---

Iolani's Hirata signs with Chaminade

Iolani's 5-foot-8 guard Ryan Hirata signed a national letter of intent to play basketball for Chaminade yesterday.

Hirata is known as a long-range, 3-point specialist, but Silverswords coach Aaron Griess sees more.

"He's a lot better than most people think he is," Griess said. "I usually don't recruit high school players, either from Hawaii or the mainland, but I think he has the skills package to be effective for us down the road. I watched a lot of Iolani games this year. He went with the flow and played his role. I didn't recruit him to be a token local kid."

Griess said Hirata knows he'll need to improve and adjust to the college game.

Hirata was a Star-Bulletin second-team all-state choice this past winter for the three-time state champion Raiders, while playing in the back court with three-time state player of the year Derrick Low.

Hirata chose Chaminade over Hawaii Pacific and Hawaii-Hilo.

Mililani grad Brown receives national honor

Andrew Brown has been honored by the National Strength and Conditioning Association with its annual All-American Strength and Conditioning Athlete of the Year Awards, recognizing his dedication to strength training and conditioning.

Brown, a Mililani graduate and a junior goalkeeper on the Creighton soccer team, was one of 186 collegiate athletes from 80 schools that were so honored.

"Andrew is very deserving of this award," said CU strength coach Satoshi Ochi. "He has been a weight-room regular since his freshman year and has brought intensity and tremendous work ethic to the weight room. His dedication is unmatched and is a source of inspiration for the rest of his team and other athletes in our facility."

UH fifth; frosh Odelius named All-WAC in golf

EL PASO, Texas >> Hawaii finished in fifth place and freshman Sara Odelius was named All-WAC yesterday at the Western Athletic Conference women's golf championship.

Odelius led the Rainbow Wahine with a sixth-place individual finish after shooting an even-par 72 to finish 8 over on the tournament. Fellow UH freshman Dale Gammie tied for 11th and was named second-team All-WAC. Hawaii's Rene Krause tied for 28th, while UH's Tara Chappell was 30th and Megan Stoddart 33rd.

Tulsa, led by individual runner-up Julie Tvede, won the conference crown. Individual winner and WAC Player of the Year Ashley Gomes helped San Jose State to a second-place finish, four strokes back. Southern Methodist, Nevada, UH, Texas-El Paso and Boise State rounded out the final team standings.

SMU's Laura Cross was named Freshman of the Year and SMU's Todd Selders was conference Coach of the Year.

---

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