by Kevin Hashiro – Chaminade Univiersity Sports Information Director

HONOLULU – For the first time ever, the University of Hawai'i Hilo claims the local bragging rights among the three Hawai'i NCAA Division II schools by winning the 2021-22 PacWest Hawai'i Challenge.
 
In the closest differential since the inception of the Challenge in 2015-16, the Vulcans out-pointed five-time defending champion Hawai'i Pacific University by a single point. UH Hilo accumulated 22 points during the year while HPU had 21. Chaminade finished third with 13.
 
"UH Hilo is pleased to finally capture this title in our friendly competition between the island schools," Director of Athletics Patrick Guillen said. "Our student-athletes, coaches and staff work very hard on- and off-the-court and field and behind the scenes that made this season possible. I am proud of our entire program and honored to finally win this title between friends."
 
The Vulcans and Sharks both captured four first-place points but UH Hilo had the benefit of not having any of its teams finishing third in any of the nine sports which the competition comprises. Chaminade had one first-place finish (volleyball).
 
UH Hilo staved off a late run by HPU, which captured all three first-place points in the spring (men's golf, women's tennis, softball). The Vulcans secured at least a share of first place when men's golf finished ahead of Chaminade at the PacWest Championships in Arizona on April 20. They captured the title outright on April 30 – the final day of the competition – when their softball team defeated CUH in the first game of their doubleheader in Hilo.
 
The Challenge resumed this academic term after taking 2020-21 off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
 
Past PacWest Hawai'i Challenge Champions:
2015-16:  BYU-Hawai'i and Hawai'i Pacific (co-champs)
2016-17:  Hawai'i Pacific
2017-18:  Hawai'i Pacific
2018-19:  Hawai'i Pacific
2019-20:  Hawai'i Pacific
2020-21:  No competition due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021-22:  Hawai'i Hilo
 
 
About the PacWest Hawai'i Challenge
The PacWest Hawai'i Challenge is comprised of nine sports that all three of the state's Division II schools participate: women's cross country, men's and women's soccer, women's volleyball, men's and women's basketball, women's tennis, men's golf and softball.
 
Points are awarded in head-to-head matchups in basketball, soccer, softball and volleyball. A win is two points and a tie worth one point while a loss nets none. At the conclusion of each sport's season, the points are added and the team with the highest total gets three points while the second-highest gets two and the third-place finisher one. Postseason competitions do not factor into the tallies.
 
Since there is no consistent regular-season matchups in women's cross country, men's golf and women's tennis, points are award in the order of finish at the PacWest Championships. (In tennis, only the top 12 teams advance to the championships; if in the event of an institution or multiple institutions not advancing, each team will have an equal number of points after the last qualifying team.)
 
At the end of the academic term, the scores from all nine sports are tabulated to determine the overall champion. There are no head-to-head tiebreakers so teams that finish with the same number of points within an individual season all earn the appropriate point totals towards the season-long standings. The maximum number of points a school can receive during the year is 27.
 
Sports information directors from the three schools assisted by confirming and updating scores and promoting the Challenge. Chaminade is managing the master calendar and scoring chart with any discrepancies being addressed and resolved by the athletic directors.
 
The PacWest Hawai'i Challenge can be traced back to the late 1970s to early 80s when BYU-Hawai'i, Chaminade College, the University of Hawai'i Hilo, Hawai'i Loa College and Hawai'i Pacific College formed NAIA District 2, followed later by District 29. The district saw fierce rivalries between all five schools in numerous sports especially men's basketball while boasting the top volleyball league in the NAIA.
 
Following Chaminade's departure from the NAIA in 1989, the Hawai'i Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (HIAC) was formed three years later to keep the local rivalries between HPU (which merged with Hawai'i Loa in '92), UH Hilo (which left the NAIA in '93) and BYUH intact. The HIAC dissolved in 1998 when BYUH and HPU joined the Pacific West Conference.