Chow medals in WCC championship
Hawaii’s Marissa Chow completed her West Coast Conference climb Wednesday, earning medalist honors and leading Pepperdine to its 14th consecutive WCC Golf Championship.
The ‘Iolani graduate finished third in the WCC as a freshman in 2013 and was second last year. This season she won it all with a final-round 74. It gave her a three-day total of 228, one shot better than teammate Somin Lee, whose 72 was the day’s best round at Saticoy Country Club in Somis, Calif.
The host Waves, ranked 20th in Golfstat, won by 16 shots over San Francisco. They had a final-round team total of 306 to finish at 929 and qualify for the NCAA Regionals.
Santa Clara, led by Punahou graduate Kristen Le (78—235), was third at 955 and Gonzaga fourth, another shot back. The Zags were led by Hawaii’s Ciera Min (80) and Alice Kim (79), who tied for third at 231.
Last week, Kim and Pepperdine senior Alina Ching — a Punahou graduate — earned a place on the WCC All-Academic first team for the third year. Min, a sophomore with a 3.36 GPA in biology, is also on the team.
Kim has a 3.53 GPA in Sport Management while Ching, who tied for 21st Wednesday, has a 3.42 GPA in psychology. She was a 2012 WGCA All-American Scholar and the 2012 WCC Freshman of the Year.
The 2015 Big West Conference Golf Championships are later this month, with the University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine playing April 19-21 at El Macero Country Club in California and the men April 26-28 at San Luis Obispo Country Club.
Hilo softball ranked eighth in region
The Hawaii Hilo softball team was ranked eighth in the first NCAA Division II West Region poll announced Wednesday.
The Vulcans have an overall record of 28-16 and a 17-10 record in the PacWest conference. Dixie State earned the No. 1 ranking in the West and remain atop the PacWest with a 38-7 overall and a 25-1 conference records.
BYU-Hawaii softball splits series on road
BYU-Hawaii fell short against Academy of Art, 5-4, but bounced back to defeat the Urban Knights 8-4 in Game 2 of the PacWest softball doubleheader on Wednesday in Brisbane, Calif.
Academy of Art jumped to an early 3-0 lead in Game 1 with back-to-back home runs by Nirana Singh and Jasmine Dickenson. The Urban Knights (25-25, 15-13 PacWest) extended their lead to 5-0 in the fifth inning, but the Seasiders closed the gap with four runs in the top of the sixth. BYU-Hawaii had the tying run in scoring position in the top of the seventh, but couldn’t bring it home.
The Seasiders (8-28, 4-22 PacWest) carried their momentum into Game 2 as Lizabelle Talataina kick-started the offense with a two-run homer in the first inning. BYU-Hawaii churned out six runs in the third inning to secure the win.
BYU-Hawaii’s Chelsie Childs pitched a complete game and allowed five hits with three walks and three runs to earn the win in the nightcap.
Sophomore outfielder Tiffany Smith had two doubles, two RBIs, and a run for the Seasiders.
Rainbow Wahine compete in heptathlon
University of Hawaii’s Sha’tres Ah Nee placed 39th and and Felicianna Vazquez 42nd in the first day of the California Heptathlon at Azusa Pacific’s Cougar Stadium on Wednesday.
Both athletes set personal bests in the high jump (Ah Nee, 5-1 1/4 and Vazquez, 4-8 3/4 ) shot put (Ah Nee, 30-1 1/2 and Vazquez, 35-1 3/4 ), and Vazquez also broke her record in the 200 meters (27.47).
As Ah Nee and Vazquez finish the heptathlon on Thursday, the rest of the Rainbow Wahine will compete in the Cal State Los Angeles’ Twilight Meet or Mt. SAC Relays.
