Britos in fourth place in WAC golf

University of Hawaii junior Ka‘ili Britos moved up to fourth after two rounds at the Western Athletic Conference women’s golf championships in Mesa, Ariz. Sophomore teammate Charlee Kapiioho, the first-round leader, dropped to seventh Tuesday. The Rainbow Wahine fell two spots in the team standings, to fourth.

A double bogey on the 17th left Britos at 2-over 74. She is at 145 for the championship, four shots behind leader Kayla Mortellaro (71—141), from Idaho. Kapiioho had a triple bogey on the last hole for a 79. She is six shots out of first going into today’s final round.

Liana Otake, also a UH sophomore, shot a career-best 72, putting her in a tie for 13th place at 151. Junior Brigitte Baker (82—163) is 25th and senior Erika Lundberg (82—164) is 26th.

Three-time defending WAC champion San Jose State upped its lead to 14 shots with its second straight 291. Idaho is next (295—596), followed by Fresno State (297—602) and UH (307—606).

UH has up-and-down week in rankings

The University of Hawaii softball team edged up in one of the national polls while falling a few spots in the NCAA’s RPI rankings released Tuesday.

The Rainbow Wahine (37-5, 11-3 Western Athletic Conference) moved up one spot to No. 17 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 while remaining at No. 14 in the USA Today/NFCA coaches poll for a third consecutive week.

UH also moved from 14th to 18th in the NCAA RPI after going 2-1 in a road series with Nevada. California (42-3) tops all three rankings.

The Wahine close their home schedule this week with a three-game series against Fresno State starting Friday. The Bulldogs (31-17, 11-2) enter the series in first place in the WAC standings, just ahead of second-place UH. Fresno State received votes in the NFCA poll and is 61st in the RPI.

UH sailing coach earns national award

University of Hawaii sailing head coach Andy Johnson earned the Richard H. Lough Memorial Service Award by the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference this weekend. The recognition is awarded for extraordinary service to collegiate sailing.

Johnson, a former UH sailor, is in his 23rd year as head coach for the Rainbow coed and women’s sailing teams. He has led Hawaii to more than 40 national championship appearances in the last two decades and has coached 15 All-American skippers, nine All-American crews and two Olympians.

Besides coaching the UH sailing team, Johnson also runs clinics for local yacht clubs, high school teams and manages the UH campus recreation programs.

UHH places third in PacWest golf

Travis Russell and Corey Kozuma tied for 10th place to lead Hawaii-Hilo to a third-place finish out of 10 teams in the Pacific West Conference men’s golf championships on Tuesday at the Waikoloa Kings’ Course.

Russell and Kozuma finished at 7-over 223 and the Vulcans finished at 895, 24 shots behind the winning Grand Canyon team (871).

Hawaii Pacific, led by Ian Boat (tied for eighth, 6-over 222), finished in fifth place. Brigham Young-Hawaii, with Jon Scolari (fourth place, even-par 216) leading the way, finished in seventh place.

Chaminade finished in last place.

HPU splits with Academy of Art

Blake Amaral went 4-for-5 and drove in five runs to lead Hawaii Pacific to a 10-0 baseball victory over Academy Art in the first game of a doubleheader split Tuesday in Oakland, Calif.

Pitchers Michael Murray, Sam Cooke and Shannon White held the Urban Knights (4-36, 4-26 Pacific West Conference) to three hits. HPU is 23-16 and 15-14.

Academy of Art won the second game 6-2.