LITCHFIELD PARK, Ariz.- UH-Hilo rode a super strong first day and then held serve for the remainder of the tournament to win the 2023 Pacific West Conference Men’s Golf championship at the Wigwam Golf Club.
The Vulcans won by ten strokes over Dominican with a final tally of +15 (285-294-300). It was the first PacWest title for UH Hilo since 2014, when Earl Tamiya was also the head coach. For that matter, Tamiya has been the Vulcan leader since the 1991 season, heading into his 81st year of life soon.
“I’m happy the way the boys played this week,” Hawai’i Hilo head coach Earl Tamiya said. “We had the potential all year-long, and they finally put it all together at the end.”
It was a sweet victory for Tamiya and the Vulcans, who had four players in the top nine spots. Sharing medalist honors were UH Hilo’s oldest player (Andrew Otani) and their youngest (Junsu Im). Otani, a fifth-year senior, and the freshman Im both finished at +1 to have dual ownership of the championship plaque. Otani shot 69 on the first day and then finished with a 73 and 75. Im went 71-71-75.
Vulcan Keith Ng tied for fifth (+7) and Dustin Franko was ninth at +9, giving the Vulcans a solid foursome of scoring to win the title. They now have the automatic qualifier into the NCAA Super Regional, which will be held in Rohnert Park, Calif., May 11-13.
Dominican finished in second place in the team tally (+25), followed by Holy Names (+34), Academy of Art (+74), Hawaii Pacific (+79) and Chaminade (+96).
Behind Otani and Im on the leader board was Dominican’s Christian Schrodt who had the low score of the day with a 69 to climb the medalist ladder, along with Holy Names’ Luke Dugger. Both finished at +4. Tied with Ng at fifth was Josh Morris of Dominican (+5), while HNU’s Edvin Backstrom and Blas Ayasa were both +8.
Holy Names and Dominican will now await word for a possible at-large berth into the regional tournament.
UHH WOMEN’S GOLF TEAM PLACES SIXTH
Kiersten Saludares notched a top-10 finish as the UH-Hilo women’s golf team finished the Pacific West Conference Championships at No. 6 in the team standings.
The Vulcans shot rounds of 316, 323 and 339 for 114-plus total.
Saludares entered Wednesday’s final round just one shot behind the individual leaders but ended with a plus-23 score (75–78–86) for a four-way finish at the No. 10 spot.
Tia Kuali’i followed next at plus-25 and moved up four spots on the final day for a 14th-place finish.
Holy Names claimed both the team and individual titles. The Hawks finished at an 85-plus total, six shots ahead of runner-up Point Loma Nazarene.
Lavinia Romito shot 77 on all three rounds for a 15-over finish to claim the individual crown.
