March 12-17 Recap

This past week was a normal, very busy week.

Monday, it was girls varsity tennis overpowering a combined UH/La Pietra/ St. Francis team 4-1.

Tuesday, I covered the Varsity Girls II basketball game as they dominated HBA, 55-40.

Then it was the marquee game as the Varsity I team took on number 1 ranked Kamehameha. This was a shocking game as the Lady Raiders took no prisoners, running to a big lead from the start and never looking back. Final score was 49-33, Raiders. I don't think the Warriors played very well and I expect that the next time around will be a much tougher game.

Wednesday, it was a comeback 5-3 win for the Intermediate Red baseball team. Excellent game for the Raiders.

Thursday, it was 3 events.

First it was the JV Baseball team vs MPI. Not everything was clicking on this day for the Raiders as they fell 6-2 to the Owls.














Then it was over to the pool to see some girls water polo. The first game was our Varsity II team taking on Kamehameha. This was no contest as the Lady Raiders beat the Warriors, 15-1. It could have been much more but Coach Look showed mercy and stopped the team from scoring.












The Varsity I team then took on the Varsity I Warriors who were state champs last year. This, as expected, was a close game with the Raiders pulling it out in the end, 13-11.

Friday it was over to Kamehameha to cover the Intermediate track and field meet. The weather was awful. I spent at least half the meet under the scorer's tent but still managed over 1000 photos.

Saturday it was the always-fun Ralph Martinson track and field meet at Punahou. This year the format was changed so that only the girls would compete at Punahou. The boys competed at Kamehameha in a different meet. I covered the girls, sorry boys. The weather was much better on Saturday, about 2000 photos worth. The problem with morning meets at Punahou is I have to shoot into the sun for all the field events until the sun gets pretty high, but I'll take that any day over rain!

All stories and track meet results are posted on:

www.iolani-events.org

March 12-17 Tentative Schedule

Monday - Girls Varsity Tennis
Tuesday - Boys Varsity Baseball (for a little while)
Priority Girls Varsity II Basketball and Girls Varsity I Basketball
Wednesday - Intermediate Red Baseball
Thursday - JV Baseball (for a little while)
Priority - Girls Div II Water Polo and Girls Div I Water Polo
Friday - Intermediate Track at Kamehameha
Saturday - Girls JV/Var Track at Punahou

March 5-10, 2007 Recap

On Tuesday, I covered the ILH opener in varsity baseball as the Raiders took on a strong Kamehameha team. The Warriors have been spoken of as favorites this year since they have their whole pitching staff back from last year's squad. The Raiders didn't back down an inch, though, and pulled out the win with a 5-4 score.

Wednesday, I saw the Intermediate Black Baseball team take on Punahou Blue. I believe it was 5-1 going into the last inning. I had to leave, figuring the game was pretty much over anyway. The Raiders then scored 5 in the last inning, winning a very exciting 6-5 game against the Puns!

Thursday, it was the JV Baseball team vs. Damien. This was a blowout that only got worse as the game went on. Final score, 10-0 for the Raiders when the mercy rule kicked in.

Friday, I covered the Intermediate Track and Field meet at Iolani. There are certainly a lot of Intermediates this year! We haven't been able to get through all the events yet, so the officials have been switching around the order in each event.

Saturday, it was over to Kamehameha. First, I covered the Intermediate Girls water polo team as they faced Pac-5. This, too, was a blowout, at least it was at the end of 3 quarters, when I left, with the score at 9-2.

I then walked 100 yards over to the track to cover the JV/Varsity track and field meet.

All these stories are covered at:

www.iolani-events.org

For all you track and field fans, you might want to take a look at my track and field and cross-country only website at

www.usatf-hi.org

I'm still looking for some team representatives to help with event stories. When I don't have anyone writing the story, I will mention it in my "events" story. When I write it, it will probably be pretty brief. I really want to concentrate on the photography and feel I can't do a good job on either when I need to do both. Please volunteer and help support your children's team. If you don't want to write the article, just take notes, and I'll write the article.

Thank you for your continued support.

Maui Track and Field Update

March 10th Kiwanis Maui County Middle School Championships

Kailea Tracy-Visintainer, an 8th grader from Kamehameha Maui, finally beat Lea Lundblad after 17 tries in a super prep 400 meter race. Her time of 60.29 beat Lundblad's time of 62.41. The conditions on the the track were wet and rainy. The race was over before it began as Visintainer jumped out to an early lead in the first 200 meters that Lundblad just could not close. You would have to go back to 2001 to find the last time Lundblad was beaten on her home island. After the race Lundblad said that she will probably only run the 400 in a relay leg. Her main events are the 800 and 1500 meters. Visintainer now begins training for the USATF Nationals in Walnut California. Lundblad will now take a short rest and begin preparing for her freshman year in cross country.

Track News From Maui - 030407

Yesterday, Kailea Tracy-Visintainer, an 8th grader from Kamehameha Maui, ran a 59.8 400 meters in a practice meet. Next weekend Kailea will run head to head with Lea Lundblad in the 400 for the county of Maui championships. This could be the quickest 400 meters ever run on Maui for Intermediates, as the time could dip under 59 seconds. Stay tuned.

