ISLE FILE
Hawai'i Bowl gets title sponsor
Advertiser Staff
The Hawai'i Bowl will soon be getting a new name.
Officials of the recently approved Christmas Day football game at Aloha Stadium said they have reached agreement with a title sponsor on a multi-year deal to be announced shortly.
Pete Derzis, senior vice president of ESPN Regional Television, the owner of the bowl, declined to identify the sponsor but said the deal is worth "six figures annually."
In addition, Derzis said deals are being concluded with several other companies to be non-title sponsors. He said ESPN is talking with several candidates for the vacant executive director's job.
The bowl was certified by the NCAA May 2, "and the response we have received from people inside and outside (Hawai'i) in that short time has been very positive," Derzis said
The game will match a Western Athletic Conference team against a member of Conference USA. The University of Hawai'i will represent the WAC if the Warriors win seven or more games this season.
The game will be played at 3 p.m. on Dec. 25 and have a minimum payout of $750,000 per team and be shown on ESPN.
It replaces the Aloha Bowl and O'ahu Bowl, which departed after the 2000 season. The O'ahu Bowl became the Seattle Bowl and the Aloha Bowl ceased operation after it was not recertified by the NCAA.
ACADEMIC HONORS
UH athletes cited: Dejan Miladinovic and Costas Theocharidis, who helped lead the University of Hawai'i to the NCAA men's volleyball championship, have been named to the 2001-02 Verizon Academic All-America Team.
In the "at-large" category that includes athletes from various sports, Miladinovic was named to the 17-member first team with a 3.82 grade-point average. The senior middle blocker is a business and finance major.
Theocharidis, a junior outside hitter, was named to the second team with a 3.73 GPA in business.
Three members of UH's women's water polo team were selected to the American Water Polo Coaches Association 2001-02 Women's All-Academic team. They were: Elizabeth Schweitzer (3.72 GPA), Traci Trochinski (3.42) and Tracy Andersen (3.27).
Overall, the Rainbow Wahine ranked 16th nationally with a team GPA of 3.07.
TENNIS
Sectional wrap up: Jamie Migia and Kelly Ann Nakamura earned the Sportsmanship Awards at the U.S. Tennis Association/Hawai'i Pacific Section Junior Sectional Championships.
The five-day tournament ended yesterday on Maui, at Kapalua Village and Tennis Garden and the Royal Lahaina.
Every top seed but one captured the age-division titles. That one — Michael Wojnarowicz — was forced to retire because of an injury in the Boys 18 final. Third-seeded DerrickÊLajola won the championship. The two were tied 5-5 in the first set when Wojnarowicz had to stop.
The other boys champions were: Dane Kawamoto (10), Erik Shoji (12), Dennis Lajola (14) and RobertÊLim (16). Girls champions were: Monique Melton (10), Joelle Yamamoto (12), Kalei Gora (14), Chloe Bihag (16) and Heidi Kaloi (18).
