ISLE FILE
Chaminade, BYUH will add golf in 2004-05
Advertiser Staff
Brigham Young-Hawai'i and Chaminade will add men's and women's golf in the 2004-05 academic year as part of an agreement between the Division II Pacific West Conference and the NCAA, the PacWest announced yesterday.
The NCAA agreement requires the six-school Pacific West Conference — which includes BYUH, Chaminade, Hawai'i-Hilo and Hawai'i Pacific — to expand its so-called "championship sports" from five to nine beginning with the 2004-05 academic year.
The four new sports will be men's cross-country, women's cross-country, men's golf and women's golf. Currently, the PacWest awards conference championships for volleyball, men's basketball, softball, men's tennis and women's tennis.
To qualify as a conference championship sport, six schools in the conference must sponsor the sport. In the six-school PacWest, that means that every school must sponsor the same sport for it to be eligible for a conference championship.
Four of the six conference schools will be adding at least one golf team to their programs beginning in 2004. Hawai'i-Hilo sponsors men's golf and will be adding women's golf in the fall. Hawai'i Pacific has men's and women's club teams that will become intercollegiate sports in 2004, while golf will be new sports to both BYUH and Chaminade.
The first PacWest Conference golf championship is scheduled to be hosted by Hawai'i Pacific in the spring of 2005.
Five of the six PacWest schools currently sponsor men's and women's cross-country. Western New Mexico will become the sixth in 2004.
Under new NCAA bylaws, a Division II conference must sponsor 10 championships in order to be recognized by the NCAA. The PacWest will add a 10th sport in the fall of 2005. Some sports that have been suggested by league athletic directors have been bowling, women's basketball and riflery.
TENNIS
• Lajola to play in national tournament here: 'Aiea's Dennis Lajola will come home in February to play in the 2004 U.S. Tennis Association National Junior Open. The tournament will be Feb. 14-18 at Central O'ahu Regional Park.
Lajola, one of the country's top-ranked juniors, has moved to Florida to train at the IMG/Bollettieri Academy.
This is the second year the national juniors has been on O'ahu. It features boys and girls, 18-and-under, competing in singles and doubles. More than 125 players from 22 states and Canada played last year. Entry is restricted to those who qualify through a national selection process.
"The tournament helps bridge the gap between Hawai'i tennis competitors and Mainland competitors, while involving the tennis community in creating a world-class tennis event," tournament director Bernard Gusman said. "We see this as a win-win opportunity for tennis and Hawai'i."
There will be a Community Tennis Day on Feb. 16, in conjunction with the National Open. It features a day of free tennis events and activities open to the public.
For information, call 946-2951.
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