UH-Hilo Pair Qualifies for NCAA Golf Regionals

The University of Hawai’i at Hilo golf team won’t be competing for a national championship, but two players will have a shot at individual honors next week in Vallejo, Calif.

Senior Dalen Yamauchi and junior Kyeton Littel landed two of the eight individual slots open for the NCAA West and Midwest Regional tournament, held at Hiddenbrooke Golf Club from May 4-6. Joining them from the West region will be BYU-Hawai’i sophomore Nicolas Herrera and Montana State-Billings’ Jake Hedge.

Yamauchi earned a top-20 finish at the PacWest Men’s Golf Championship last week, held at Sunbrook Golf Course in St. George, Utah. He finished in a tie for 16th place by shooting three consecutive rounds of 76. Littel, meanwhile, finished in a tie for 23rd place, along with teammate Conner Graves.

This season, Yamauchi finished at the top of the leaderboard at the 65th Annual SoCal Intercollegiate in Santee, Calif. He also won the Dennis Rose Invitational, held at the Waikoloa Kings’ Golf Course, in a playoff against St. Edwards’ Dillon Van Essen.

Sixteen teams, eight from each region, along with eight individual golfers, will compete to advance to the NCAA Division II Championships later in the month, held at Rock Barn Golf & Spa in Conover, N.C. A minimum of three teams and two student-athletes from each region will advance.

The UH-Hilo women’s golf team did not qualify in any portion of the women’s regional.