Posted with permission, article and pictures, courtesy of Hawaii Pacific University
IRVINE, Calif. – Hawai’i Pacific University’s Keita Okada was selected as the 2021-22 PacWest Conference Men’s Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year the conference office announced on Thursday.
The PacWest Scholar-Athletes of the Year are selected in each of the 15 PacWest sports and chosen by the conference’s sports information directors. The award is presented to the student-athlete in each sport that combines athletic and academic performance in their sport with a minimum of a 3.0 GPA to be eligible.
Okada, a sophomore from Tokyo, Japan/Bradenton, Fla. IMG Academy, is the 2022 PacWest Conference Men’s Golfer of the Year and the 2021 and 2022 PacWest Conference Individual Champion who led the Sharks to their first PacWest Team Championship this season. He carries a 3.11 GPA in Business Administration.
Okada led HPU, the PacWest Conference and the Division II West Region with a 72.07 stroke average in 2021-22, setting a new HPU record for single-season scoring. He tallied three victories, with two runner-up finishes and two third-place appearances in 11 tournaments this season, with a total of eight Top 6 finishes. He shot seven rounds in the 60’s, with a low round of 66 twice and posted 14 rounds of par or better.
+++ HPU +++
| 2021-22 PACWEST SCHOLAR-ATHLETES OF THE YEAR | ||||
| Sport | Name | School | GPA | Major |
| Baseball | Evan Larsen | Concordia | 3.91 | Organizational Leadership |
| Men’s Basketball | Josh Caston | Concordia | 3.87 | Business Administration |
| Women’s Basketball | Riley Friauf | Dominican | 3.88 | MBA |
| Men’s Cross Country | Angel Aguirre | Concordia | 3.95 | Coaching & Athletics |
| Women’s Cross Country | Natalia Novak | Academy of Art | 3.71 | Communications & Media |
| Men’s Golf | Keita Okada | Hawai’i Pacific | 3.11 | Business Administration |
| Women’s Golf | Claire Shubin | Dominican | 3.64 | Education Studies |
| Men’s Soccer | Gregoire Diep | Azusa Pacific | 3.93 | Business Management |
| Women’s Soccer | Daelenn Tokunaga | Hawai’i Hilo | 3.83 | Administration of Justice |
| Softball | Lauren Lopez | Concordia | 3.96 | Business Administration |
| Men’s Tennis | Sam Sippel | Azusa Pacific | 3.97 | Business Economics |
| Women’s Tennis | Yun “Nicole” Shiau | Academy of Art | 3.98 | Communication & Media |
| Men’s T&F | Weston Ellis | Azusa Pacific | 3.83 | Applied Exercise Science |
| Women’s T&F | Chin Agina * | Azusa Pacific | 4.00 | Kinesiology |
| Volleyball | Bria Beale | Hawai’i Hilo | 4.00 | Psychology |
*Previous PacWest Scholar Athlete of the Year winner
