Former University of Hawaii swimmer Steve Allnutt was named the head coach of the Hawaii men’s swimming and diving program on Friday, announced by athletic director Craig Angelos.

Allnutt comes to Hawaii from San Jose State, where he served as an assistant coach for the women’s team for the past two seasons. Prior to that, he coached eight seasons at San Diego State as an assistant, and spent the last four as the associate head coach. At San Jose State, Allnutt led the Spartans’ distance squad to a second-place team finish at the inaugural MPSF Open Water Championships, a competition that he helped start as a championship committee member. At San Diego State, he helped lead the Aztecs to four Mountain West titles (2015, 2019, 2020, 2022). Under his watch, 30 Aztecs advanced to the NCAA Championships.

Hawaii Hilo recovers to open with win

In their season opener against Alaska Fairbanks, the Hawaii Hilo Vulcans held off a comeback by the Nanooks to win 25-22, 25-23, 16-25, 19-25, 15-13 in the Hawaii-Alaska Challenge.

After taking the first two sets, the Vulcans (1-0) struggled offensively, hitting -.037 in the third set and .182 in the fourth. Trailing 13-12 in the fifth set, the Vulcans came out of a timeout to score three straight points to end the match.

Samara Cruz led the Vulcans with 14 kills and 11 digs, while Taylor Tullo added 12 kills and 13 digs. Karli Nielson led the Nanooks with 18 kills.