For the first time in three years, the isle will play host to the NCAA Division II Pacific West Conference men’s and women’s golf championships — which are slated for Monday through Wednesday at the Mauna Lani Golf Course in Puako.
UH-Hilo’s teams will stand against their conference rivals, including Hawaii Pacific, Chaminade, Westmont and more.
Men’s golf
For the Vulcans’ men’s squad, it will be a unique opportunity to make history — defending their conference title on their own island while also having a shot at taking their first-ever repeat title and first on-island title.
Last year, then-freshman Junsu Im and fifth-year Andrew Otani led UH-Hilo’s men to their first PacWest championship victory in nine years — besting No. 2 Dominican by ten strokes to card +15 (879) after three days at Wigwam GC, which is near Goodyear, Ariz.
Im, now a sophomore, and fifth-year Nicholas Gomez are the only returners from last year’s squad, but the Vulcans have also found great success through Candian junior transfer Dylan Bercan, sophomore ‘Iolani School alum Jordan Sato and freshman Dysen Park, who graduated from Waiakea High last spring after assisting his team to a state title.
UHH has had two showings at Mauna Lani this season — a triangular battle against HPU and Chaminade in mid-October and HPU’s Sharks Shootout invitational the following week. The Vulcans won the first matchup against the Sharks and Silverswords, led by Park — who carded -3 to place No. 1 — and Kealakehe High 2023 grad Kevin ‘Katsuhiro’ Yamashita, who shot -1 but did not count towards UHH’s team score, as he was entered as an individual.
The Vulcans finished sixth of 17 at HPU’s invitational and led all PacWest teams in the tourney, grossing 874 over three rounds to lead No. 10 HPU by nine strokes. Im carded -1 with two eagles and eight birdies to lead the Vulcans and end up in a five-way tie for No. 12 as an individual.
Women’s golf
It has been nearly ten years since the UHH women’s golf team has won a conference title, their last being in 2014 at Hawai‘i Prince GC on O‘ahu. The Vulcans struggled at last year’s conference championship, placing sixth of seven, but this year’s squad and tournament are loaded with potential.
“We started slow in the fall, and we’ve gotten a lot better in the spring,” women’s head coach Jim DeMello said. “We’ve had some really good rounds, but most of the tournaments are two days, and our pattern has been one really good day, then a not so good day — or (vice versa).
“We haven’t been able to put two days togather, so hopefully this coming week, we’re able to put three rounds together — then we can be competitive with any of the schools in the PacWest.”
The Vulcans have four Big Island locals on their roster — fifth-year Tia Kuali‘i, junior Kailey Oki and sophomores Elle Otani and Kiersten Saludares, all of whom are Waiakea High graduates. Trinity Ledgerwood, a graduate of O‘ahu’s Kaiser High, has also been a standout for the Vulcans.
The Vulcans’ four local golfers have played Mauna Lani countless times over the years, but have only taken on the course once this season — in a two-way battle with HPU in October, in which the Sharks edged the Vulcans to win by seven strokes. Otani shot ten over to tie for second place with HPU’s Ellexis Mingming, just two strokes behind No. 1 Shuiyun He of the Sharks.
The Vulcans’ only other local outings this season were the HPU Sharks Shootout and Dennis Rose Invitational, which took place back to back during late October at the Waikoloa Village course. UHH finished 11th of 18 in both tournaments. HPU and Biola took part in both tournaments, and the Sharks finished ahead of the Vulcans both times, while the Eagles led UHH at the Sharks shootout before tying with them during the Rose tourney.
However, UHH has been doing plenty of training at Mauna Lani.
“I’ve got four local girls and a girl from O‘ahu that I’m gonna play this week,” DeMello said. “We knew the tournament was gonna be at Mauna Lani since last year.
“Once the (Dennis Rose Invitational) was over, we started to prepare for Mauna Lani. So we’ve played Mauna Lani eight to ten times since December/January. The scores have gotten better each week.”
In all three shared competitions, the Vulcans have trailed the Sharks — but always by ten strokes or less. DeMello said that HPU, Point Loma and Biola willbe the biggest threats at this week’s tourney.
“HPU kicked our butt in the fall, but we’ve been more competitive in the spring with them,” DeMello said. “The top team in the PacWest is Point Loma, then Biola, then HPU or UH-Hilo — depending on which team shows up. The girls have been playing good and consistent, so I’m really hoping we can put it together.”
The UHH women’s squad’s best showing this season was last month in Palm Desert, Calif. during the Augustana Spring Fling — when Kuali‘i carded nine over to place No. 2 and lead the Vulcans to a second-place overall team finish at +55. UH-Hilo also beat out all other PacWest teams in attendance — leading No. 4 Dominican by seven strokes, No. 8 Point Loma by 13 strokes and No. 9 Westmont by 17 strokes.