ISLE FILE
Hawaii's Wichmann leads WAC heptathlon
Advertiser Staff
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University of Hawai'i All-American Annett Wichmann leads and teammate Emily Sheppard is fifth after yesterday's opening heptathlon events at the Western Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho.
Wichmann, the two-time defending heptathlon champion, scored a first-day total of 3,161 points. Sheppard posted a personal-best 2,828 points through the first four disciplines.
Wichmann had the day's best mark in the shot put (41 feet, 5 3/4 inches) and high jump (5-7 1/4). Sheppard, who will go for a third straight WAC high jump title this weekend, also went 5-7 1/4. Wichmann had the third-best mark in the 100-meter hurdles (15.02 seconds) and placed eighth in the 200-meter dash (26.54).
Sheppard, competing in only her second career heptathlon, placed fourth in the 200 meters (25.88) and ninth in 100 hurdles (16.08) and shot put (28-9).
Idaho's Darcy Collins and Molly Burt rank second and third with 3,019 and 2,943 points.
Wichmann, the school record holder in the event, has already qualified for her third consecutive NCAA Outdoor Championship. Last season, the Jena, Germany, native placed ninth at the NCAA meet. She was fourth at NCAA Indoors in March.
The heptathlon will be completed today. Preliminaries in all other events begin tomorrow with finals Saturday. The Rainbow Wahine have never finished better than sixth at this meet.
SURFING
IRONS BROTHERS WIN
Kaua'i siblings Andy and Bruce Irons remained in contention at the Billabong Pro Tahiti men's surfing contest yesterday.
The second round and most of the third round were run in 5- to 6-foot barreling waves at Teahupoo, Tahiti.
Andy Irons advanced to the fourth round with a convincing victory over South Africa's Royden Bryson. Andy's two best waves received a total score of 15.5 to Bryson's 12.47.
"Royden is a really good kid, I really like him a lot and we were just kind of talking because we were excited to get some good waves, finally," Andy said. "It's been a while. The waves were nice, it's just so clean out there, it's really fun."
Bruce Irons had one of the best heats of the day in his second-round victory over Brazil's Leonardo Neves. Bruce received scores of 9.5 and 8.83 for two long barrel rides.
Bruce's third-round heat against California's Taylor Knox has yet to be completed.
Three Hawai'i surfers were eliminated yesterday. Fred Patacchia Jr. and Roy Powers lost in the second round; Pancho Sullivan lost in the third round.
Patacchia was the hard-luck loser of the day. He received a score of 9.57 to take the lead over Australia's Luke Munro in the final minute of the heat. But Munro responded with a 9.13 at the final horn to win it.
Florida's Kelly Slater, who entered the contest ranked No. 1 in 2008, was upset in the third round by Tahitian wildcard Manoa Drollet.
JUDO
TAKATA FINISHES FIFTH
Wahiawa's Taylor Takata placed fifth in the 145-pound division at the Pan American Judo Championships in Miami. last weekend. Takata, a 2000 graduate of 'Iolani, competes out of the USA Judo National Training Site in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Takata overcame a first-round overtime loss to Ecuador's Roberto Ibanez to defeat Jaime Matta of Aruba and Laureano Martin of Argentina. However, Takata dropped another overtime match to Juan Jacinto of the Dominican Republic to finish fifth.
Honolulu's Melinda Swanson finished fifth in the women's open division and Farrington High junior Taylor Ibera captured gold in the 98-pound division Friday night, then took returned home on a red-eye flight the next morning and won her third straight state judo crown later that day.
Waimanalo's Christian Aarona competed in the men's 220-pound division, but did not place.
Takata, Swanson and Aarona are among seven judoka from Hawai'i competing in next month's USA Judo Olympic Trials in Las Vegas.
BASEBALL
HPU'S MEAD HONORED
Hawai'i Pacific senior pitcher Kaimi Mead has been named to the Daktronics Division II West Region First Team.
Mead, a Roosevelt High graduate, compiled a 7-1 record and 2.25 ERA. In 11 starts, he pitched two complete games, including a no-hitter against Northwest Nazarene.
