Iwata and Ricketts earn WAC honors

University of Hawaii shortstop Jessica Iwata and pitcher Stephanie Ricketts were named the Western Athletic Conference softball player and pitcher of the week on Monday for their performances in the Chevron Spring Fling Tournament.

Iwata drove in the game-winning run in two of UH’s three tournament wins. Her two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th inning gave the Rainbow Wahine a 3-1 win over No. 1/2 California last Thursday. On Saturday, her bases-loaded sacrifice fly scored the decisive run in a 2-1 win over Winthrop.

Ricketts went 2-2 last week and struck out 12 while pitching all 10 innings against Cal. She threw four complete games with 32 strikeouts in the tournament.

UH opens the WAC schedule with a three-game series against San Jose State starting Friday.

Finau wins bronze medal in Bulgaria

Damien Memorial School graduate Marcus Finau won the bronze medal in Greco-Roman wrestling in the 96kg division at the Petko Sirakov-Ivan Iliev Open in Varna, Bulgaria, last weekend.

Finau, who is attending the U.S. Olympic education center in Marquette, Mich., also won a silver medal a week earlier in the Austrian Greco-Roman Open.

Finau has qualified for the Olympic trials, which will be held in Iowa City, Iowa, on April 20-22.

UH cheerleaders win at nationals

University of Hawaii cheerleaders George McGuire and Azaria Bermudez finished first in the USA Collegiate Partner Stunt Championship on Monday in Anaheim, Calif.

They scored 91.76 out of 100 points.

UH’s David Gilles and Stephanie Hentschel were a close second with 91.34 points.

This is the second straight win at nationals for McGuire, who won a year ago with former partner Niki Fernandez.

“We pride ourselves on having the best co-ed stunting in the country, so it’s nice when we can get to the mainland to showcase what we can do,” Hawaii coach Mike Baker said.