Waipio hosts soccer west regional

The top 248 boys and girls U.S. Youth Soccer teams from Region IV will compete for berths in the national championships during the Far West Regional Championships, June 17-23, at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex

The event includes at least 31 teams from the host Hawaii Youth Soccer Association. Three-day round-robin play opens in Under-12 through Under-19 age groups on June 17 followed by the quarterfinals June 21, semifinals June 22 and finals June 23.

Region IV is comprised of Hawaii, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Regional winners of the Under-13 through Under-19 age groups earn a berth to the 2013 U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships, presented by the National Guard, July 22-28, at Overland Park Soccer Complex in Overland Park, Kan.

Among the Hawaii teams that have qualified for the regional are five teams from the Honolulu Bulls Soccer Club, three from Hawaii Rush Soccer Club and two each from Abunai Soccer Academy and Hawaii Surf Soccer Club.

The Honolulu Bulls won the Under-12, Under-16 and Under-17 boys, and the Under-14 and Under-17 girls titles at the recent USYS Hawaii State Championships.

The Pearl City-based Rush won the Under-13 and Under-14 boys titles and the Under-13 girls titles. Abunai, based in Mililani, won the Under-16 girls and Under-18 boys divisions, and Hawaii Surf won the girls Under-12 and Under-15.

Other teams that qualified are Riggers Athletic Club Under-15 boys and Leahi Soccer Club’s Under-18 girls.

He overtakes Corpuz to win Jr. golf event

Muni He, an incoming freshman from Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., fired a final-round 66 to overtake Hawaii’s Allisen Corpuz and win the Ping Phoenix Junior on Thursday. The American Junior Golf Association tournament was played at Arizona State’s Karsten Course.

Corpuz, who just finished her freshman year at Punahou, held a four-stroke lead over He heading into the final round. Corpuz fired a 2-over-par 72 to finish two back at 205. Mariel Galdiano, her Punahou teammate, moved up to a tie for fourth in the three-day tournament. She closed at 69—210. ‘Iolani sophomore Rose Huang ended up 18th at 82—242.

Fernandez honored at Kaiser High gala

Former Major League Baseball pitcher Sid Fernandez will be honored along with four others at Saturday’s third Kaiser High Athletic Foundation fundraiser and luau at Sea Life Park.

Also being honored for contributions to the school’s sports legacy are former Cougar baseball player Dave Nakama, the head baseball coach at San Jose State; Asa Tanaka, former Cougar swimmer and swimming coach; Bill Von Arnswaldt, retired Kaiser athletic director who also coached track and football; and Stephen Kim, retired Kaiser wrestling coach.

Tickets are still available at $100 per person and $1,000 for a table of 10. Online payment can be made at kaiserathleticfoundation.org. Funds raised will be used for scholarships as well as improvements to the school’s weight and wrestling rooms, and refinishing the gym floor.

UH’s Genee snares academic honors

Hawaii seniorAmarens Geneeis one of 15 Capital One CoSIDA second-team Academic All-Americans. She is the first Rainbow Wahine water polo player to earn the honor.

Genee, a kinesiology major, will graduate later this year. She is a two-time Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Scholar Athlete and American Water Polo Coaches Association All-Academic honoree. Last month at the NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship banquet, Genee was presented the Elite 89 Award, given to the player in the tournament who holds the highest GPA.

The center from Gorinchem, Netherlands, was instrumental all four years at UH, but none more than this year when she was a first-team All-Big West pick. She helped the Wahine capture the BWC regular-season and tournament titles in their debut campaign. The team advanced to its fourth NCAA tournament, finishing fourth.

Anae in goal for USA water polo

Olympic gold medalist Tumua Anae, born in Hawaii and raised in Southern California, has shared the cage with Olympic veteran Betsey Armstrong in FINA World League water polo the last two weeks.

Anae and Armstrong rotated games at goalie. The top-ranked U.S. finished third, rallying from a 5-1 deficit Thursday to beat Hungary, 10-9, in its final match in Beijing. China captured its first international senior women’s title with an 8-7 victory over Russia in the gold-medal game.

The Americans’ only two losses in the two-week tournament came against China, which had never beaten the Americans before. China won 9-7 in Wednesday’s semifinal and 16-15 in overtime in last week’s preliminary round. Anae was the goalie in both, posting 10 saves in the semis and six in the prelims.

The semifinal loss ended a U.S. streak of four straight gold medals in FINA World League Super Final play.

Tumua also had 16 saves in an earlier 10-7 win over Hungary. Team USA defeated Canada three times the last two weeks, with University of Hawaii alums Monika and Carmen Eggens playing for Canada. Monika scored four goals for the Canadians in one of the losses. Her goal Thursday with :15 showing pulled Canada within 9-8 against Australia in the seventh-place match, but the Aussies held on.

Baron debuts in wheelchair tennis

Shelby Baron made her debut as an adult competitor and on clay courts at the BNP Paribas World Team Cup wheelchair tennis competition last week in Antalya, Turkey. The Punahou graduate was ranked third on the U.S. women’s team and competed in doubles in her third World Cup.

In her first match, Baron and Kaitlyn Verfeurth fell to the Dutch team of Sharon Walraven and Jiske Griffioen, 7-5, 6-4.

The Dutch women went on to win their 26th Cup. The Americans would not lose another set.

Baron and Verfeurth outlasted Australia’s Luba Josevski and Sarah Calati in their second match, 7-5, 7-5, to advance to the ninth-place match. The U.S. swept Chile on the final day, with Baron and Emmy Kaiser dropping just two games.

Baron, 18, also had two wins in her first World Team Cup in 2011 in South Africa. Competing in juniors again last year, she went 7-2 in singles and doubles and was part of a 6-4, 3-6, 10-8 upset of the Dutch team in mixed doubles. The U.S. juniors finished second to The Netherlands last year.