Lam reaches NCAA tennis tourney
By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
UCLA sophomore Chris Lam, who was home-schooled in Kaimuki, on Monday became one of 64 Division I players chosen for the NCAA men's tennis singles championship tournament starting May 21 at the University of Georgia.
UCLA
Yesterday, Lam received honorable mention All-Pac 10.
UCLA tennis player Chris Lam, who was home-schooled in Kaimuki, is currently ranked 37th in men's singles.
Lam's season record is 32-9 and he currently is 37th in the Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings. He was ranked as high as No. 24 this season — the highest rung reached by a player from Hawai'i since the rankings began.
Lam reached the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 championships at Ojai, Calif., before losing to eighth-ranked David Martin, Stanford's No. 1 player.
In reaching the final 64 in the nation, he achieved a major personal goal for the season. Helping UCLA to a team championship is the other. The sixth-seeded Bruins (20-3) will play Wichita State (16-10) in the first round Saturday in Los Angeles.
• St. Louis
Sophomore Ikaika Jobe (Punahou '01 of Wailupe Circle) was named to the All-Conference USA third team for the second time and was selected as an Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar.
Jobe had a 14-6 record at No. 1 singles and a 10-9 doubles record with three different partners this season. He has previously received the C-USA's Commissioner's Academic Medal for his 3.8 grade-point average. He is an aviation science major who aspires to be a pilot.
Jobe was ranked 10th in singles and fifth in doubles in the Central Region after the fall season and made it to the Round of 16 at the Omni Regional Tournament. Jobe was named conference Player of the Week on Feb. 16.
For his career, Jobe is 31-13 in singles and 32-14 in doubles.
WATER POLO
• Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.)
CMS women's coach Tim Settem is happy that Annie Richardson does not like crowds.
RICHARDSON
Richardson, a 2002 Punahou graduate from Maunalani Heights and a two-time Interscholastic League of Honolulu Player of the Year, was recruited to play for five-time Division I national champion UCLA.
But she was uncomfortable at the 34,000-student Westwood campus and transferred after the fall semester to 2,400-student Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, also in Southern California.
At Division I UCLA, Richardson might have been a reserve or redshirt this season, patiently waiting for her time in the nation's most successful program. At Division III Claremont, she was the BIG fish in the small pond.
"She is flourishing," Settem said. "She was runner-up in voting for player of the year in the Southern California conference, she was first-team all-tournament at the Division III nationals, and I have no doubt she will be first-team All-American when that comes out.
"For a freshman to do what she has and make such as impact as she has is tremendous," Settem said.
"Annie has outstanding genetics (her mother is former Olympic swimmer Pokey Watson Richardson), she comes from an outstanding program (Punahou dominates water polo in Hawai'i), she is an outstanding athlete with an extremely positive attitude and a tremendous work ethic," Settem said.
"She's an extremely fierce competitor who hates to lose, yet she always has that indelible smile.
"You combine all those things and Annie is a joy to coach."
Richardson set a single season school record with 115 goals.
In the national tournament last weekend at Claremont, Richardson scored 21 goals in 38 shots in five games.
She had six steals, an assist and drew an ejection.
"Annie has a great game sense and yet at the same time still has a lot to learn and she knows it," Settem said. "She has room to grow and mature as an athlete, which will only make her better in everything she does."
And, he hopes, she'll take Claremont along for the ride.
SOFTBALL
• Redlands (Calif.)
Freshman utility playerÊDarcie Takemoto (Kalani '02) was chosen the team's Most Valuable Player and selected second-team all-Southern California Conference by coaches.
Takemoto batted .329 (25-for-76), drove in 17 runs in 28 games and fielded .970 (two errors in 66 chances).
Sophomore Courtney Cho (Kamehameha '01 of 'Aiea) broke her right index finger while batting and missed the last third of the season. Cho, a first-team all-star in 2002, batted .246 (16-for-65) in 20 games.
TRACK & FIELD
• Oregon
Senior Eri Macdonald (Punahou '99 of Kailua) finished her Hayward Field collegiate career Saturday with a personal best time of 4 minutes, 25.81 seconds in the 1500-meter run, which qualifies for the NCAA West Regional late this month.
In the 800, senior Alicia Snyder-Carlson (St. Anthony) just missed her season best with a 2:14.68.
BASEBALL
• BYU
In the latest NCAA statistics, senior Kainoa Obrey (Iolani) is ranked 27th in RBIs at 1.22 per game and tied for 15th in doubles at 0.46 per game. Senior outfielder Doug Jackson (Iolani) is tied for fourth in triples.
