Posted on: Wednesday, May 28, 2003

HAWAI'I HOMEGROWN REPORT
Tennis players Chan, Chong chosen for academic honors

By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer

Two tennis players from Hawai'i yesterday were named to the second team Verizon Academic All-District At-Large team.

Long Beach State junior Kelly Chan (Konawaena '00) and UNLV sophomore Tracie Chong (Iolani '01 of Hawai'i Kai) were selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Chong, who led UNLV in victories with a singles record of 26-10, was a first-team All-Mountain West Conference selection on the court. Her 3.89 cumulative grade-point average in computer engineering helped her become a rare sophomore selection on the academic team.

Only one other second-year player was named to either the first or second team for District VIII, which is made up of schools in California, Hawai'i, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada and Utah.

The Verizon at-large team represents the sports of tennis, swimming, gymnastics, rowing, skiing and water polo.

Chong was named UNLV's 2003 Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year at ceremonies last month. She helped her team win its first regular-season conference championship and earn a second consecutive bid to the NCAA championships.

Chan's record at No. 5 singles for Long Beach State this season was 19-12, including 12-3 from Feb. 9 (two of the three losses were in three sets). She also won seven of her last nine No. 2 doubles matches.

While Chan's classroom smarts were never in doubt (3.9 grade-point average in marketing), "Kelly has made tremendous progress in her game this year," coach Jenny Hilt said. "She is a much smarter player on the court.

"To see a player make so much progress is a thrill for a coach."

Chan will teach tennis in Manhattan Beach and do an internship at a sports marketing company in Los Angeles this summer in preparation for her graduation next year.

MORE ACADEMIC AWARDS

• Arthur Ashe Jr: Basketball honorable mention All-American Monica Tokoro, soccer standout Erin Sayegusa and softball players Nina Richardson and Mitzi Ing have been named Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars.

More than 500 student-athletes of color were selected nationwide for the honor named for the late Wimbledon champion, who was black.

Tokoro (Iolani '01 of 'Aiea) is a sophomore at Cal State-Los Angeles and was the No. 2 scorer in NCAA Division II this year with 25.1 points per game. She had a 3.81 grade-point average through last fall.

Sayegusa (Kaiser '00), a junior forward, is a go-to scorer for Fresno State with 10 goals and four assists the past two seasons. She is No. 7 in career scoring for the Bulldogs with 28 points and has a 3.35 GPA.

Richardson (Iolani '00 of Kalama Valley), a redshirt sophomore, was starting second baseman for Adams State, Colo., with a batting average of .296 and a GPA of 3.82.

Ing (Iolani '00 of 'Aiea), a junior, has been starting center fielder for Fresno State for three years. She hit a career-best .250 this season and has a GPA of 3.92.

Tokoro and Ing got straight A's last fall.

TRACK & FIELD

• NCAA Regionals

Michigan junior Vera Iwalani Simms (Mililani '00) and Oregon senior Eri Macdonald (Punahou '99 of Kailua) appear to have reasonably good chances of qualifying for the NCAA Division I championships.

The first five finishers in each event in regional meets Friday and Saturday qualify for nationals. This is different from past years, when qualification was done by best marks without head-to-head competition.

Simms is ranked fourth in the 400 hurdles in the MidEast Region, but she hasn't been close to her school-record 58.43 seconds since March 22. Macdonald is ranked seventh in the West in the 800 in 2:07.40 in a very tough field. It would take her lifetime-best to qualify.

The West Regional will be at Stanford; MidEast at Ohio State and East at George Mason in Virginia.

Washington freshman Lauran Dignam (Iolani '02 of 'Aina Haina) did not qualify individually but is assigned to some Husky relay teams.

BASKETBALL

• Northeastern (Colo.) JC

Freshman Ashley Kualii (Waiakea '02) says, "I've learned a lot since I've been here."

For example: "Snowboarding is fun, but it's a lot different than surfing."

Kualii changed her college destination from Orange Coast in California to Northeastern in Colorado, after discovering it on the Web, because, "I'm a real hometown girl and I wanted to start small." Northeastern's enrollment is 1,100; Orange Coast is 25,000.

Kualii averaged 8 minutes per game at point guard and "really was playing well the second half of season," coach Wendy Hirschfeld said. "Ashley sees the court really well and can handle the ball extremely well. She is very quick with an awesome vertical and she is the type of player who creates things on the court when she is out there."