UH Sports Extra

Twins still courting Kolten Wong

Dave Reardon — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 08:01:31 +0000

That’s the word we’re getting … the multi-talented catcher-middle infielder-center fielder from Kamehameha-Hawaii could still go pro out of high school if Minnesota comes back with the right offer. Otherwise, Wong goes to UH, where it is believed by many he will make an enormous immediate impact.

Especially since coach Mike Trapasso has had generally bad luck with local recruits, other than guys from Mid-Pacific, like Jon Hee, Wong would be a huge get for his program.

Kaufman, Stone miss out on Olympic team

Cindy Luis — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 04:47:24 +0000

Adriane Sims Stone of Mililani finished eighth and the University of Hawaii’s Amber Kaufman 12th in today’s high jump final of the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials in Eugene, Ore.Stone, 28, cleared the first two heights (1.79 and 1.84 meters) but not the third (1.89). Kaufman, 19, cleared 1.79 but missed on three attempts at 1.84.Chante Howard won the event with a jump of 1.97 (6 feet, 5.5 inches).

Best ‘Backers

Dave Reardon — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:14:23 +0000

If you’re like me, you love to watch good linebacker play. The combination of strength, speed, smarts, skill and instinct needed to do it well — especially in this era of sophisticated offenses — is very rare. One of the reasons I think Hawaii will do better than many expect this fall is its very talented group of linebackers: Solomon Elimimian, Adam Leonard and Blaze Soares for starters, with Brashton Satele, Tyson Kafentzis, Mana Lolotai and R.J. Keisel-Kauhane all capable of making big impacts, too.

Tell us who your favorite linebackers are from Rainbow and Warrior teams past.

Brian’s story, from all angles

Dave Reardon — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:19:29 +0000

ESPN was in town last week working on a story on Brian Kajiyama. Since it is for its weekly investigative show, E:60, it might be more than your typical human interest piece. I was interviewed for it, and all I’ll tell you at this point is not all the questions were of the the softball variety. The producer told me they want to explore this incredible story from all angles. They’re planning on airing it in October.

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My postings may be even more sporadic in the next two weeks than they have been since the end of spring practice for two reasons. 1) There’s just not that much going on right now. 2) I’m on vacation. But since it’s a “stay”-cation, I’ll try to get something fresh up as much as possible and come up with some other prompts like the bucket list post.

Congrats to Kaufman, Stone for advancing in high jump

Cindy Luis — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:38:26 +0000

UH’s Amber Kaufman and Mililani resident Adriane Sims Stone both advanced to Friday’s final of the women’s high jump at the USA Olympic Team Track & Field Trials in Eugene, Ore., ltonight.Kaufman, a member of both the Rainbow Wahine volleyball and track teams, and Stone, a 28-year-old wife of an Army soldier stationed at Scholfield Barracks, were in the same preliminary flight. They both cleared the preliminary heights of 1.79 and 1.82 meters.The two were among the 14 to advanced. The top three qualify for the Olympics.Kaufman won the Western Athletic Conference title with a school-record 1.84m jump (6-feet, 5 inches. Monday, Kaufman missed on her first two attempts of the opening height 5-10.5 the clearning on her final. With the bar moved up to 5.11.5 she again missed on her first two before clearing on the third. The finals are scheduled for Friday 4:30 p.m. HST

Candidates … Final wishes

Dave Reardon — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 05:05:52 +0000

Doris Sullivan, who has an outstanding record in helping local athletes get college scholarships, and former Warriors player Tony Tuioti are among the candidates for a new position in the UH football office.

Technically, it can’t be called recruiting coordinator, but at least some of the work would entail handling nuts and bolts in that area.

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Hopefully you all have many, many more years to live. But if you were to make a “Bucket List,” what would be the things in sports you’d like to do or see happen before you kick it?

