Balentine in sixth at WAC meet

Hawaii sophomore Samantha Balentine is in sixth place in the heptathlon after the first day of competition in the Western Athletic Conference outdoor track and field championships at UH’s Clarence T.C. Ching Field.

Balentine has 2,985 points through four of seven events. UH’s Kaleigh Morrison is ninth with 2,725 points. Nevada’s April Pate leads the field with 3,277 points, followed by Louisiana Tech’s Jesseka Jones at 3,250 points. The heptathlon concludes today with the long jump, javelin and 800-meter run.

Idaho’s Andrew Blaser leads the decathlon with 3,732 points after five events. Utah State’s Philip Noble is second with 3,476 points.

The WAC championships run through Friday at UH.

Amaral, Lee lead All-PacWest team

Hawaii Pacific designated hitter Blake Amaral was named the Pacific West Conference baseball player of the year yesterday and Hawaii-Hilo pitcher Kekoa Lee earned pitcher of the year honors. HPU’s Lanan Rice-Kashima was named co-freshman of the year.

Amaral hit .388 for the Sea Warriors to finish second in the league. Lee posted a 2.76 earned-run average with 42 strikeouts in 421⁄3 innings.

Joining Amaral and Lee on the All-PacWest first team were Hawaii-Hilo third baseman Jonathan James and outfielder Keoni Manago. The second team included HPU’s Kale Sumner, Lester Akeo, Troy Ajer, Rylan Morihara, Rice-Kashima, Brent Queen and Peter Ibanez and UHH’s Bryan Patterson, Chris Pascual and Lee as a DH.

State champion signs with UH

Kapaa’s Chas Okamoto, who won the state boys tennis title last week, will join the University of Hawaii program next season.

UH coach John Nelson announced Okamoto’s addition to the team yesterday. Okamoto became the second player from Kauai to capture a state title last Saturday when he defeated Kento Tanaka-Tamaki of St. Anthony in the boys final of the Carlsmith Ball/HHSAA Tennis Championships on Maui.

Okamoto is a four-time Kauai Interscholastic Federation singles champion and is the top-ranked player in the USTA’s Hawaii Section. He is also No. 113 nationally in the U-18 division. He also won a KIF title in the 800-meter run with the Kapaa track team.