Kaufman picked for U.S. track team

University of Hawaii two-sport athlete Amber Kaufman, who won the NCAA high jump championship two weeks ago, will represent Team USA at this summer’s North American, Central American, Caribbean Championships, in Miramar, Fla.

Athletes from 32 member nations will compete at the Miramar Ansin Sports Complex, July 9 to 11. The high jump competition is July 10.

Team USA’s NACAC Under-23 team consists of two athletes per individual event, provided both athletes have met the NACAC Under-23 standard.

The inaugural NACAC Championships were in 2007 in El Salvador, with 26 nations represented. Team USA captured 43 medals, including 28 gold.

Kaufman, a senior from San Jose, Calif., is a second-team volleyball All-American. She was second at the NCAA Indoor Championships before winning outdoors and currently has the fourth-best mark in the country this season at 6 feet, 3.25 inches.

3 earn tennis All-America honors

A trio of tennis players from Brigham Young-Hawaii and Hawaii Pacific earned Division II All-America honors. The All-Americans were announced by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, in conjunction with the season-ending Campbell/ITA national singles and doubles rankings.

BYU-Hawaii’s Yuan Jia is first in the final singles ranking and teammate Elwen Li fourth. Both earned All-America honors in singles and doubles, where they finished the season ranked second as a team.

Jia is a sophomore from Zhengzhou, China, and Elwen Li a junior from Chengdu, China. Both also earned All-America honors last season.

This season, the Seasiders reached their 11th NCAA National Championship match in 12 years, falling to Armstrong Atlantic. They were second in the final ranking.

Hawaii Pacific University’s Zora Vlckova, ranked eighth, was also named ITA All-American for the second year in a row. The sophomore from Brno, Czech Republic, finished the season 20-4.

The Sea Warriors advanced to the NCAA National semifinals before losing to Armstrong Atlantic. They finished the season ranked seventh nationally with a 21-5 overall record.

Vlckova also finished ranked No. 3 in singles in the West Region and 11th in doubles with partner Ingrid Cseh.

Hawaii’s Mikey Lim and Janelle Arita earned ITA DIII All-America honors. Lim, a former state high school champion at Punahou, was the senior captain for Claremont Mudd Scripps and is a two-time All-American who finished the season ranked 18th. Arita, a 2007 Punahou graduate from Mililani, was ranked 11th and is a three-time All-American for DePauw.

In other tennis news:

» Four teams from the Hawaii Pacific Section advanced to the national championships by winning sectional USTA League Mixed Doubles section championships last weekend at Patsy T. Mink CORP Tennis Complex. The winning teams, all from Oahu, are "all kaboobz already" in the 9.0 division, L&L Tennis at 8.0, Ala Moana Nai’a at 7.0 and My Evolution at 6.0. The teams will represent Hawaii at nationals in November on the mainland.

» Hawaii’s David Andrews won a "bronze ball" in the USTA National Men’s 50 Indoor Championship last week in Portland, Ore. Andrews, who was not seeded, reached the semifinals before losing to second-seeded Michael Tammen 6-4, 6-2. Andrews then beat fifth-seeded Jon Hermanson 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 to take third.

PacWest scholar athletes named

Three athletes each from Brigham Young-Hawaii and Hawaii Pacific University were named PacWest Scholar Athlete of the Year for their respective sports.

BYUH athletes honored were Lucas Alves (men’s basketball), Sam Akinaka (men’s soccer) and Elwen Li (women’s tennis). HPU athletes were Casey Sugihara (softball), Kevin Enriques (men’s cross country) and Amanda Tanchanleun (women’s cross country). Tanya Alvino (women’s volleyball) was selected for Chaminade.

The winners were selected by the conference’s sports information directors. All will now go on the conference ballot for PacWest Men’s and Women’s Scholar Athlete of the Year.

Pac-Five needs coaches

The Pac-Five athletic department is seeking a coordinator/varsity head coach for baseball and track and field for 2010-11. Interested individuals should send resumes to estomago@hawaii.edu with "coaching position" as the subject title or fax to (808) 956-3758 by June 30.