ISLE FILE
Iolani swimmer 9th in nationals
Advertiser Staff
Fifteen-year-old Iolani School sophomore Mark Eckert Jr. was the youngest of 23 swimmers to reach the finals of the 400-meter individual medley and placed ninth last night at the USA Swimming Spring National Championships at Minneapolis, Minn.
Eckert's time of 4 minutes, 33.75 seconds included an opening 50-yard backstroke length of 28.4 seconds.
His time was a personal best by 3.52 seconds, beating 4:37.27 last year. He won the "B" final for swimmers who were not in the top eight in qualifying heats.
On Wednesday, Eckert placed 23rd (2:09.03) and Iolani junior Hongzhe Sun placed 19th (2:07.85) in the 200-meter backstroke.
The long-course meet continues through Saturday. Eckert and Sun each have two events remaining.
VOLLEYBALL
Another pro: Sarah Clark of Kamuela also is playing in the new United States Professional Volleyball league. Clark, a 1996 Hawai'i Preparatory Academy graduate who played at Stanford, is an outside hitter for the St. Louis Quest.
Clark has had three matches with double-digit digs and three with double digit kills, including a double-double, 10 kills, 10 digs in wild 3-2 victory Tuesday at Grand Rapids. She was the Quest's primary passer and executed 30 of 40 passing attempts on Tuesday.
She has 44 kills and 52 digs in eight matches.
A USPV spokesman had told the Advertiser that Lindsey Berg of the Minnesota Chill was the only player from Hawai'i in the league. Berg had 48 assists and four aces last night in a 3-2 loss to the Chicago Thunder.
Head coach at St. Louis is Jeri Estes, a native of Honolulu who has been coaching with the Russian Women's National Team.
FOOTBALL
Combine for high school players: A free combine for high school players sponsored by the AIGA Foundation is tomorrow at 9 a.m. at Cooke Field on the University of Hawai'i campus.
Players will be tested in the 40-yard dash, 20-yard shuttle run, vertical jump, and repetitions of a 185-pound bench press.
They will be measured and weighed and the combine results will be published in a recruiting profile booklet that will be sent to colleges nationwide, a spokesman for AIGA said.
Players should bring shorts, T-shirts and running shoes. The combine will last two to three hours.
