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Foreigners take home Xterra crown

Spain's Eneko Llanos and Canada's Melanie McQuaid took home the male and female titles in the 8th annual Nissan Xterra World Championship at the Wailea Marriott on Maui yesterday.

Llanos' time of 2:32:56 was good enough to hold off the charge of France's Nicolas Lebrun, who finished second in the men's pro division, three minutes and 35 seconds behind. Llanos' strong start propelled him to the championship, finishing the opening swim leg of the race in 19:24, which gave him a 3:20 lead over Lebrun heading into the bike portion.

In the women's pro division, McQuaid held off California's Jamie Whitmore by two minutes and two seconds, finishing in a time of 2:57:08. McQuaid made her bike time count, finishing in 1:42:10, the fastest among all women.

Honolulu's Chad Seymour was the fastest among local participants, finishing in 2:57:04, earning him 28th place overall and first in the 20-24 age group. His swim time of 19:28 was the fourth-fastest off the day. He was one of four Hawaii finishers who won their age group. Joining him were Kapaa's Leo McCarthy, who won the 45-49 age group in 3:11:06. Waialua's Lorenn Walker took home the 50-54 championship in 4:01:03, and Wendy Minor of Honolulu won the 55-59 championship in 4:49:12.

Minor's victory might be the most impressive, as she also won the 55-59 championship in last weekend's Ironman contest, making her the oldest female to ever win the double.

The race was made up of a 1.5-kilometer rough water swim, a 30-kilometer bike ride up the slopes of Haleakala, and a 11-kilometer run from Makena to Wailea. The race will air on CBS as part of a CBS Sports Spectacular on January 31, 2004 at noon.

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COURTESY OF JIM SAFFORD/XTERRA Eneko Llanos of Spain emerged from the water at the Xterra championship at Wailea, Maui, yesterday.

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UH-Hilo golf team finishes 10th

The UH-Hilo Vulcans team placed 10th in the Nelson Invitational at Stanford over the weekend, with junior Nick Mason leading the way.

Mason finished in eighth place individually after shooting a pair of 68s over the weekend to finish with a 6-under-par 207. Other Hilo finishers were Garrett Okamura at 217, Tysen Shinaut at 218 and Joseph Saliba, who shot a 238 in the three-day tournament.

Duke's Ryan Blaum and Toledo's Brad Heaven tied for the individual championship while Duke took home the team championship.

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