StarBulletin.com

Hawaii Beat


By

POSTED: Monday, May 04, 2009

Kaufman sets UH high jump record

All-America high jumper Amber Kaufman broke her own school record yesterday at the Steve Scott Invitational, one of four Hawaii track and field athletes to qualify for NCAA regional competition.

Kaufman cleared 6 feet, 3/4 inch, a quarter-inch higher than her previous record, set at last year's Western Athletic Conference outdoor championships. She finished second to Olympian Sharon Day, who also cleared 6-0.75 but had fewer misses than Kaufman.

Rainbow Wahine senior Emily Sheppard placed sixth in the high jump, clearing the regional standard of 5-8.75. Also qualifying for the regional was freshman Te-Rina Keenan, who was second in the discus with a throw of 159-4.

 

Bartlett, Judd win Ka'iwi relay

After finishing second the past two years, Kai Bartlett was back in the winner's circle yesterday.

Bartlett teamed with Mike Judd for a first-place finish in the 19th Rhino Ka'iwi Channel Relay from Molokai to Oahu. The 40.1-mile event was for solo and two-person outrigger canoes.

The winning OC-1 pair's time was 5 hours, 29 minutes and 43 seconds, nearly an hour off the record set by Bartlett and Aaron Napoleon in 2002.

Danny Ching and Mael Carey were second in 5:32.13.

Bartlett's wife, Lauren, repeated as half of the champion women's team. She and new partner Andrea Moller finished in 6:18:29, some 6 minutes ahead of Jessie Eames and Arlene Holzman (6:24.22).

 

15 honored at football banquet

A dozen Hawaii high school seniors, two longtime coaches and an official were honored at yesterday's National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame-Hawaii Chapter banquet at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

Aiea's Wendell Say and 'Iolani's Wendell Look received the Hawaii Coaches Award for their contributions to high school football. The Earl Galdeira Award for outstanding support of football was given to official Jim Beavers.

The 12 seniors who received a $1,000 scholarship based on success on the field, maintaining at least a 3.0 grade-point average and community service were: William Brennan, Walter Calistro Jr. and Anthony and Michael Tokunaga of Kamehameha; Nathanial Hall, Kaipo Ke-a and Maika Kunioka of Leilehua; Waianae's Josiah ChongTim; Brian Freeman of Kaiser; 'Iolani's Kellen Takeshi, Mason Puckett from Aiea and Punahou's Manti Te'o.

 

UH sailors place 14th

The Hawaii coed sailing team finished the season yesterday, placing 14th at the ICSA national semifinals in Boston.

Yale won the 18-team regatta and was one of nine teams to advance to next month's ICSA final.

 

Pearl City gets state's top seed

Pearl City received the top seed in the Division I bracket of this week's HHSAA/Wally Yonamine Foundation Baseball Championships.

The draws for both divisions were announced yesterday, with the Chargers, who went undefeated in winning the Oahu Interscholastic Association regular-season and tournament titles, topping the D-I bracket. Interscholastic League of Honolulu champion 'Iolani was named the second seed. The Raiders, the league's regular-season champions, earned the league's seed by defeating ILH tournament champion Kamehameha 4-2 on Saturday. Hilo and Kamehameha-Maui are the third and fourth seeds.

Defending state champion Kauai tops the D-II bracket, followed by St. Anthony, Waipahu and Hawaii Prep.

 

Ching scores in Dynamo win

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. » Kamehameha graduate Brian Ching scored a goal yesterday as the Houston Dynamo defeated the short-handed New England Revolution 2-0 to snap a six-game regular-season winless streak in the series.

Stuart Holden had the Dynamo's other goal. Pat Onstad had to make just one save for his third shutout of the season for Houston (2-2-2), which had been 0-3-3 in its previous six regular-season matches with New England (2-2-2).

The Revolution played without six starters due to injuries.

Ching scored his third goal of the season on a header off a corner kick from the right side by Brad Davis in the 58th minute.

 

Saints' Kapanui arrested

RIVER RIDGE, La. » New Orleans Saints tight end Kolomona Kapanui and wide receiver Biren Ealy were charged yesterday with obscenity, disturbing the peace and lewd conduct for allegedly being drunk, urinating in public and exposing themselves.

Two women, who weren't identified, were riding in a vehicle when they reportedly saw Ealy and Kapanui urinating in the parking lot of an apartment complex around 12:42 a.m. yesterday, authorities said.

One of the women told Ealy to stop. Authorities said Ealy turned around while exposing himself and began making lewd comments. Moments later, Kapanui allegedly exposed himself to the driver of the vehicle and made lewd comments, the sheriff's office said.

Kapanui, a Kamehameha graduate from Palolo, is in his first season with the Saints after playing at West Texas A&M.

Kapanui's agent said his client is not guilty of any of the allegations.

“;He is completely innocent, a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time,”; Wynn Silberman said. “;He was accused because he was there, not because he did anything.”;

 

By the Numbers

0: The number of state baseball titles won by Pearl City, the top seed in this week's Division I tournament. The top seed in the D-II bracket is Kauai, which won its only state championship in last year's inaugural D-II event.

0-4: Rainbows' record on a baseball homestand that ended with yesterday's 8-7 loss to Louisiana Tech. Hawaii opened the series with the Bulldogs just percentage points off the Western Athletic Conference lead, but now sit in fifth place.

 

PACWEST PLACE

HPU softball team playing in Utah

Hawaii Pacific was one of 64 teams selected for the NCAA Division II softball championship tournament yesterday. However, despite being seeded second in the West Region and winning the PacWest championship, the Sea Warriors were not chosen to host one of the four-team subregionals.

Instead, HPU (40-10) will travel to St. George, Utah, for the sub-regional hosted by PacWest runner-up Dixie State. The Sea Warriors take on UC San Diego (29-21) on Friday, while Dixie State (30-10) plays Cal State Monterey Bay (36-25-1).

 

HPU splits baseball doubleheader

Alex Agortsas' two-run double highlighted a four-run fourth inning and Hawaii Pacific went on to defeat Grand Canyon 9-7 in the first game of a PacWest baseball doubleheader yesterday in Phoenix.

The Antelopes (14-36, 8-16) came back to earn the split of the regular-season finale, beating the Sea Warriors 7-4 in the second game to snap a 14-game losing streak. It also prevented HPU (28-17, 14-10) from sharing the conference title.