February 7, 2011 p16www.hpu.edu/kalamalama Designer: Nicole Kato

SPORTS

HPU recently announced a new sports information director (SID) and they didn’t have to go far to find him. Brent Curry, a broadcaster for Sea Warrior athletics, has been tabbed as the new SID starting in the Spring 2011 season.

“It feels really good,” Curry said. “It’s been something I’ve been aspiring to for the last couple of years.”

Curry replaced John Barry, who is taking a job at the Uni-versity of Hawai’i after being named the PacWest Conference Sports Information Director of the Year.

As SID, Curry said one of his main goals is to get the word out about HPU athletics.

“I would like to improve communication of athletic events to the general public and school community as well,” Curry said. “Also, try to give a little more attention to some of the smaller sports.”

Brent Curry is named sports information director

Heading into last year the HPU softball team was sup-posed to be in “rebuilding” mode. PacWest enthusiasts expected them to lull in the middle of the conference, maybe make a few waves here and there, but nothing extraordinary. Then the sea-son started.

The team blew through the regular season winning 25 of their first 26 games, a tremendous start that car-ried them to a 50-8 overall record.

In PacWest play, familiar conference foes like BYU-Hawaii and Chaminade were shark bait as the lady Sea Warriors feasted their way to 26 conference wins.

After closing out the regu-lar season winning 11 of their last 14, the lady Sea Warriors blew past Central Washington and Cal State Monterey Bay in the NCAA Regional.

The Super Regional came and went as HPU made short work of Cal State University,

Lady Sea Warriors softball team starts season at top of the food chain

We l c o m e b a c k from winter break, I sincerely hope you had a fun, safe, and refreshing time away from class.

It is an exciting time in the Athletics Department as both o f o u r b a s k e t b a l l teams are poised to make a push for the conference crown as we head down the stretch.

Spring sports are underway and we are looking forward to another productive season.

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce our newest staff member, Brent Curry, as our new Sports Information Director (SID).

A SID for those of you who may not know, is responsible for the game statis-t ics , for al l sports press releases, web-site maintenance, me-dia guides, and media relations.

You may already know Brent, as he has been the ‘voice of the Sea Warriors’ for the past three years.

News from “Coach V”

Darren Vorderbruegge

HPU Athletics Director

On The Markwith Mark Carpenter

Chico. Then came the Na-tional Championships in St. Joseph, Mo. Faster than you can say “Sharky,” the HPU softball team beat Valdosta State and all of a sudden this “rebuilding” team was a na-tional champion. (The team received their championship rings at an HPU basketball game last week at the Neal Blaisdell Center).

This season, the air around Hawai’i Loa has the smell of greatness to it, and things are a little different from the 2010 preseason. The ques-tion isn’t about rebuilding, but repeating.

After leading his team to one of the greatest seasons in the history of HPU athletics, Coach Brian Nakasone is eager for this year to start but knows how difficult it will be to repeat.

“We are looking forward to this upcoming season. We are still very young,” Naka-sone said. “It’s easier to win it the first time than to repeat. We aren’t going to sneak up

on anyone this year.”With 13 underclassmen,

the squad has a strong youth movement, but the team’s age doesn’t mean there is any shortage of inexperience. Coach Nakasone expects big things from seniors outfielder Laine Shikuma, pitcher Ash-ley Valine, and utility player Kozy Toriano, who took All-Conference and All-Region honors last year.

“I think Kozy will have another spectacular year. She’s one of our most athletic players out there. She has great speed and motivation,” Nakasone said. “I think ev-eryone will have to play to her level.”

After being out with a leg injury last season, Shikuma is excited to start her final season.

“I’m really looking for-ward to getting back out on the field after last year’s injury. We have a great group of players, and I’m glad to be back for one more season,” Shikuma said.

On top of generating more buzz with the team itself, HPU’s national title has defi-nitely generated some buzz around campus and has fans more than ready to go to some games.

“It’s really exciting to know that the softball team from our little school can make a huge impact nation-

ally,” senior Brennan Powers said. “Especially because it is my last year here, I’m defi-nitely going to try to make it to Hawai’i Loa to watch this team.”

Their most exciting foe this season will be an op-ponent that wasn’t on their schedule before -- great ex-pectations.

Nicole Morrow

HPU Athletics Director Darren Vorderbruegge; Bob Hogue, commissioner of the PacWest Conference; HPU President Chatt Wright; Howard Okita, assistant softball coach; and Bryan Nakasone, head softball coach, show off the NCAA Division II softball championship trophy. Photo by Eric Alcantara