Hobgood, Bartels tame
Trestles for Foster’s Cup

C.J. Hobgood and Melanie Bartels both started strong on the final day of the Foster's Cup and breezed to victory in the windy, inconsistent head-high waves of Lower Trestles to take the men's and women's titles at the World Qualifying Series event.

The meet was the first North American stop on the 2002 Foster's Pro Surfing Tour.

Hobgood took first in each of his heats leading up to the final, then beat twin brother Damien, Laguna Beach's Mike Todd and San Diego's Dean Randazzo with an opening ride of 9.25 out of 10 points.

Oahu's Melanie Bartels, 19, opened her final heat with a long right and a huge top snap that scored 8.25, distancing her from 2001 Professional Surfing Tour of America Champion Julia Christian, fellow Hawaii surfer Yvette Bertlemann, and 14-year-old sensation Erica Hosseini of Newport Beach, the youngest competitor ever to reach an ASP-sanctioned final.

The final was plagued with a long lull midway through the heat, so Bartels' high opening score proved to be the difference. Another confidence booster was Bartels' perfect 10-point ride in her semifinal heat, the only perfect score of the Foster's Cup.

Abelyan outpoints Salud in Oklahoma City

Nanakuli fighter Jesus Salud lost for just the 13th time as a professional last night, going down in a unanimous decision to the WBO's No. 7 featherweight William Abelyan.

Neither fighter was in trouble in the bout, but judges scored it 100-90, 100-90, 99-91 in favor of the younger man.

Abelyan, 23, improved to 18-4-1 while the 38-year-old Salud fell to 63-13 (38 KOs). Four of Salud's losses have come in his last five fights.

UH splits doubleheader with Portland State

PORTLAND, Ore. >> Trisha Ramos drove in both runs, including the game-winner in the third inning, as the Hawaii softball team edged Portland State 2-1 in the second game of a Western Athletic Conference doubleheader yesterday at Erv Lind Stadium.

The Vikings came from behind in the opener 3-2 to snap a four-game losing streak. Vanessa Applegate drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh for PSU.

Hawaii (31-21, 12-6) and Portland State (18-29, 7-9) conclude the series today with an afternoon doubleheader.

Vulcans drop 2 more at Mountain Dew

The Hawaii-Hilo softball team will enter the championship round of the Mountain Dew Classic at Bakersfield, Calif., with a 1-3 record.

The Vulcans will play San Francisco State in the first round after losing 4-1 to UC San Diego and 3-0 to PacWest champion Western New Mexico.

Hilo needs to win four straight games over the next two days to win the tournament.

Chaminade, HPU split: Wittekind Donnell shut out Hawaii Pacific in the second game of a doubleheader and Chaminade ended the season with a split at Kaneohe yesterday.

Kimberly Balles had two hits in the 2-0 win for Chaminade, which scored its runs on an error by Tascha Berinobis. Hawaii Pacific committed six errors in the two games but was able to win the opener 3-2 in nine innings. Milonne Chapman drove in the winning run with two outs to make Malia Sullivan a winner over Melissa Marquez.

Wahine win distance events in San Diego

Casey McGuire-Turcotte won the 3,000-meter run and teammate Alethe West took the 5,000-meter event at the San Diego Open, giving UH wins in two of the four contests run yesterday.

McGuire-Turcotte beat Cal State Northridge's Angela Talarilo by 0.34 seconds, beating her personal best with a time of 10:01.51. West won her race by 16 seconds with a time of 17:41.78. UH's Teryn Bentley came in 13th and Cheryl Smith started the race but did not finish.

Macdonald wins relay: Punahou product and current Oregon athlete Eri Macdonald was better than all but one runner in the 800 meters at the Oregon invitational in Eugene, Ore. yesterday.

Macdonald finished second in her event, two seconds behind Allison Adams of Weber State. Macdonald turned a lap of 2:12.79.

While she didn't get first place points in her individual specialty, she did contribute to Oregon's winning 4x400 meter relay.

She ran the anchor leg of the event, taking the baton from Jenny Kenyon and cruising to a team time of 3:48.84, two seconds better than Weber State, which had Adams running its anchor leg.

Wahine play for seventh in MPSF water polo

Chelsea Garner-Prohs scored twice but it wasn't enough as California beat Hawaii 6-4 on the second day of the Mountain pacific Sports Federation Tournament yesterday at Los Angleles.

The Wahine (14-14) will meet either San Diego State or San Jose State in the seventh place game today.

James, Kurisu and Dias on tap for QB Club

Hawaii track coach Carmyn James, Babe Ruth and Cal Ripken baseball state commissioner Harve Kurisu and Moanalua athletic director Dana Dias will speak at tomorrow's Quarterback Club luncheon.

UH recruiting compliance coordinator Daniel Arakaki will also speak at the Pagoda Restaurant.

Lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. and the program begins at noon.