A new foursome — including Kane'ohe's Brandon Woods — cruised past a boat featuring two former Olympians at the U.S. Olympic trials yesterday in Oklahoma City to earn the chance to qualify for a spot in the Beijing Games.

Woods, a 2002 Mid-Pacific graduate, Bartosz Wolski, Taran Stucchio and Tim Hornsby paddled their kayak to victory in the 1,000-meter race on the Oklahoma River, beating Morgan House, Patrick Dolan and former Olympians Jeff Smoke and Rami Zur by just under 2 seconds.

In the junior men's competition, Maryknoll School senior Ryan Dolan of Kailua earned his fourth victory of the weekend, teaming with Kamehameha's BJ Campbell to win the junior kayak pairs 1,000 meters final yesterday in 3 minutes, 53.780 seconds.

Woods, Wolski, Stucchio and Hornsby had been training as a unit but had never before raced together.

The winning time was 3:13.936 while the crew including Smoke and Zur finished in 3:15.886. Only two boats competed in the race.

The winners of the 1,000-meter races — including the foursome — will try to earn spots at the Olympics during a continental qualifier next month in Montreal.

Dolan won the junior 500 and 1,000 meter kayak titles as well as the 500 kayak pairs with Campbell. Dolan has accepted a nomination to compete in the solo kayaking events for the Junior Pan American Team, May 15 to 18 in Montreal. Campbell, a Kamehameha senior, will also compete at the event. Other members of the team are expected to be announced this week.

In other results involving Hawai'i Canoe-Kayak Team, Giulia Anderson and Rachel Fujita finished third in the junior women kayak pairs 1,000 meters final in 4:46.672; Kati Erwin finished fourth with teammate Megan Kelly in the senior women kayak pairs 1,000 in 5:09.807.

MARATHON

U.S. WOMEN'S TEAM SET

The disappointment of their last Olympic marathon trials turned into delight for Deena Kastor, Magdalena Lewy Boulet and Blake Russell.

Kastor won the U.S. Olympic marathon trials yesterday in Boston, earning a berth in the Beijing Games by erasing a gap of almost 2 minutes to pass Lewy Boulet in the last 3 miles.

It will be the second Olympic marathon and third Olympics for Kastor, who ran the 10,000 meters in Sydney.

"I accomplished two major goals: first, to make the team and, secondly, to win," said Kastor, who won the bronze medal in Athens despite fading in the U.S. trials and finishing second. "It's an absolute honor that this is my third Olympic team. It feels just as sweet the third time around."

This time she'll be joined on the American marathon team by two runners who just missed out four years ago. Russell finished fourth in the 2004 trials, missing a spot on the Olympic team by 35 seconds, and Lewy Boulet was also on the outside, in fifth.

Kastor finished in 2 hours, 29 minutes, 35 seconds to earn a $50,000 prize and the chance for a $10,000 bonus if she lines up in Beijing. Lewy Boulet was 44 seconds back; Russell was 2:21 behind her, but an all-important 1:13 ahead of first alternate Zoila Gomez.

Ryan Hall, Dathan Ritzenhein and Brian Sell earned spots on the men's team with their top-three finishes in the New York trials in November.

SOCCER

WOMEN'S, MEN'S DRAWS SET

The draw was announced yesterday for the men's and women's Olympic soccer tournaments that begin in early August. The U.S. women's team won gold medals at the 1996 and 2004 Olympics.

In the 12-team women's draw, the United States was in Group G with Norway, Japan and New Zealand.

In the 16-team men's tournament, largely limited to players under 23, the United States was drawn into Group B with the Netherlands, Nigeria and Japan.

SOFTBALL

FINCH PERFECT IN VICTORY

Jennie Finch pitched a perfect game for the U.S. softball team, defeating Louisiana-Lafayette 2-0 Saturday during the pre-Olympic exhibition tour in Sulphur, La.

Finch struck out 10 and the Americans improved to 25-1 on their tour leading up to the Beijing Games.

"It was so much fun," said Finch, a 2004 Olympic gold medalist who improved to 5-1 on the tour.