Adleta agrees to stay as UH women's coach

Advertiser Staff

Ashley Adleta has agreed to be the University of Hawai'i's full-time Rainbow Wahine golf coach, after serving as interim coach since January. Adleta signed her one-year contract Friday. It goes through June.

"My team basically begged me to stay," Adleta, 33, said. "I really got attached to them last spring. I came over in January, two days after school started, thinking six months would be enough. But they grew on me."

UH first announced Adleta's full-time hiring nearly a month ago, but she said a typo on the contract caused a delay.

Adleta is a graduate of Arizona State, where she was a member of two national championship teams (1993 and '94). She also served as administrative assistant for the 1995 championship team and was an assistant coach for the 1997 and '98 ASU title teams.

Hired as Hawai'i's interim coach after Marga Stubblefield resigned, she inherited a squad deep in young talent. Hawai'i finished fourth in its first tournament with Adleta.

"You would have thought we won the thing because they were so happy," Adleta said. "I said, that's great, but we need to finish first, second or third. That's what I see for them."

The 'Bows were fifth in the WAC last spring, and the players' potential kept Adleta coming back for more. They opened this year with a 14th-place finish at last week's Dick McGuire Invitational. The tournament was won by sixth-ranked Georgia. UH sophomore Sara Odelius, from Sweden, finished seventh.

"The goal every year is to win the WAC," Adleta said. "Next week we play in Las Cruces (N.M.), where they're having the regional in May. The main reason it's on the schedule is because we plan on being there in May as a team."

The Rainbow Wahine roster also includes two juniors from California (Tara Chappell and Allie Rowe) and one from Ho-nolulu (Kari Sur). There are three other sophomores — Pukalani's Dale Gammie and Lisa Kajihara and Sacramento's Megan Stoddart. The only freshman is Xyra Suyetsugu, from Honolulu.

Charities receive $70,000 from event

Last year's Turtle Bay Championship raised $70,000 for North Shore charities. The Senior PGA event has changed its place in the schedule and will be Jan. 28 to 30, 2005.

The grants were given to 24 community service agencies earlier this month by Friends of Hawai'i Charities, which is affiliated with the tournament.

Over the past three years, the Championship has distributed nearly $200,000.

For tournament, sponsor and volunteer information, call 545-1588 or visit turtlebaychampionship.com.