Hawai‘i Hilo edges BYU-Hawaii for PacWest Commissioner's Cup
QUEEN CREEK, AZ - By capturing the 2008 Hawaiian Airlines
PacWest Men's Golf Championship and taking fourth finish in
softball, the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo athletic program
has claimed the inaugural Pacific West Conference Commissioner's
Cup.
The PacWest Commissioner's Cup is the all-sports championship started this year to honor the top athletic program in the league.
Hawai‘i Hilo compiled 52 points thanks to three championships, a trio of third-place finishes, and four programs taking fourth place. The Vulcans finished no lower than fourth in any sport and won league crowns in women's cross county and volleyball to go along with their men's golf title.
BYU-Hawaii took second with 48 team points in a race that came down to a battle between the two Hawaiian schools. The Seasiders won two PacWest titles this year, finishing first in women's soccer and women's tennis, while they were runners-up in volleyball, women's cross country and men's basketball.
The PacWest currently sponsors 10 conference sports. Schools are awarded points based upon their order of finish in the conference schedule in the sports of soccer, basketball, softball and volleyball, while a championship competition is held in cross country, tennis and golf to determine final league standings.
Teams re
ceive points based upon that finish, with the conference champion
earning seven, the runner-up getting six, the third-place team
grabbing five, and the fourth-place squad claiming four. Teams
finishing fifth, sixth or seventh receive three, two and one point,
respectively.
When teams are tied, the points awarded to those positions are added together then distributed evenly among the schools. If a school does not sponsor a sport, it does not receive any points.
Dixie State is in the process of adding men's soccer, while the Academy of Art University in San Francisco will join the competition when it begins PacWest conference play in 2009-10.
Notre Dame de Namur (NDNU) did not win a single championship in
2007-08, but the Argonauts finished third in the final point
standings with a total of 40.5. NDNU earned three second-place
finishes in the sports of women's basketball, men's cross country
and men's soccer.
Hawai‘i Pacific took fourth place with 38.5 points, one ahead of Grand Canyon, which was fifth with 37.5. HPU captured the softball title and men's cross country championship, while Grand Canyon finished with first-place banners in women's basketball and men's soccer.
Despite having just nine of the 10 sports this year, Dixie State placed sixth with 34.5 points. The Rebels earned a pair of second-place finishes in softball and women's soccer, and claimed third place in men's and women's basketball, as well as men's golf.
Chaminade's 28 points included a team championship in men's basketball.
--PWC--