HONOLULU — University of Hawaii punter Scott Harding was named to the All-America second team by the Football Writers Association of America on Wednesday.
Harding, a senior, is only the second Rainbow Warrior ever to be recognized as an All-American by the FWAA, which began selecting All-Americans in 1944. The FWAA All-America team is the second-longest continuously published All-America team in major college football, after the Associated Press’ (founded 1925).
Former UH offensive lineman Hercules Satele was named to the FWAA All-America first team in 2007.
Harding, from Brisbane, Australia, earned All-Mountain West Conference first team honors as a punter and received All-MWC Honorable Mention as a punt returner. He is believed to be the only combination punter/punt returner in the nation. Harding also started five games at slot receiver.
Harding had a school-record 86 punts this season with an average of 41.3 yards, and was among the nation’s leaders with 34 punts downed inside the 20-yard line, including 17 inside the 10. His rugby-style punts – using either foot – often sailed with an awkward spin and led to five turnovers. Only 15 percent of his punts were returned.
Harding was a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award, presented to the nation’s top punter.
As a punt returner, Harding averaged 8.8 yards per return, with 10 of his 25 returns (40 percent) going for 10 yards or more.
He tied UH’s single-game record with seven returns (for 76 yards) vs. Northern Iowa, and was named MWC Special Teams Player of the Week for that effort. Harding finished his career with 88 punt returns, second-most in school history.
As a slot receiver, Harding finished third on the team with 34 catches for 457 yards and three touchdowns. In his career, he caught 116 passes for 1,476 yards and six TDs.
Harding was a finalist for Polynesian Hall of Fame College Football Player of the Year.
MAGILL RECEIVES ALL-AMERICA HONORABLE MENTION: Rainbow Wahine junior middle blocker Olivia Magill received Honorable Mention on the AVCA All-America team announced Wednesday.
Magill, a transfer from Arizona who prepped at Shoreline, Wash., previously was named to the AVCA All-Region and All-Big West Conference first teams. She led the Big West in hitting percentage at .405 and in blocks with 1.34 per set. Her attack percentage ranked her No. 16 in the nation.
MEN’S BASKETBALL RETURNS TO BLAISDELL: The Rainbow Warriors basketball team returns “home” Friday as the “visitor” against host Chaminade at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center Arena.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. The game will not be televised, but will be carried live on 850 AM in Hilo and 790 AM in Kailua-Kona.
Blaisdell Arena was UH’s home floor for 27 straight years, from 1967 through 1994, at which time the Rainbow Warriors moved into their on-campus Stan Sheriff Center.
Hawaii (7-3) is coming off a 90-70 loss to Brigham Young on Dec. 6 at Salt Lake City. Sophomore wing Aaron Valdes leads the Rainbow Warriors with averages of 16.2 and 7.4 rebounds per game. Junior point guard Roderick Bobbitt averages 5.7 assists and 2.8 steals per game, and his 10 steals vs. UH-Hilo on Nov. 19 is an NCAA season-high.
Senior shooting guard Garrett Nevels is second on the team in scoring (12.8 ppg) and rebounding (5.1 rpg).
Chaminade was 4-4 entering a Wednesday night home game vs. Hawaii Pacific.
The Silverswords have four players averaging double figures in points, led by senior point guard Lee Bailey (13.9 ppg), who also paces the team with 3.8 assists per game and also grabs 3.5 rebounds per outing. Kiran Shastri, a 6-foot-7 sophomore shooting guard, averages 13 points and 4.4 rpg. Junior wing Kevin Hu (6-6) averages 11.9 ppg and sophomore wing Kuany Kuany (6-7) averages 11.6 ppg and a team-high 6.8 rpg.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL HITS THE ROAD: The Rainbow Wahine basketball team heads to the Mainland this week for road games at Loyola Marymount on Saturday and Cal State Bakersfield on Tuesday.
Neither game will be televised or carried on radio.
UH (5-4) is coming off a 92-40 home victory over BYU-Hawaii last Saturday. Senior guard Shawna-Lei Kuehu scored 15 points to become the 18th player in school history to reach 1,000 points, and the 10th to register at least 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.
Kuehu leads the team with averages of 13.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, with senior guard Ashleigh Karaitiana (11.7 ppg, 5.2 rpg) and senior point guard Morgan Mason (10 ppg, 5.1 rpg) also averaging double-figures.
Loyola Marymount is 2-6, including losses to Big West teams Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (87-79) and UC Riverside (81-55). The Lions will play at Southern California on Thursday before the home game vs. the Rainbow Wahine.
Cal State Bakersfield is 7-3, including a 76-72 win at Arizona and home victories over UC Irvine and UC Riverside, plus a road win at UC Irvine. The Roadrunners will play host to Nevada-Las Vegas on Sunday before the home game vs. Hawaii.
HALL FINISHES FIFTH AT USA DIVING WINTER NATIONALS: UH junior Lauren Hall finished fifth among the country’s top 1-meter springboard divers Tuesday at the USA Diving Winter National Championships at Columbus, Ohio.
The meet includes Olympic hopefuls trying to contend for spots on USA Diving’s World Championship Team and National Team. This is Hall’s first appearance at the Winter Nationals.
She finished seventh in the preliminaries to advance to the finals, where she finished with a total score of 527.50 for fifth-place. Hall, from John’s Creek, Ga., will compete in the 3-meter quarterfinals on Thursday.
Hall is the reigning Mountain Pacific Sports Federation 3-meter champion.