is set for Dec. 2 at the Sheraton Waikiki at 6 p.m.

Jim Leahey is the emcee, and a season highlight video produced by KFVE will be presented.

Awards in many categories will be given out to the Warriors by coach June Jones and his staff.

Tickets are $45. For more information, call Ben Yee at 956-4513.