ISLE FILE
UH divers sweep platform titles
Advertiser Staff
University of Hawai'i divers Rui Wang and Mats Wiktorsson won the platform events yesterday at the NCAA Division I Zone E Diving Regional in Oklahoma City, Okla.
Wang, a senior from Beijing, easily won the women's competition, amassing 648.35 points. Kimberly Popp of USC took second with 498.75, followed by UCLA's Tess Schofield with 488.60.
QiongJie Huang placed eighth with 432.85, while UH teammate Emily Hanson just missed the finals after finishing 20th with 170.75.
Wiktorsson, a sophomore from Sweden, won the men's platform event with 702.90 points. Michael Hilde was second with 668.85 and USC teammate Kenny Jenkins was third with 613.25.
Wiktorsson, Wang, Huang and Megan Farrow have qualified for the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. The women's meet will be held March 16 to 18 in Athens, Ga.; the men's meet March 23 to 25 in Atlanta.
TRAMPOLINE
VERCRUYSSEN TRIUMPHS
Nani Vercruyssen, a 14-year-old eighth-grader at Kaimuki Middle School, won the Junior Elite (17-younger) division on the trampoline and placed second in synchronized trampoline at the USA Gymnastics Winter Classic for Trampoline and Tumbling.
Four other athletes from Hawai'i competed in the classic, which was held Feb. 3 to 4 at the Olympic Training Center in Birmingham, Ala.
They were:
Vercruyssen, Moniz and Dupio qualified to represent the U.S. in the Flanders Cup April 27 to 29 in Ghent, Belgium, and will attend a team training camp in San Diego.
Vercruyssen also was chosen as one of two elite females for the U.S. Junior Team that will compete in the Pacific Alliance Gymnastics Championships, April 14 and 15, at the Hawai'i Convention Center.
BASEBALL
FIGHT STOPS UHH GAME
Arshwin Asjes pitched a one-hitter as Temple defeated Hawai'i-Hilo, 7-0, yesterday in a non-conference baseball game stopped after five innings because of a benches-clearing incident in the bottom of the sixth at Wong Stadium.
Kylar Wartman's bunt single in the fifth was Hilo's lone hit until the sixth when Chris Campbell singled and stole second. Michael Higa then tripled to right-center to score Campbell and Mark Veneri followed with a deep fly out to right.
As Higa crossed the plate, he bumped Owls catcher Marc Wagner and missed home plate. As Higa returned to touch the plate, he and Wagner began a shoving match that prompted players from both benches to rush the field.
"There's got to be a review of the rules and of the names of the people who participated in the fight, especially those who came off the bench or left their positions," UHH coach Joey Estrella said.
Players are looking at a possible three-game suspension.
"We finally started getting to him (Asjes) and doing something and this unfortunate thing happened," said Estrella, whose team won the series 4-3 and is 7-14 on the season. Temple is 3-7.
