CORAL SPRINGS, Florida--A pair of Hawai`i Hilo women's golfers grabbed two more academic awards for their scrapbooks, an honor that they are both familiar with. 

Keely Kitamura and Kaelyn Uchida were honored by the Women's Golf Coaches Association by being named to that organization's All-American Scholar Team. To qualify, you must have a grade point average of 3.5 or better and have completed at least two semesters at your university.

Both players are local alumni of Waiakea High School in Hilo, and are coached at UHH by Jim DeMello. 

For Kitamura, it's the fourth time that she has been recognized with the WGCA award. The senior graduated this past Fall with a 3.68 GPA in her major of Psychology and Sociolgy, with a minor in Political Science.  She played in three matches last Fall, finishing tied for 12th at the St. Martin Invitational. During the 2017-18 season, she had the Vulcans' top scoring average (87.43) and had a career-best round of 82 at the Mustang Invitational. She was a four-time member of the Pacific West Conference Scholar-Athlete team, and began her career at UHH in 2015-16 as a redshirt.

Uchida, a sophomore, earned her second WGCA award. She has a 3.70 GPA in Psychology and was named the UH Hilo Women's Golf Scholar Athlete of the Year this spring. She had an 18-round average of 80.27, and had a season-best outing of 70 at the Dennis Rose Intercollegiate. That total gave her the first round lead and is the second lowest total (even par) in school history. She was also named to the PacWest Scholar-Athlete team for the second year. 

The Vulcans had their 2019-20 season cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, playing just five of their scheduled nine tournaments. They were slated to host the Pacific West Conference Championships April 20-22.