UH’s Morrison wins heptathlon gold

Hawaii senior Kaleigh Morrison won the gold medal in the heptathlon at the Big West Conference championships Saturday at UC Davis’ Toomey Field & Woody Wilson Track.

The Tigard, Ore., native scored a personal-best 5,210 points to become the second Rainbow Wahine to take gold in this event in as many years and the sixth in the past nine conference meets. Samantha Balentine won last year while Morrison finished seventh.

Entering the day in second place after totaling 3,010 points in Friday’s first four disciplines, Morrison quickly retook the lead with the day’s best long jump of 19 feet, 5.25 inches. She then threw a huge PR in the javelin with a throw of 134-4 to take a commanding lead of more than 250 points heading into the 800 meters, the final event.

UC Riverside’s Danielle Littleton was second at 5,045 points. UH sophomore Kayla Kirk finished in 15th place with 3,815 points

The championship meet continues Friday and Saturday in Davis, Calif.

Cyr and Mason earn U.S. Open spots

Samuel Cyr and Nicholas Mason earned spots in the U.S. Open by winning their respective Hawaii qualifying tournaments Saturday.

Cyr shot a 2-under 70 at the King Kamehameha Golf Club in Wailuku for a one-stroke victory over Max Bonk and David Goode. Bonk earned the alternate spot after a three-hole playoff win over Goode.

Mason carded a 3-under 69 at the Hoakalei Country Club in Ewa Beach to win the Oahu qualifier by two strokes over Jason Jakovac. Jakovac is the Oahu alternate for the U.S. Open, scheduled for June 12-15 at Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort.

Ho and Quizon advance in Billabong Pro

Hawaii’s Coco Ho and Alessa Quizon won their respective fourth-round heats Saturday to advance to Sunday’s quarterfinals of the Billabong Rio Women’s Pro in Barra da Tijuca, Brazil.

Ho eliminated Australia’s Lauren Enever 15.26 to 13.90 and will face Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons in Sunday’s last quarterfinal of the ASPWomen’s World Tour contest. Sunday’s second quarterfinal features Quizon, who eliminated Malia Manuel on Saturday 14.94 to 11.50, against the defending world champion and fellow Hawaii surfer Carissa Moore.

Also eliminated Saturday was Hawaii’s Tatiana Weston-Webb, who fell to Australia’s Nikki Van Dijk 11.17 to 6.43.

In men’s action, Hawaii’s Sebastian Zietz advanced out of the second round by edging France’s Jeremy Flores 15.70 to 14.70. Zietz faces Hawaii’s John John Florence in Sunday’s third round.

Hawaii’s Fred Patacchia was eliminated by Brazil’s Alejo Muniz in the second round.

Wong, Hannemann to speak at QB lunch

Scott Wong, coach of the successful Hawaii sand volleyball team, and former Honolulu mayor Mufi Hannemann, founder of Team Aloha, headline the program of Monday’s Honolulu Quarterback Club luncheon meeting.

The Rainbow Wahine finished third in the AVCA team championship, with a second-place finish in pairs and four players named All-Americans.

Team Aloha is a high school girls all-star basketball team.

Also speaking is Victor Wales, the UH head swimming and diving coach, who was selected the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation coach of the year.

The lunch is at the Maple Garden restaurant on Isenberg Street. Meal service is at 11:30 a.m., followed by the noon program.