HONOLULU – For the fifth time in history, HPU captured the PacWest Hawaii Challenge for the 2022-23 academic calendar, out-scoring fellow local Division II rivals, Chaminade University and the University of Hawai’i at Hilo.
HPU won the annual competition for the first time since 2019-20 with 22 points, eking out UH Hilo which had 21. Chaminade took home 13 points during the challenge, which sees all three institutions battling for local athletic bragging rights.
“HPU Athletics is thrilled to have the PacWest Hawai’i Challenge plaque coming back to HPU this year,” HPU Executive Director of Athletics Dr. Debbie Snell said. “Congratulations to our colleagues at UH Hilo and Chaminade for their outstanding performances as well. The Challenge is so exciting each year and something we all look forward to.”
The Sharks and Vulcans each had four first-place finishes during the 2022-23 competition. HPU took first-place points in women’s cross country, women’s basketball, women’s tennis and softball while UH-Hilo claimed the men’s and women’s soccer, men’s basketball and men’s golf competitions. CUH had one first-place finish, coming in women’s volleyball.
The Challenge wasn’t determined until April 28 — the final competition of the year — when HPU swept Chaminade in softball, allowing the Sharks to reclaim the prize over UH-Hilo, which won the Challenge for the first time last year.
“Mahalo to the sports information directors at all three institutions for data collection and tracking this coveted award,” Snell said. “Good luck to everyone as we continue this tradition in 2023-24.”
The PacWest Hawai’i Challenge is comprised of nine sports that all three of the state’s Division II schools participate: women’s cross country, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, women’s tennis, men’s golf and softball.
Points are awarded in head-to-head matchups in basketball, soccer, softball and volleyball. Postseason competitions do not factor into the tallies. Since there are no consistent regular-season matchups in women’s cross country, men’s golf and women’s tennis, points are award in the order of finish at the PacWest Championships.
The PacWest Hawai’i Challenge can be traced back to the late 1970s to early 80s when BYU-Hawai’i, Chaminade College, UH-Hilo, Hawai’i Loa College and Hawai’i Pacific College formed NAIA District 2, followed later by District 29.
Following Chaminade’s departure from the NAIA in 1989, the Hawai’i Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (HIAC) was formed three years later to keep the local rivalries between HPU (which merged with Hawai’i Loa in ‘92), UH Hilo (which left the NAIA in ‘93) and BYUH intact. The HIAC dissolved in 1998 when BYUH and HPU joined the Pacific West Conference.
