Rainbow sailors qualify for nationals

The University of Hawaii coed sailing team finished in third place at the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference coed dinghy championships over the weekend in waters off Long Beach, Calif.

With their top-four finish, the Rainbows qualified for next month’s Intercollegiate Sailing Association’s Coed Dinghy National Championship, May 28-31 in Newport, R.I.

UH totalled 96 points over the weekend. In the A Division, Patrick Wilkinson and Danielle Ahir scored 32 points over their four races while Mathew Butler and Annika Garrett, sailing in races five through eight, recorded 12 points.

The B Division team of Michael Pacholski and Devon Stapleton notched 23 points in their six races on Saturday.

Heading into Sunday, UH was in third place. Over the last eight races, UH’s A Division team scored 57 points and the B Division finished with 39 points.

Stanford won the regatta with 43 points, followed by UC Santa Barbara’s 68 and Long Beach State finished with 105.

This marks UH’s 18th overall appearance in the coed nationals and sixth in the last seven years.

UH women’s tennis falls in BWC final

Despite a 3-1 lead in the match, the fourth-seeded University of Hawaii women’s tennis team could not hold on as third-seeded Long Beach State won the Big West Conference championship 4-3 on Sunday at Indian Wells, Calif.

The Rainbow Wahine earned the doubles point as UH’s top duo of Petra Melounova and Nikola Dolakova won their match 6-4 and their third team of Alzbeta Houbova and Maayan Sela won their match 7-5 to give UH a 1-0 lead heading into singles action.

UH (10-10) went up 2-0 after Roxanne Resma’s 6-2, 6-1 singles win. Ranked 60th in singles, Melounova won her singles match 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 giving UH a 3-1 lead.

Two wins by Long Beach State tied the match at three and the championship came down to the No. 2 court. Emma Bardet defeated Sela 5-7, 6-1, 7-5 to give the 49ers (17-5) the championship.

Thompson, Morimoto to speak at QB Club

Khiry Thompson and Tyler Morimoto are the guest speakers for today’s Honolulu Quarterback Club luncheon.

Thompson, a 27-year-old track and field athlete, competed in the shot put (bronze medalist), 100-meter race (silver medalist) and was a member of the 4×100-meter relay team at the Special Olympics World Games. She started in Special Olympics because of her father and it has given her a place to not only be accepted but celebrated as well.

Morimoto is a student at Roosevelt High School who is a member of the cross country team. The 18-year-old competed in the 1,500-meter race (gold medalist), 3,000-meter race (gold medalist) and was a member of the gold medal 4×400-meter relay team.

Lunch (cost is $17 per person for members and guests) is served at 11:30 a.m. at The Maple Garden Restaurant, located at 909 Isenberg St. There is free parking and the program begins at noon.