RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Stanford freshman Hongzhe Sun placed sixth in the 200-meter backstroke at the NCAADivision I men's championships in Long Island, N.Y., on March 27.
A Splash of Sun
Stanford’s Hongzhe Sun, of Iolani,
is named the Pac-10 Conference
Newcomer of the Year
Hongzhe Sun, the best swimmer out of Hawaii in more than a quarter-century, was honored Friday as male Newcomer of the Year in the powerful Pac-10 Conference.
Sun, a 2003 Iolani School graduate from Ewa Beach, earned NCAA All-American recognition on March 27 when he took sixth place in the 200-meter backstroke at the NCAA Division I men's championships at Long Island, N.Y.
He was the only freshman in the top 16 in that event.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so proud of him," Stanford men's coach Skip Kenney said. "We are so lucky to have him at Stanford."
The Pac-10 is one of the two best swimming conferences in the nation, with three men's teams scoring in the top seven and five women's teams in the top 10 at last month's NCAA championships.
Recent male Newcomers of the Year include Cal's Anthony Ervin, who won a gold medal at the 2000 Olympic Games, and Cal's Duje Dragauja, who beat a world record in the 100 freestyle.
Although Sun held or shared six Hawaii state high school championship meet records and earned more than 20 All-America citations at Iolani, Kenney says that Sun "thought he had plateaued, that his career might be over."
Instead it is re-igniting.
Being surrounded by world-class talent at Stanford has made the difference, Kenney and Sun agree.
His workout partners include Cardinal alum Jeff Rouse, the 1996 Olympic champion who held the world 100-meter backstroke record for eight years; and teammates Markus Rogan and Peter Marshall.
Marshall set a world record in the 100 backstroke at the NCAAs and Rogan beat the world record in the 200, but finished second.
"He paid attention to our other backstrokers and learned from them," Kenney said. "Hong was not afraid to ask questions and not afraid to have people analyze his stroke.
"I don't remember having a freshman so eager to learn in a long, long time."
The result, Sun says, was a four-second drop in his best 200 time -- which he had not improved in three years -- and a 1.5-second drop in his 100 time.
"I am honored to be among the great swimmers who have won this award," said Sun, who said he didn't even know the Newcomer of the Year award existed until Hawaii Grown informed him on Friday afternoon that he won it.
"It motivates me to further better myself in swimming," he said.
Does it put more pressure on him?
"I try not to think of things as pressure but as opportunity," he said.
Sun and his coach agree that his underwater kicking is the most improved technical aspect of his backstroke, but, Sun says, "I improved most in my mental game. ... I learned how to race a lot more in the environment here.
"One of the best things about Stanford is that there are so many great swimmers here to learn from."
Sun has qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke. The meet will be held July 7-14 in Long Beach, Calif.
"He has to be a finalist in this year's Olympic Trials," Kenney said. "He needs the experience of swimming preliminaries, semifinals and finals. That will set him up for 2008."
"Maybe the confidence he gained in the NCAAs will springboard him right into the finals of the Olympic Trials," Kenney said.
Should he eventually make it to the Olympics, Sun will be the first swimmer from Hawaii to do so since breaststroker Chris Woo in 1976.
Another All-American
California junior Caleb Rowe (Baldwin '01) also earned All-America distinction at the NCAA championships.Rowe finished eighth in the 200-meter breaststroke in 2 minutes, 10.53 seconds.
The first eight placers are first-team All-Americans and the second eight receive honorable mention.
Coming up
Punahou senior Noa Sakamoto, a national junior-team member, has committed to Stanford and five-time HHSAA champion Mark Eckert Jr. of Iolani has signed with California.Waiakea's Tamarah Binek, the 2002 HHSAA freestyle champion, said this week that she will sign with San Diego State.
Five-time HHSAA champion and All-American Chelsea Nagata of Maui High has signed with UC-Irvine.
Seabury Hall's Randall Tom, an All-American and two-time HHSAA champion in freestyle and butterfly, is still considering college offers, his mother said yesterday.
Football
Wisconsin's Donovan Raiola is on the preseason Watch List for the 2004 Rimington Trophy for the best center in college football, which his brother Dominic won four years ago.Donovan Raiola, a 2001 Kamehameha Schools graduate from Kaimuki, is one of 36 centers on the list, including five others from the Big Ten.
Dominic Raiola, a 1997 Saint Louis alumnus, was a consensus All-American when he won the award as a junior at Nebraska in 2000. He went to the NFL after that season and has started 32 straight games at center for the Detroit Lions.
Donovan will be a junior in the fall.
He started all 13 games for Wisconsin last season and earned honorable mention All-Big Ten.
Donovan says he often receives words of advice from his brother, which he believes help him to become a better player.
"He definitely helps me out," Raiola said. "He lets me know when I have a bad game, or couple of plays here and there. He definitely helps me out and pushes me to be as good as I can be."
Baseball
Two of Hawaii's liveliest college bats of the spring crackled in eastern Washington yesterday:» Sophomore third baseman Zach McAngus (Kamehameha '02 of Hawaii Kai) went 5-for-5, including two doubles, as Washington State beat Birmingham-Southern 12-8 in Pullman.
» Freshman Keoni Ruth (Kamehameha '03 of Aiea) hit 3-for-5, including an inside-the-park home run, as University of San Diego spanked Gonzaga 8-3 in Spokane.
Also, junior right-hander Kea Kometani (Punahou '01 of Kahala) pitched the best game of his career for Pepperdine, defeating San Francisco 3-2 at Malibu, Calif.
In the first complete game of Kometani's college career and Pepperdine's first this season, he allowed eight hits, walked one and struck out three. Kometani retired the last nine batters he faced and after Pepperdine scored twice to give him the lead in the eighth inning, he struck out the last two batters of the game.
The San Francisco hitter Kometani had the most trouble with was junior second baseman Cy Donald (Mililani '01). Donald got two hits.
Last season Kometani was used almost exclusively as a reliever and led the West Coast Conference in saves as the Waves won the Western Division.
