Signing Class Photo Gallery

HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine track and field 'ohana has grown a bit bigger this spring with the announcement of six athletes signed to national letters of intent for the 2016-17 school year in Jennifer "Michelle" Altice, Alexis Brenzil, Tatiana Desender, Tristen Dulay, Madison "Maddie" Fuhrman and Haleigh Sudbeck.
 
"This has been one of our best recruiting classes ever," head coach Carmyn James said. "From sprints and distance, to jumps and throws, we have a highly-talented incoming class that represents all event groups. In addition, these student-athletes represent Hawai'i. California, Oregon, Washington and Canada. What's most exciting is the fact that each one of them has the potential to score points at the Big West Championship in their freshman year, and they are all coming to UH straight out of high school!"
 
Adding to UH's strong tradition in the throws events and immediately infusing talent to fill voids left by graduating seniors, Altice comes out of San Diego's Del Norte High School. She ranks fourth in California and 15th nationally in the shot put with a throw of 47-0 (14.3m) and has finished first in 10-of-12 meets this season. She finished fifth in the shot put and second in the discus at the 2015 CIF-San Diego Section Finals. She reached a personal best of 138-5 (42.19m) in the discus, ranking 14th in California, and is projected to also throw the hammer at UH. She was the Avocado East League champion in both of her events last season.
 
Continuing a sound tradition of Canadian student-athletes under head coach Carmyn James, Brenzil hails from Welland, Ontario's Welland Centennial Secondary School and has been a national medalist in the heptathlon, in addition to a three-time medalist at the OFSSA Championships in the javelin and once in the shot put. Currently holds two Ontario records. Recorded a mark of 157-8 (48.08m) in the javelin and a score of 4,874 points in the heptathlon last season.
 
Another Canadian signee, coming out of Saunders Secondary School in London, Ontario, Desender was the school's Female Athlete of the Year for the past three years, in addition to earning MVP honors in both cross country and track in 2014. A hurdler, Desender has recorded top times of 14.75 seconds in the 100m hurdles, 63.52 in the 400m hurdles and 57.62 in the 400m dash. She has been ranked among the top five in Canada in the long hurdles and in the top 10 in the sprint hurdles.
 
UH's lone local signee in this class, 'Ewa Beach's Dulay comes out of Campbell High school, finishing second in both the 100m and 200m at the 2015 Hawai'i State Championships. Dulay recorded top times of 12.22 seconds in the 100m and 24.89 seconds in the 200m. At last week's OIA Championships, Dulay won the 100m and 200m, and helped her team win the 4×100m relay.
 
After increasing personnel heavily last season, UH adds only one distance recruit in this cycle, Silverton High School (Siverton, Ore.) student body president Fuhman, who finished fourth at last year's Oregon 5A state meet in the 800m, coming in sixth in the 3,000m and also was fifth in the Oregon Cross Country Championships in the fall. She is a seven-time team MVP between track and cross country. Fuhrman has recorded top times in the 800m of 2:18.0, 1,500m at 4:45.29 and 3,000m at 10:18.43. She's also logged an 18:05.20 in the cross country 5k.
 
Another thrower rounds out the class, as Camas (Wash.) High School's Sudbeck ranks 13th nationally and No. 1 in the state of Washington with a hammer throw of 157-11 (48.13m), but was charted at 164-7 (50.17m at the Oregon Club Invitational last year. She has also thrown distances of 44-0 in the weight throw and 86-10 (24.5m) in the discus this season. Sudbeck won the hammer throw at the 2015 Washington state high school championship after finishing fifth in the event as a sophomore. She chose Hawai'i over opportunities at Oregon State, Washington and Washington State.
 
The current Rainbow Wahine are in the thick of championship season, with the Big West Multi-Event Championships taking place this weekend, May 6-7, in Long Beach, Calif. The remaining events will compete next week May 13-14, also in Long Beach at Jack Rose Stadium.