KOHALA COAST, Hawai'i – Hawai'i Hilo Men's Golf rallied from a seventh-place opening round to win the HPU Sharks Shootout at the Waikoloa Golf Resort Beach/Lakes Courses this weekend.

The Vulcans posted rounds of 279, 268 and 271 to finish 22-under and just one shot ahead of No. 16 Colorado Christian (273–273–273). Hawai'i Hilo sat in seventh place after Round 1 and was six strokes behind co-leaders CCU and No. 34 Simon Fraser before scoring a tournament-best 268 to slide up into second place.

The Vulcans were paired with Colorado Christian and Cal State San Bernardino for the final round and fell as many as four shots before catching the Cougars down the final stretch. Jake Otani birdied on Hole 16 while bogeys by two CCU golfers put the two teams even on the scorecard. Ben Crinella sandwiched two birdies (Holes 17 and 1) around a bogey while his CCU pairing hit a double bogey on Hole 1 to keep the score tied. CCU's Jude Robbins — paired with Johan Bjorken — bogeyed his final hole as the Vulcans claimed the victory.

"The guy in my group from CCU saw [Katsuhiro Yamashita] make a birdie putt on Lakes Hole 7. At that point, he just came up to me randomly and told me that we were tied and we were both 20-under as a team," Crinella said. "I'm like, 'okay, well, got to make something happen.'"

Crinella climbed seven spots in Round 3 and finished tied for No. 11 with a minus-2 score.

Senior Dysen Park and freshman Otani led the Vulcans, each tying for No. 4 at eight-under. Park shot a career-low 65 in the final round without a bogey, making five birdies.

"I was looking at the leaderboard quite a bit as we were coming in," Otani said. "I was just thinking to myself, 'I've got to stick to my game plan.' [Christensen Jr.] was making so many shots near the hole, and I just couldn't do that, but I knew my putting was pretty good. He had a different strategy than I had coming out to this course, and I just couldn't let that bother me as a player. I stuck to my own game plan, and we pulled it off."

Hawai'i Hilo finished ahead of six ranked teams: No. 16 Colorado Christian, No. 13 Cal State San Bernardino, No. 31 Cal State Monterey Bay, No. 17 Western Washington, No. 34 Simon Fraser and No. 32 Menlo.

The Vulcans had finished runner-up to CSUSB earlier in the week at their own hosted Punahele Jerky Company Inc. Invitational (formerly Dennis Rose Intercollegiate) and now close the fall season with a victory — a rebound from a three-out-of-three finish at the Hawai'i Tri-Match earlier in the month.

"We did have an oopsie at the Tri-Match, if you want to call it that," Park said. "With all the storms and the rains in Hilo, we didn't have a place to practice. Once the range opened back up, everybody just kept their head down and pound balls and got ready for this one. We just had to go out there and prove it."

Crinella mentioned he had recently talked with Jacob Torres and Dylan Bercan — departed seniors from last year's team that captured a fourth consecutive PacWest Conference Championship title.

EVENT NOTES

• Ryan Steed made a hole-in-one on the par-3 Hole 11 (Lakes 2) in Round 2.

UP NEXT

• Feb. 4-6 at Amer Ari Intercollegiate (Kohala Coast, Hawai'i) – Mauna Lani Resort Golf Club North Course

2026 HPU Sharks Shootout Individual Leaderboard

* Competed as Individual

2026 HPU Sharks Shootout