Mililani cheerleaders win at nationals
Two Mililani High School cheerleading teams won first place in their divisions at a national competition Sunday in Las Vegas.
The Trojans’ 24-member team won the varsity division at the American Grand National Cheer and Dance Championship, while Mililani’s 18-member squad won the freshman/junior varsity division.
The competition was held at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino.
"In the last 3 minutes before we went on, one of our girls suffered an injury and couldn’t go on. But the girls pulled together as a team and overcame that obstacle, and that was the biggest learning experience you could ever imagine," said Mililani head coach Renesha Kierstedt. "They came out and just hit everything."
Both the varsity and JV teams won a second award for their routines — for best choreography/best performance.
The Trojans were also coached by assistant Brian Rafael.
Hopkins leads HPU to hoops victory
Mana Hopkins scored 28 points to lead Hawaii Pacific to an 87-59 women’s basketball victory over St. Ambrose (Iowa) in the Hoop ‘N’ Surf Classic at the McKinley High gym Monday.
Paris Gravely hit four 3-pointers on the way to 17 points for the Sea Warriors, who improved to 7-4.
MSU Billings tops BYUH women
Bobbi Knudsen and Kayleen Goggins scored 17 points apiece to lead Montana State Billings to a 67-54 women’s basketball win over Brigham Young-Hawaii in Laie.
Shayla Washington scored 21 points and Brianna Jessop added 11 for the Seasiders (1-8).
Janiel Olson of the Bobcats (8-5) and BYUH’s Washington each grabbed 10 rebounds.
HPU hosts sports day for girls
As part of the National Girls and Women in Sports Day, Hawaii Pacific will host clinics and competitions for girls in grades kindergarten through 8 on Jan. 29.
Players and coaches from the Sea Warriors’ women’s team are part of the free event at HPU’s Hawaii Loa campus. Sports include basketball, soccer, tennis, cross country, softball and volleyball.
For more information, call Lauren Conching at 356-5223 or email lconching@hpu.edu.
Online registration is available at goseawarriors.com.
