ISLE FILE
Olympic softball for two UH stars
Advertiser Staff
Two University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine softball players have made the Australian Olympic team roster.
Pitcher Justine Smethurst and former UH All-American Stacey Porter were both selected to the 15-player squad.
Smethurst, a two-time all-Western Athletic Conference selection, took the semester off to pursue playing in the Olympics. She is expected to return to UH in January and play next season.
"It has been a dream of Justine's from when she was a child to play for Australia in the Olympics," UH head coach Bob Coolen said in a press release. "She's worked hard the past two seasons and has developed into a stronger and more confident player who will represent her country and Hawai'i well. We all wish her nothing but the best."
Smethurst's career record at UH is 35-21 with a 1.81 ERA in 356 2/3 innings pitched. She has thrown three perfect games and a no-hitter in her career at UH.
Porter remains one of the most revered hitters in softball. During her three seasons at UH (2001-03), Porter was a 2003 first team NFCA All-American, the 2003 WAC Player of the Year, and three-time all-WAC selection.
Her career totals include a .374 batting average, with 119 runs scored, 38 doubles, 38 home runs and 115 RBIs.
Porter left the program before her senior season to join the Australian national team for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. She has been a member of the Australian Institute of Sport squad since 2002 and was the first Indigenous Australian to represent her country in softball in the Olympics.
The softball competition in the 2008 Beijing Olympics will be held from Aug. 12 to 21.
This is the last Olympics in which the sport of softball will be played.
POLE VAULTING
UH'S CUSTANCE EARNS WAC WEEKLY AWARD
University of Hawai'i pole vaulter Jessica Custance was named the Western Athletic Conference Women's Outdoor Track and Field Athlete of the Week.
Custance, a junior from Arlington, Texas (Martin), took fourth in the pole vault at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., on Saturday, with a school-record and personal-best vault of 13 feet, 1.5 inches.
Custance was the top collegiate finisher in the event and is the first Rainbow Wahine in school history to clear four meters (13-1.48). Her mark was also an NCAA Regional qualifying standard.
SCHOLARS
SIX 'BOWS GAIN WAC ACADEMIC HONORS
Six University of Hawai'i student-athletes earned 2007-08 academic all-Western Athletic Conference honors for the winter season.
UH women's basketball had four student-athletes honored, including seniors Amy Kotani and Iwona Zagrobelna and sophomore Megan Tinnin and Dita Liepkalne. Men's basketball senior Bobby Nash was honored as was sophomore swimmer Victoria Tan.
To be eligible, a student-athlete must have completed at least one academic year, have at least a 3.0 cumulative grade point average and have participated in at least 50 percent of the team's contests.
The winter sports include men's and women's basketball, women's swimming and diving and gymnastics.
