Punahou alum Alex Ching is one shot off the lead after yesterday's first round of the NCAA Men's Golf Championship, being played at The Honors Course just outside Chattanooga, Tenn.

Ching, a sophomore for University of San Diego, shot 3-under-par 69 and shares third. The leaders are Jesper Kennegard, from Arizona State, and Henrik Norlander, from Augusta State, at 68.

The 25th-ranked Toreros share 16th with UNLV, UCLA and Baylor with a team score of 6-over-par 294. Oklahoma State and Florida State are tied for first at 283.

Ching tied for 13th at the nationals as a freshman. He had four birdies and a bogey yesterday.

Following 54 holes of stroke play, the top eight teams advance to match play starting Friday.

VOLLEYBALL

MCKIBBIN ON TEAM

Punahou graduate Maddison McKibbin was named to the under-23 Beach National Training Team by USA Volleyball. McKibbin and Tony Ciarelli, from Huntington Beach, Calif., will represent the U.S. at the World University Championships, June 15 to 20 in Alanya, Turkey.

Ciarelli and McKibbin just finished their sophomore seasons with USC. Ciarelli finished second at the 2008 FIVB Youth Beach World Championship with partner Jeff Carlson. McKibbin placed fifth at that same World Championship with Will Montgomery.

In other volleyball news, national player of the year Kawika Shoji, an 'Iolani graduate who played at Stanford, helped the U.S. Men's A2 Team win its third straight Pan American Cup gold medal last weekend in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The U.S. went 5-0 in the tournament. Shoji did not play in the team's 25-23, 25-21, 30-28 victory over Argentina in the gold medal match.

SAILING

UH FINISHES THIRD

Hawai'i's coed sailing team concluded its season with a third-place finish in the consolation round of the ICSA Team Race Championship at Lake Mendota (Wis.).

After weather woes grounded the Rainbow Wahine sailors in their national event earlier in the week, the coed team was able to take to the waters, but didn't find much luck.

A field of 14 teams was split into two groups on the first day to compete in round-robin action. Saturday, the Rainbows struggled, going 0-6 in head-to-head races. UH was delegated to the consolation round Sunday and went 3-2 to finish third among six teams.