Bown named MVP of FIVB match

Cindy Luis — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 19:05:47 +0000

Bown named MVP of matchFormer Hawaii middle blocker Heather Bown was named the most valuable player of the match as the U.S. national women’s volleyball team swept Poland today (June 29) in an FIVB World Grand Prix Pool E match in Wroclaw, Poland.Bown put down eight kills on 12 swings and added an ace and a block. Punahou product Lindsey Berg, the U.S. captain, had 30 assists, a kill and an ace.It was the fifth straight win for the U.S. (5-1). Former Stanford All-American Logan Tom led the Americans with 13 kills, two aces and a block. The full story is at: http://volleyball.teamusa.org/news/article/2279. For photos: http://volleyball.teamusa.org/multimedia/photo_gallery/91

Matt Bender’s mom running for office in Kona

Cindy Luis — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:43:21 +0000

Thanks to Daniel Rasay’s mom Jackie for passing this along. Matt Bender played for the Warriors.Debbie Hecht, Candidate Hawai’i County Council District 8-North Kona.Sorry but I did not receive the info before her campaign meeting Monday. To contact her … Hecht4CouncilDistrict8@gmail.com I did like her platform. You might as well.

Update from Lauri Hakala

Cindy Luis — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 07:22:53 +0000

I apologize for not blogging recently but I was on the mainland for a few weeks and unable to access my Star-Bulletin e-mail. Lauri has been back at UH in summer school and will be graduating next week. He will returning home right after that.Congrats and best of luck. Very happy he sent the info. Here’s his email …Unfortunately we found out that I have a torn labrum in my shoulder so despite the great season in Switzerland, I won’t continue volleyball right away in the fall. I had a contract ready with a french team (ivan perez from BYU would ve been on the same team) but I didnt sign because I wanted to get better first and not play injured- which could ve been possible too according to the doctors.Now I ll just go home, get the surgery done and I ll find a team that I ll join in January 09, half way through the season in europe. Good thing is that it ll be a 100% recovery if all goes well so I m excited to get healthy and move forward…Matt Carere got into med school and he probably wont play anymore, and Carl (McGown, who coached Lauri and Matt) returned to Utah to his family…

More golf, heading for Samoa … Is Jane “swamped” with mixed emotions?

Dave Reardon — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:20:32 +0000

The June Jones celebrity golf tourney on the Big Island on Monday raised $10,000 each for two Hawaii charities, HUGS and the Ronald McDonald House. Also, $10,000 for scholarships for five football players from American Samoa, which will be awarded when Jones and Greg McMackin and members of their SMU and Hawaii staffs run a clinic there this weekend. The group heads out tomorrow.

Today, McMackin is hosting his golf tournament on Kauai. Jack Thompson, nicknamed The Throwin’ Samoan when he was Washington State (NOT WASHINGTON, thanks to BigIsland Kurt for keeping me honest on this one) quarterback, is among the celebs at McMackin’s tourney. Jones is playing on Kauai at McMackin’s tourney also, with the governor of American Samoa.

When I moved to Gainesville 10 years ago, there were very few people with any Hawaii ties living in North Central Florida. There was a Hawaiian high school football coach named Danny Akina who was born and raised in Florida and Mike Fitzgerald; I worked for him here and he hired me at the paper in Gainesville. After I left, Punahou swimmer Nicholas Borreca, the son of Star-Bulletin reporters Richard Borreca and June Watanabe, swam for the Gators.

But Jacksonville and Orlando are big cities and there are quite a few people with Hawaii ties in those cities; lots affiliated with the military, or in the case of Orlando, with Disney.

When I wanted Hawaiian food and someone to talk story with about back home, I just had to make the hour’s drive to Jacksonville and see Jane Inouye.

Many of you remember Jane because she is keiki o ka aina, graduated from Castle and UH, and worked in PR in Hawaii for many years, including in the UH sports information office. She now has her own PR/communications company and lives in Gainesville and anxiously awaits the Aug. 30 game in The Swamp.

Since she’s also a University of Florida alumnus in graduate studies, I asked Jane if she has mixed feelings about the game.

Here’s her take: A combination of jet-lag, extremely hot field conditions (think of an August day with Kona wind conditions, then add 10-15 degrees), and a sell-out crowd of 97,000 Gator fans will force the Warriors to really step it up. Keep in mind that UF is the birthplace of Gatorade - which was created as a way to hydrate and provide electrolytes to players. UH will need more than a little power-drink to wipeout the Gators.

Jane’s prediction on the score? All she can say is, “Go Bows!” (She’s a bit old school).