Remiticado national wrestling champion
By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
Jill Remiticado, who was a pioneer of girls high school wrestling in Hawai'i, won her third straight women's national collegiate championship Saturday.
Remiticado, of 'Aiea, earned a lot of media attention when she wrestled as a member of the Iolani boys team in 1996-97. She mostly wrestled boys because there were only a few girls wrestling in Hawai'i high schools.
By the time she graduated in 1999, so many girls had been inspired by her trail blazing that Hawai'i was one of two states with a sanctioned state high school championship for girls.
Remiticado, a junior at Pacific University in Oregon, won the 121-pound championship Saturday at the U.S. Girls Wrestling Association Collegiate Freestyle Nationals at Lake Orion, Mich. She won folkstyle championships at the same tournament, the nation's largest for girls and women, the previous two years.
She dominated her weight class, pinning her first opponent and winning her semifinal and final matches by "technical falls" — 10 points or more. In the championship, she defeated Marianne Vollmer of Missouri Valley College, 12-0.
The number of women's collegiate wrestlers is still small — there were nine women in Remiticado's weight class last weekend and 15 colleges have clubs or teams. But the sport is growing. "This was the first year they had set weight classes," Remiticado said. "Before they had to block them out according to how many wrestlers were there."
This is the first year Pacific had a women's club team. Remiticado traveled with the men's varsity team the previous two years and picked up matches where she could.
She was sidelined much of this season when she sprained two ligaments in her left ankle. "I had to wear a (corrective) boot for about six weeks and could only do things like situps and pushups at practice," she said.
Four other wrestlers from Hawai'i placed at the women's nationals. Pacific junior Katie Kunimoto (Castle '99) was second at 114 pounds; Pacific freshman Kristin Fujioka (Castle '01) was third at 107; Missouri Valley junior Donnell Bradley (Radford '99) of 'Aiea was third at 165; and Cumberland (Ky.) sophomore Stephanie Bolton (Radford '00) of 'Ewa Beach was seventh at 154.
Kunimoto transferred from Cumberland to Pacific last fall when it started its women's program.
At the NAIA Coaches nationals last month, Fujioka was second at 105.5 pounds and Kunimoto fourth at 112. Remiticado couldn't compete because of her injury.
Clarissa Chun (Roosevelt '99) of Kapolei, a member of the U.S. National Team and a junior at Missouri Valley, missed the national collegiate meet because of an injury.
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BASEBALL
• Nebraska: Senior All-American Shane Komine (Kalani '98) was chosen Big 12 Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season for his complete-game, 3-1 victory over No. 22 Texas Tech Friday. It was his third victory over a ranked team in his past three starts.
Komine (5-0) leads the Big 12 with 58 strikeouts in 46 innings and has a 1.17 ERA. He has won 16 straight decisions over Big 12 teams since 2000.
If he wins four more games (he starts every Friday), Komine will become the 14th pitcher in NCAA history to have 40 wins and 400 strikeouts in his career, according to Nebraska spokesman Shamus McKnight. Komine is one of Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd in the March 25 edition.
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SOFTBALL
• Northern Colorado: Sam and Stephanie Pintz of Waimanalo couldn't have picked a better week to travel to the Mainland to watch their daughter play college softball for the first time. They followed Northern Colorado to the Rebel Games in Orlando, Fla., and Jana Pintz went on a tear, ripping 15 hits in 10 games (.441 average).
Pintz, a second baseman, scored nine runs, drove in five, hit three doubles and cracked a home run. Yesterday, she was chosen Co-Player of the Week in the North Central Conference. She is batting .404 for the season.
Pintz was an all-state player at Kailua the past two years.
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WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
• Taft (Calif.) JC: Haunani Momoa (Nanakuli '00) was "the savior of our season," coach Greg McCall said.
When Momoa turned out for basketball after finishing an all-conference, championship sophomore volleyball season, "she made a definite impact on our team," McCall said. "She was an instant leader. She brought a winning attitude from volleyball, and taught the girls that winning can be fun.
"Plus," he said, "Nani can play the game. She was a big force inside. She averaged about eight points playing low post, guarded bigger girls (she's 5-10) and got our team into the playoffs when it looked like we weren't going to do much."
Momoa earned honorable mention All-Central Valley Conference.
• Chemeketa (Salem, Ore.) JC: Sharon Wahinekapu (Kalaheo '00) "can do a lot of things other girls can't. She's real athletic. We haven't had a point guard like her in a long time," coach Marty Branch said.
Wahinekapu, of Waimanalo, averaged eight points per game, Branch said, "but in the game we needed to win to go to the Northwest tournament, she scored 19."
Wahinekapu was headed for Portland State out of high school, but lack of one course derailed her. Branch thinks she'll end up there yet.
