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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, April 5, 2003

ISLE FILE
Guillermo advances to Challenge boxing final

Advertiser Staff

Wai'anae's Samson Guillermo advanced to the 119-pound final of boxing's U.S. Challenge with a 15-14 victory over Kevin Hudgins of Pensacola, Fla., yesterday at Colorado Springs, Colo.

Guillermo, a 20-year-old freshman at Northern Michigan, trailed by a point entering the fourth and final round before rallying to win at the Olympic Training Center.

In today's final, Guillermo will face Phoenix's Rafael Valenzuela. It's a rematch of last week's U.S. Amateur Boxing Championships, which Guillermo won, 22-7.

Hawai'i's other boxer in the Challenge — Wailuku's Dat Nguyen — lost at 125 pounds to No. 1-seed Jose Perez Jr., 6-4, yesterday.

The U.S. Challenge is the first qualifier for the Olympic Trials. The champions will go to the Pan Am Games in the Dominican Republic in August and the runners-up will fight in the World Championships in Bangkok, Thailand, in July.

ARENA FOOTBALL

Islanders win on the road: The Hawaiian Islanders waited until the final game last season to pick up their first road victory.

This season, the second-year arenafootball2 franchise won its first road game, 53-52, over the Quad City Steamwheelers last night at Moline, Ill.

The Steamwheelers (0-1) had an opportunity to tie the game after a 6-yard touchdown pass from Tony Zimmerman to Randall Lane with 12 seconds remaining, but Brian Hegnauer's extra-point attempt hit the left upright.

Hegnauer's ensuing on-side kick was recovered by Josh White and the Islanders (2-0) ran out the clock.

The Islanders took a 53-46 lead with 55 seconds remaining on an 8-yard pass from Darnell Arceneaux to Darrell Jones and Arceneaux's two-point conversion pass to Nian Taylor.

"We were fortunate to win this game," Islanders coach Cal Lee said. "I think Darnell was the key, showed great leadership out there. Not too many dropped passes; we made big plays and that'sÊwhat you need to do to beat a team like Quad City."

WATER POLO

Karin van Hoff, the University of Hawai'i's leading scorer and sole senior, will play her final home water polo game this morning. The Rainbows take on San Diego State in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at 10 a.m. at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex.

Hawai'i (7-11, 2-5 MPSF) is ranked eighth nationally and went 6-1 in last weekend's international Rainbow Challenge Invitational. The sixth-ranked Aztecs (14-8, 4-5) have won five of their last seven.

Van Hoff, from Barendrecht, Netherlands, is among the most prolific scorers in school history. Last season she was an honorable mention All-America after collecting 41 goals and team-high 96 steals. This season, van Hoff leads the team in goals (20), assists (12) and steals (31).

The Rainbow Wahine play at Santa Clara, San Jose State and second-ranked Stanford next weekend. The MPSF Championships are April 25-27.

SOFTBALL

WAC opener postponed: The University of Hawai'i softball team's Western Athletic Conference season opener at Fresno State last night was postponed because of inclement weather.

Rain, high winds and hail hit Fresno, Calif., yesterday afternoon, according to a FSU press release.

A regularly-scheduled doubleheader is set for noon today and the make-up doubleheader will be played at 9 a.m. tomorrow. Both times are Hawai'i.