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Chun meets national champion today

Clarissa Chun finished first in her weight class at the USA Wrestling World Team Trials yesterday.

Her reward is a best-of-three series against a formidable opponent today for the right to travel the world as a part of Team USA.

Chun, a two-time state champion from Roosevelt, beat Mary Kelly of Illinois 7-6 to finish first at 105.5 pounds. She next meets national champion Patricia Miranda of Colorado.

The winner earns a spot on the national team. Because she is the national champion, Miranda had a bye through the main bracket of the three-day tournament.

Chun took a 3-1 lead in the first period with a hip toss and a hold. She went out to a 6-2 lead early in the second period with a three-point hip toss, and managed to hold on to win.

Moanalua High School product Stephany Lee lost in the closing seconds to Colorado's Kaci Lyle 5-3 in the first-place match at 147.5 pounds. Lee, a three-time state champion who graduated in 2002, had a good showing in her first major national competition.

Lee squared the match at 3 with 35 seconds left in the second period when Lyle was called for fleeing the mat, but lost with seven seconds left on a two-point takedown.

Castle graduate Katie Kunimoto, who won the inaugural state title at 108 pounds in 1998, finished in third place yesterday at 112.25 pounds. Kunimoto first defeated Mililani's Debbi Sakai in the consolation semifinals -- winning on a technical fall at 4:07 -- before finishing off Boston's Cheryl Wong 6-1 for third.

Sakai, a state champ in 2002, secured fifth place by pinning Sarah Bergman of Minnesota.

USA wins third straight match from Korea

Clay Stanley scored a match-high-tying 19 points to lead three players in double figures as the USA men's national volleyball team posted a 3-0 win over Korea in Kearney, Neb.

The match was the fourth of a five-match domestic tour in Colorado and Nebraska between the two teams.

Stanley, a former Hawaii player, had 14 kills, a match-high four service aces, one block and seven digs in the 25-21, 27-25, 25-22 win for the United States, its third-straight victory.

Irons survives tiebreaker against wildcard

Reigning world champion Andy Irons of Kauai survived a tie-breaking decision over Japanese wild-card Masatoshi Ohno in the Niijima Quiksilver Pro yesterday at NiijimaIsland, Japan.

Irons, who leads the ASP ratings, was pushed to the limit by Ohno. Irons opened with the heat's best ride for an 8.5, and then locked in a 6.0 to hold a comfortable lead. His opponent chipped away at the gap however, and with less than a minute remaining paddled into a wave needing a 7.76 to win. The goofyfooter rose to the occasion with a great ride and got the crowd cheering, but unfortunately his score came in at 7.75.

"That was really stressful," Irons said. "I didn't know what he scored, but could just hear the crowd going mad."

Kalani Robb lost to Michael Campbell in his heat, 12.5-12.

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See line scores and results in
the [Scoreboard] section.