ISLE FILE
Hula Bowl-bound returner wins Mosi Tatupu Award
Advertiser Staff
Texas Tech's Wes Welker has been named winner of the 2003 Mosi Tatupu Award, which is given annually by the Hula Bowl to the nation's best college football special teams' player.
Welker is scheduled to accept his award and play for the Kai team in the 58th Hula Bowl on Jan. 17 at 3 p.m. at Maui's War Memorial Stadium.
WELKER
Welker, a two-time first-team All-Big 12 kick returner, set career NCAA marks in punt returns for touchdowns (8) and punt return yards (1,744). Welker needs just four returns in the Hula Bowl to break the career record for punt returns of 153, set by BYU's Vai Sikahema in the early 1980s.
Welker is the seventh player to earn the award named after the standout Punahou School running back who played at USC and with the NFL's New England Patriots. Tatupu also played in the 1978 Hula Bowl.
Tatupu was named to the 1986 NFL Pro Bowl and was honored as the NFL's Special Teams Player of the Year. He retired from the NFL in 1992.
SWIMMING
• UH's Quick honored: University of Hawai'i junior Dena Quick has been named Western Athletic Conference swimming and diving athlete of the week.
Quick, who is from Hermantown, Minn., competed in two meets in Honolulu last week — the Duke Kahanamoku Sprint Meet and the Aileen Soule Classic.
In the Kahanamoku meet, Quick placed third in the 50 free (24.49 seconds) out of 63 athletes entered in the event. She also anchored the 200 medley relay team to a second-place finish in 1:46.17.
In the Soule meet, she won the 50 free (24.30) and placed third in the 100 free (54.65). She was also a member of the winning 400 medley relay team, which finished in 3:40.18.
Quick is the fourth UH women's swimmer to win the WAC honor this season. Yan Chen, Nicole Mackey and Katie Clewett were honored earlier.
