Regardless of what some results may say, UH-Hilo athletics was more than up to the challenge this past school year.
Hawaii Pacific was lauded Tuesday as winner of the PacWest Hawaii Challenge for the fourth consecutive year, but that only tells part of the story.
The Sharks’ 21 points outranked the Vulcans (18) and Chaminade (17) in the annual competition based solely on head-to-head competition ranking Pacific West Conference finishes between Hawaii’s three Division II schools.
Sports such as basketball, soccer and volleyball were included, but not baseball and men’s tennis – sports the Silverswords don’t sponsor but ones that would have benefited the Vulcans, since they finished runner-up in both.
In the Commissioner Cup standings released last month, UHH made a marked improvement, finishing sixth of 12 teams – one spot ahead of HPU – for the Vuls’ best showing in 10 years.
“I am incredibly pleased with the athletic competitiveness and progress we have made to date,” athletic director Patrick Guillen said in a school release. “To be in the top half of one, if not the strongest NCAA (Division ) II conferences in the country, is an accomplishment. We had one third of our teams finish in second place this year and that shows the tremendous success and upward movement of our program.”
In addition to baseball and men’s tennis, UHH women’s soccer and softball teams also finished second, the volleyball squad tied for third and the men’s golf team was fourth in the PacWest Championships.
The Vulcans finished 99 points for a 8.25 average, just behind Fresno Pacific (8.45) and fourth-place Biola (8.54).
Azusa Pacific was the Cup winner (12.96), followed by Point Loma (11.36) and Concordia (9.81).
UHH had been 12th of 14 teams the past two years and 11th in 2015-16. The last time the school finished in the upper half of the standings was in 2008-09, when the Vuls were third of seven teams.
“We have come a long way in the last four years and it will only get better,” Guillen said. “This has been a total team effort and it wouldn’t be possible of course without the grit and grind of our student-athletes, the commitment and passion of our coaches and the amazing support of our staff and administration, our Vulcan Booster Club and our fans.”
Guillen’s next order of business is to hire a women’s volleyball coach. The position has been vacant since Gene Krieger abruptly resigned in mid-March.
