JUSTIN KASE CONDER FOR FRESNO STATE
Nika Nakamoto's Fresno State swimming team is in danger of being cut because of a lack of funding.
Sisters swim along
The Nakamotos enjoy college
in the pool and the classroom
WHILE freshman swimmer Erin Nakamoto sets record after school record at Lindenwood University in Missouri, her older sister, Nika, wakes up each morning wondering if this is the day she will be told there will be no team for her next season at Fresno State in California.
The Nakamotos, 2002 (Nika) and 2003 (Erin) graduates of Kalani High School, are among scores of students from Hawaii for whom athletics is paying most of their way through college.
Fresno State will honor Nika's scholarship two more years even if the swimming program is shelved.
It was cut last year, then restored under community pressure. But a fund-raising goal of $2.05 million to keep the program alive has not been met and the deadline has already been extended once.
"I have been swimming for 14 years," Nika said. "Something that is a part of me might be taken away and it's terrifying."
Meanwhile, at Lindenwood in Missouri, swimming is on solid ground.
Coach Craig Penrose, a 23-year veteran, says Erin Nakamoto is "one of best workers I have ever had."
COURTESY NIKA NAKAMOTO
Nika Nakamoto gave her sister, Erin, a ride when they were home for the Christmas holiday last year.
Halfway into her first season, Erin has set Lindenwood school records in the 100 freestyle (55.05), 200 freestyle (2:02.08) and 100 backstroke (1:04.28) and is on the threshold of records in the 50 freestyle (her time is 25.17 seconds), and 200 butterfly (2:17.97).
She has qualified for the NAIA championships in seven events.
Coach Penrose says he was lucky to sign her. "She was freezing the whole time during her visit last winter," he said. "I offered a good scholarship, but I thought we had lost her -- a girl from Hawaii in that weather."
"But she came and she has been nothing but a surprise and joy."
At Fresno, Nika Nakamoto has a personal record 2:14 this season in the 200 butterfly and is nearing her goal of breaking a minute in the 100 fly (her best is 1:00.47). She is aiming at making the WAC final.
Nika has cut seven seconds off her best pre-college 200 butterfly, but says the best things about swimming in college is: "I have made new friends from all over the world ... being part of the swim team has made me a better student."
Her GPA is 3.6 and she has an Academic All-WAC plaque.
Last season, Nika received the team's Coaches Award.
"The whole experience of swimming at Fresno State has been remarkable," Nika said. But if the team disappears, she will put competition aside and keep working on her advertising major.
"Swimming is a great stress reliever, but swimming is not No. 1," Nika says. "Academics and the experience of college come first."
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Gonzaga’s Kane tears
ligaments in her knee
Rachel Kane, last year's state girls basketball Player of the Year, tore anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in her right knee Thursday night while playing for Gonzaga University.
Kane, a point guard, was hurt when she landed awkwardly on a rebound play during the first minute of overtime in a game at the University of San Francisco, Gonzaga sports information assistant Sara Rathbun said.
"This makes a huge impact on our team," Gonzaga coach Kelly Graves said. "It's terrible that these kind of events always happen to the good kids."
Kane's freshman season at Punahou in 2000 also ended early because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament -- in her other knee.
Kane was free of serious injuries the rest of her high school career. She led Punahou to an unbeaten season and the HHSAA state championship last season and was named the Star-Bulletin State Player of the Year.
Kane was Gonzaga's designated "rally sparker." She had not started since early in the season but averaged 27.9 minutes per game, third most on the team. She averaged 5.7 points and is second on the team in assists with 56 in 15 games.
More women's basketball
>> Junior point guard Monica Tokoro had 31 points, eight assists and four steals Friday and became the career assists leader at Cal State Los Angeles.Tokoro, a 2001 Iolani graduate from Aiea, has 370 assists in 64 games, an average of 5.8 per game in 2 1/2 seasons. She broke the record set by Anita Martinez, who had 368 in four seasons (1987-90).
Tokoro's 31-point performance was a season high and the 12th time in her career Tokoro has scored 30 or more points in a game.
Cal State L.A., struggling all season, beat Cal State Stanislaus 73-66 to improve to 2-10.
Tokoro, who missed a game for the first time last month because of the flu, is averaging 19.9 points per game this season. Last season she averaged 25.1 and was the second-leading NCAA Division II scorer in the nation.
>> Mesa State (Colorado) junior Rosa Masler (Maui '00 of Kihei) had two more double-digit scoring and rebounding games last weekend and was chosen Player of the Week for the Western Division of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
Masler, who is 5-11, is the only player in the 14-team RMAC who is averaging double-digit points and rebounds (10.0 and 11.9).
She leads the conference in rebounding and in double-doubles, with seven in 14 games.
Last weekend she had 12 points and 15 rebounds against Chadron State and 14 and16 against Metro State for a total of 26 points and 31 rebounds as Mesa won both games in Grand Junction, Colo.
She made 12 of 23 field-goal attempts (52 percent).
>> After suffering a concussion in warm-ups before the season opener that forced her to miss the first game of her career, UC Santa Barbara junior forward Brandy Richardson (Kalaheo '01 of Aiea) was not the force on the glass that made her the Big West Conference's rebounding leader in 2002-03.
However, with nine boards in each of the past three games, Richardson has reasserted herself, UCSB sports information assistant Ben Akaly says.
She just missed getting double-doubles in her last two games, scoring a career-high 15 points at Utah State, followed by 13 at Idaho while making a combined 10 of 18 shots.
For the season, Richardson is averaging 5.4 points and 5.7 rebounds in 13 games.
Tennis
UCLA's Chris Lam (home-schooled, from Kaimuki) is No. 18 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's first 2004 singles rankings -- making him the first player from Hawaii to crack the top 20 since the rankings started about 15 years ago.Last year Lam was No. 86 in preseason. He climbed as high as 24 on March 11 -- then the highest by a player from Hawaii -- and finished No. 52.
The highest any male from Hawaii had been ranked in singles before Lam was 36th by Ryan Ideta (Lahainaluna) at Louisiana State in 1994.
Jean Okada (Lahainaluna) reached No. 25 in women's singles for UC Santa Barbara the same year.
The most successful collegiate player ever from Hawaii was 1963 Punahou grad Jim Osborne. Playing before there were collegiate rankings, Osborne made first-team All-American (top seven at nationals) in 1965 and second team All-American (top 15) in 1966 and '67 for Utah.
He played on the U.S. Davis Cup championship team in 1968 and won a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Mexico City the same year. Osborne retired last May as men's coach at BYU.
Lam opened UCLA's spring season Wednesday with victories in singles and doubles against UC Irvine.
