Barr, Cole claim top Big West honors
Hawaii sophomore Chloe Barr was named the Big West women’s water polo Player of the Year on Thursday and Maureen Cole claimed coach of the year honors after leading the Rainbow Wahine to the conference championship.
Barr, the Big West freshman of the year last season, led the conference with 47 goals and 1.96 goals per match for the league’s highest scoring team.
UH junior Paula Chillida Esforzado was named to the All-Big West first team for the second consecutive year. Senior Caity Lopes da Silva, who scored the game-winner in UH’s overtime win in the conference title game Sunday, and junior Claire Nixon also made the first team. Senior Zoe Respondek was an honorable mention pick.
Cole was named Big West coach of the year for the second time in the past three seasons. The Rainbow Wahine (18-8) open the National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Championship against Southern Cal on May 8 at Stanford, Calif.
Lau wins second-round heat by tiebreaker
Honolulu’s Ezekiel Lau won his second-round heat by tiebreaker Thursday during the Oakley Lowers Pro at San Clemente, Calif.
Lau and Australia’s Yadin Nicol each recorded a two-wave total of 14.16 in 3- to 5-foot surf during their four-man heat. Lau was awarded the victory by posting the highest single-wave score: 7.73 to 7.63.
Haiku’s Tanner Hendrickson (13.33) and Lahaina’s Dusty Payne (10.90) also advanced to the third round by finishing second in their heats.
Lahaina’s Granger Larsen, who competed in Lau’s heat, and the North Shore’s Fredrick Patacchia Jr. both failed to advance.
Honolulu’s Keanu Asing and Sunny Garcia of Sunset Beach finished last in their first-round heats on Thursday.
Hilo baseball sweeps Academy of Art
Phillip Steering batted 2-for-3 with a run and RBI as Hawaii Hilo beat Academy of Art 5-3 to complete a doubleheader sweep Thursday at Francis Wong Stadium.
In the first game, Jeremy Dela Cruz pitched a six-hitter and Hilo scored all three runs in the third inning of a 3-0 win.
The Vulcans improved to 11-36 overall and 8-24 in the PacWest; the Urban Knights fell to 8-38 and 5-27.
