"Fifty-six," he repeated — the yards of the longest field goal in UH football history.

In Saturday's 44-16 victory over Tulsa, Ayat booted three field goals, including a 56-yarder to match Jason Elam's school record.

This morning, the Kamehameha Schools graduate was named the Western Athletic Conference's Player of the Week for special teams.

"Coming in as a freshman, I already had it in my mind that '56' was the record," Ayat said. "I looked at the media guide. I wanted to see what possible records were out there for me to break. I was well aware of it."

He said he even scribbled "56" on a list of 10 goals he keeps in a notebook.

The thing was, he did not know the distance of his record-setting kick until after he returned to the sideline.

"My teammates were telling me, 'It was 56, 57,'" he recalled. "I said, 'Oh, yeah? That's great.'

"Jogging onto the field, setting up, I see I'm on the paint of the 'H' that's in the center (of the field). I realized, 'it's pretty far,' but I didn't know the exact distance."

He aimed for a spot just inside the right upright, anticipating the kick hooking because of the longer follow-through he uses when kicking from great distances.

"It was a great operation as a whole: good snap, good hold and great blocking," he said. "Being at that distance, you have to have a perfect operation, and it was."

Two summers ago, Elam, who was on a family vacation in Hawai'i, and Ayat met for the first time. They spoke of the record.