IRVINE, Calif. – After defending his PacWest title, Hawai`i Pacific’s Keita Okada has been named the PacWest Golfer of the Year, leading the 2022 All-PacWest team.
 
Hawai`i Pacific’s Ed Kageyama won the Coach of the Year award by leading Hawai`i Pacific to the PacWest title in one of the most exciting finishes in tournament history. Ryan Shields Vega from Chaminade was voted the PacWest Freshman of the Year by the conference’s coaches.
 
After winning the PacWest title last year, Okada was named the Freshman of the Year and by defending his title, he is now the Golfer of the Year. Okada won three Golfer of the Week awards during the regular season and entered the PacWest Championships as one of the favorites to win the title. He led after two rounds and held onto that lead by shooting a 2-over-par 74 in the final round for a three-round total of 2-under-par 214 to win the title by four strokes. He also helped the Sharks win the PacWest as a team with her performance in the playoff.
 
Kageyama led the Sharks to their first title in men’s golf, giving Hawai`i Pacific titles in 10 of its 13 PacWest sports and a total of 36 titles across all sports, which led all active schools in the PacWest at the time. Hawai`i Pacific was tied with Hawai`i Hilo at the conclusion of the third round, forcing a team playoff round for the first time in tournament history. That extra round was won by the Sharks, which gave them a much-needed automatic berth into the NCAA West Regional.
 
Shields Vega won the PacWest Freshman of the Year award after tying for 15^th place at the PacWest Championships. He shot a 3-under-par 69 in the opening round and finished the tournament at 16-over-par 232 for the Silverswords, who took sixth place as a team.
 
Academy of Art’s Matthew Watkins won his fourth All-PacWest honor as the sixth-ranked golfer in the PacWest this year. Meanwhile, Dominican’s Matt Fry made it three All-PacWest selections in his career with the Penguins.
 

2022 PACWEST MEN’S GOLF AWARDS
Golfer of the Year	Freshman of the Year	Coach of the Year
Keita Okada Hawai`i Pacific	Ryan Shields Vega Chaminade	Ed Kageyama Hawai`i Pacific

2022 ALL-PACWEST MEN’S GOLF
Name	School	Yr.	Hometown/Previous School
FIRST TEAM
Keita Okada *	Hawai`i Pacific	So.	Tokyo, Japan/IMG Academy
Luke Dugger *	Holy Names	Fr.	Davis, Calif./Davis
Christian Schrodt	Dominican	Jr.	Mission Viejo, Calif./JSerra Catholic
Edvin Backstrom	Holy Names	Fr.	Stockholm, Sweden/Filbornaskolan
Keith Ng	Hawai`i Hilo	Jr.	Richmond, Canada/British Columbia
SECOND TEAM
Matthew Watkins ***	Academy of Art	Jr.	Novato, Calif./Novato
Dustin Franko *	Hawai`i Hilo	Jr.	Delta, B.C./Douglas
Andrew Otani *	Hawai`i Hilo	Jr.	Honolulu/Iolani
Blas Ayesa *	Holy Names	Fr.	Mar Del Plata, Argentina/Instituto San Alberto
Ludvig Wijkstrom	Holy Names	Fr.	Saltsjobaden, Sweden/Celsiusskolan
THIRD TEAM
Ryan Torres *	Hawai`i Pacific	Sr.	San Jose, Calif./San Jose
Arman Bajwa	Holy Names	Fr.	Brentwood, Calif./Heritage
Matt Fry **	Dominican	Gr.	Laguna Niguel, Calif./Dana Hills
Josh Morris	Dominican	Fr.
Aniceto Mandanas *	Holy Names	Sr.	Muntinlupa, Philippines/De la Salle