Feat of Clay done on injured knee
By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
Competing on a painful knee, senior Bryan Clay won the pentathlon and long jump and shared the Outstanding Performer award as he led Azusa Pacific University to the NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championship last weekend.
Clay is a 1998 Castle High graduate.
He made his lifetime best long jump of 24 feet, 11¥ inches on his only attempt and won the pentathlon for the third year in a row, with 3,857 points. Clay, who didn't push himself because of tendinitis, also finished third in the 55-meter high hurdles. He scored 26 of Azusa Pacific's 72 points.
Clay scored as many or more points by himself than all but six teams in the meet at Johnson City, Tenn.
Now he turns to the decathlon, in which he was the fourth-ranked American last season.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
• Arizona State
Senior Cian Carvalho (Kapa'a) made four straight free throws and controlled a critical defensive rebound in the final 20 seconds as the Sun Devils upset second-ranked Stanford, 70-63, Monday night to win the Pac-10 Tournament championship and automatic NCAA Tournament bid at Eugene, Ore.
Carvalho's 13 points, team-leading six rebounds, and especially her physical defensive play helped end Stanford's 22-game winning streak.
• Cal State-Los Angeles
How do you follow a 34-point game when your dad has flown from Hawai'i to Los Angeles to watch you play? How about scoring 30 points and dishing five assists as freshman point guard Monica Tokoro (Iolani '01) did Saturday against Cal State-Bakersfield.
Tokoro made 8 of 11 field-goal attempts and 14 of 15 free throws to finish the season as the team's leading scorer with 14.0 points per game.
Her 148 assists (5.5 per game) is the third most in a season in Cal State L.A. history.
JUDO
• U.S. National Team
Taylor Takata (Iolani '00) finished fifth in the 60 kg (132-pound) division in last week's Hungarian Open, one of the most prestigious judo tournaments in Europe.
Takata won his first three matches by ippon (equivalent to a pin in wrestling) to reach the semifinals. He lost his semifinal to Robert Cueto of Spain and lost the bronze-medal match to Yoshimi Shimizu of Japan. There were 23 competitors in the 60 kg division.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
• Southern (New Orleans)
Terry Ayers, last year's OIA West scoring champion (20.1 average) at Pearl City, is finding out what life is like away from home. "No more leaning on mom and dad," Ayers said yesterday. "The first lesson I learned was make sure you wash the whites together. I got all pink socks and had to throw them away."
Ayers also is learning the college game on a Gulf Coast Conference championship team, which will take a 26-5 record into the NAIA Division I tournament at Kansas City next Wednesday. He has subbed at both point and shooting guard this season and his maximum playing time was 21 minutes in the title-clinching game.
Ayers is one of many athletes from Hawai'i who were placed at Mainland colleges by Hawai'i Sports Network's student services division.
• Hartnell (Calif) JC
When freshman guard Austin Souza of Honoka'a "found out the baskets in Salinas were the same size as in Hawai'i, he started filling them," Hartnell coach Frank Carbajal said.
Despite a sprained ankle and a slow start "getting acclimated to being away from home," Carbajal said, Souza made a team-leading 76 3-pointers, including a school-record eight in one game, when he scored 30 points.
He hit 41 percent of 185 3-point attempts in 30 games and was the team's most accurate free-throw shooter at 81.2 percent.
Souza was Hartnell's emotional leader as well, said assistant coach Paul Alioto, a former UH-Hilo assistant (1995-97) who recruited him.
Souza averaged 13.7 points and 5.3 assists in 12 conference games and was the sixth-leading vote getter on the All-Coast Conference team.
• Santa Clara (Calif.)
Twins Brad and Cord Anderson, state Co-Players of the Year on Iolani's 1998 state championship team, are both walk-on reserves, averaging 4.0 and 3.6 minutes in 19 and 15 games, respectively. They are juniors.
MEN'S VOLLEYBALL
• Ball State (Indiana)
Senior and junior middle attackers play ahead of red-shirt freshman Andrew Braley (Kalaheo '00) on the 14-1 Ball State team, so he doesn't get a lot of playing time. But when he does, Braley "gives us a sign of what we can look forward to," coach Joel Walton said. He got 10 kills and hit .714 in a sweep of Findlay.
SPRING SPORTS
• Pacific (Oregon)
A total of 21 student-athletes from Hawai'i have earned spots on six of Pacific's eight spring sports squads.
"Our students from Hawai'i make up a significant part of our university community, and a number play pivotal roles in the success of our teams," Pacific athletic director Judy Sherman said.
The Boxer baseball team has seven players from Hawai'i, including starting pitchers senior Kyle Ishimitsu ('Aiea) and junior Derek Akimoto ('Aiea), and returning all-conference outfielder senior Shaun Ebesutani (Mid-Pacific), also of 'Aiea.
Sophomore catcher/DH Kyle Shimizu (Maui High) of Kula leads Pacific batting at .429 as the Boxers prepare to open Northwest Conference play.
Men's tennis has six players from Hawai'i. Eric Yukumoto ('Aiea) was No. 1 most of last season.
Golfers Jason Pirga (Kaiser), a junior from 'Aiea, and transfer sophomore Whitney-Reigh Asao (Hawai'i Baptist) of Pearl City enter the spring season as No. 1 on their respective teams. Asao "is by far our best player," coach Richard Warren said. "If we can get consistency from her, she will contend as one of the top players in the conference."
Other Pacific athletes from Hawai'i:
Baseball: Isaac Goya (Hilo High), also a starter; Kyle Oroku (Leilehua) of Mililani, and Bryce Yamamoto (Iolani) of Kane'ohe.
Softball: Kim Hee (Mid-Pacific), Christina Young (Kamehameha) of Kailua, and Erin Sakai (University).
Men's tennis: Douglas Dang (Kamehameha) of Mililani, Kai Duvall (Baldwin) of Makawao, Jason Kina (Baldwin) of Kihei, Mark Kunimoto (Kapa'a) and Scott Sato (Kapa'a).
Women's tennis: Carey Kadohiro (Konawaena), Fern Koga (Baldwin) and Lei Tokuda (Mid-Pacific) of 'Aiea. Koga was No. 1 last year before suffering a season-ending knee injury.
