Isabella Kneeshaw became the first Hawaii track and field athlete to earn Big West Freshman of the Year honors, the league announced on Friday.
Kneeshaw earned co-Freshman of the Year honors after winning the conference title in the 400 meters while anchoring a pair of title-winning relay teams in the 4×100 and 4×400.
Kneeshaw had a record-setting day at the Big West championships, helping the 4×100 relay team break the school record for the third time this year, anchoring a squad that ran a time of 45.03 seconds. She also clocked the second-fastest time in school history in the 400 finals with a time of 54.01 seconds and anchored the 4×400 relay team that came within 0.37 seconds of the program record with a time of 3:39.47.
Mohr, Wyllie earn spots in NCAA regional
Hallee Mohr and Tara Wyllie of the Hawaii women’s track and field team earned spots in next week’s NCAA West Regional Preliminary Round in Fayetteville, Ark.
Mohr will represent UH in the discus after winning the Big West title and setting a school record. Wyllie will compete in the triple jump after finishing with the No. 2 mark in the conference this season.
Wyllie will become the first Rainbow Wahine triple jumper to make it to the NCAA postseason since 2015 (Rachel Toliver). This marks the senior Mohr’s third straight year to the NCAA West Regionals in the discus. Their events are scheduled for May 25.
UH softball players earn All-Big West honors
The Big West Conference announced its softball all-conference selections on Wednesday as voted by the league coaches. The announcement included six Rainbow Wahine. Izabella Martinez and Maya Nakamura were named to the all-conference second team, while Mya’Liah Bethea, Chloe Borges, Haley Johnson and Dallas Millwood earned honorable mention honors.
Martinez hit .298 overall and was tied for second on the team with 39 hits. She finished the season with six doubles and 22 RBIs and a team-high 19 walks.
Nakamura suffered a season-ending injury but still led UH in batting average both overall (.312) and in conference (.450). The Honolulu native earned all-conference honors all four seasons of her career.
Bethea led the Big West with 12 home runs this season. The senior utility player led UH with 26 runs scored and a .575 slugging percentage. She was voted BWC Field Player of the Week after hitting .667 against Cal State Bakersfield.
Borges started a career-high 39 games in center field and three at pitcher, making 13 total appearances in the pitching circle.
Johnson earned honorable mention honors for the second time. The senior started all 46 games as a designated player. Overall, she hit .310 with a team-high seven doubles with a triple and a home run and 11 RBIs.
Senior first baseman Millwood started all games this season after suffering a season-ending injury in the 2023 season. She finished this season hitting .261 with four doubles and three home runs. The Mililani native finished her UH career with a .260 career batting average with 80 hits, 13 doubles, 10 home runs and 60 RBIs.
‘Swords tennis earns 4 All-Academic honors
Chaminade University’s women’s tennis student-athletes Selena Buttery, Kirra Carvalho, Sydney Danielson and Kylie Ye were named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team.
Buttery, also a reserve forward for the women’s basketball team, maintained a 4.00 GPA, majoring in data science. Carvalho, a Lihue native who majors in biology, played nine singles and all 11 doubles matches, the latter in the No. 2 position. Danielson played in eight singles matches and five doubles matches. The junior is a data science major. Ye returned to the tennis team after taking a one-year hiatus. She played in all 11 of the ’Swords’ singles and doubles matches. The junior is an elementary education major. The CSC Academic All-District Team requires that student-athletes have a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.50 and be in the lineup for 70% of the total matches played by the team that includes team scores.