Tentative Schedule 3/4/07-3/10/07

My tentative schedule for this week is as follows:

Monday - Girls Varsity Tennis vs MPI at MPI (very tentative)

Tuesday - Varsity Baseball vs Kamehameha (may not stay the whole game), then State Championships in Poetry at St. Andrew's

Wednesday - Intermediate Black Baseball vs Punahou Blue

Thursday - JV Baseball vs Damien

Friday - Intermediate Track and Field at Iolani

Saturday - Girls Varsity Track and Field at Kamehameha

Iolani Does "High School Musical"

The Iolani performing arts department is currently putting on "High School Musical" at Hawaii Theatre. I was fortunate enough to cover the final dress rehearsal on Wednesday. Shows are Thursday, Friday and Saturday night at 7pm. Friday and Saturday are already sold out. The last I knew, there were a few tickets left for Thursday. I loved the show! If you get a chance, don't miss it.

Tentative Schedule - 2/26/07 through 3/3/07

The winter season state championships are almost complete. They are a lot of fun to cover, but also a tremendous amount of work. Covering about 4 softball, soccer or basketball games a day is a lot. And, this week it's wrestling. Wrestling is only 2 days, Friday and Saturday, but they tend to be very long days.

I do have a few days I can devote to Iolani events this week, and next week I hope to get back to complete Iolani coverage.

Monday - JV Baseball at Punahou
Tuesday - Boys Varsity Tennis
Wednesday - "High School Musical" - yes, I will be covering the dress rehearsal, so photos will be available
Thursday - Undecided, may not be able to cover anything due to "High School Musical"
Friday - Wrestling State Championships
Saturday - Wrestling State Championships

2007 HHSAA Boys Soccer State Championships

After watching almost every game and every team in this tournament, I have a few observations.

First of all, Punahou is a fine and worthy champion. This is a team that you can never count out. In their first game, against Kealakehe, it was scoreless until Caton Smith found the back of the net at 56:00. Final score, 1-0.

In the quarterfinals, Punahou really showed what they were made of against KS-Maui. At 60:00, Kelii Dias of KS-Maui gave his team a 1-0 lead. This lead held up until 80:00, yes 80:00, when Christopher Walker tied it with a PK. The game went to overtime where John Cowen scored 2 minutes later. Final score, 2-1.

In the semi-finals, Punahou went up against Roosevelt. Roosevelt had pulled the upset of the tournament, beating a talented, powerful (but maybe overconfident?) Kapolei team, 4-1. Could the magic continue against Punahou? No, Punahou went on a scoring spree with the largest scoring total of their season. Final score, 10-1.

In the finals, Punahou would go up against an extremely fast and talented Kalani team. Kalani had beaten Kalaheo, 3-1, in the first round. In the quarters, Kalani beat fourth seeded Makua Lani in a closely contested game, 1-0. In the semis, it was a 2-0 win over Leilehua.

I like the Kalani team. It reminds me of the Iolani team - small, fast, smart, and good passing. I guess that's not surprising since the Kalani coach, Myles Arakawa, is a former Iolani coach who led the Raiders to championships in 1997 and 2000. I expected this to be a good, close game. And it was.

Kalani scored first, with the goal going to Carter Kam at 14:00. Punahou tied it up at 33:00 when Alessi Sia found the back of the net. Kalani answered at 55:00 when Danny Higa gave the Falcons the lead. Punahou's size, strength and depth was starting to take it's toll, though, and Deryck Lim tied it at 66:00. Then, in the last minute, Ben Strand won it for the Buffanblu.

This was a great final match between two talented teams. But, what I really liked about this matchup, was these teams had great attitudes. They never gave up and they played as a team.

And, what a great present to give retiring Punahou head coach, Bob Clague, who first won this tournament in 1976 and many times since then.

Great tournament!

HHSAA Girls Soccer State Championships 2007

My congratulations to Kamehameha-Kapalama! This is a worthy champion. Their speed and skill was impressive and a joy to watch.

Also, to Pac-5, who won a double over time, shootout over Mid-Pacific for the Div II crown. What a game!

A few thoughts I had as I watched almost all of the games in this tournament:

1. This was another well run, fun tournament for all the participants.
2. There is quite a large difference between Div I and Div II. They play at a different speed.
3. As I watched all the Div I teams, I couldn't escape the nagging feeling that some of the best teams were left out of this tournament, specifically Punahou and Iolani. I watch the ILH all season and, without any stats to back me up, I can say that these teams were good enough to not only be in this tournament, they would have been somewhere near the top.

If you have scores of head-to-head matches between Punahou or Iolani and the teams that were in this state championship, please send them to me. I'm especially interested in the pre-season tournaments where there was a lot of league crossover. This topic will be the subject of a future article.

Also, if you have thoughts on the selection process for girls soccer, please email me. I know it is a difficult task to choose the teams fairly, but it seems to me that in girls soccer, at least, a little tweeking is in order.

Thank you.

HHSAA State Softball Champs Musings

I love the idea of high school state championships. All the athletes I know strive to qualify for these tournaments. The athletes and teams that make it have to work hard and improve themselves. It's not easy to qualify and it's even harder to win.

A problem I've seen in the past is that I don't think the best teams are always in the tournament. I know this is very difficult to accomplish and it's a tough numbers game that sometimes leaves deserving teams out in the cold. Last year, I believe that happened in certain sports, volleyball, basketball and soccer immediately come to mind, but there are probably more that I'm just not too familiar with.

I really like the idea of the stronger leagues having a "play in" possibility to qualify where the team that just misses qualifying has a chance to make it by beating a team from another league who also has just missed. This is why the wildcard games in major league baseball were instituted. I like it and see that it's starting to happen in the HHSAA tournaments. This is a great trend and I hope it continues.

That said, and I am the first to admit I'm not an expert on softball, it seems to me that softball worked out really well this year. I saw many ILH games during the regular season and I spent about 6 hours a day at the HHSAA Championships this year, so I guess that either makes me a bit crazy and/or gives me a bit of background to say the results were accurate.

I'm really only talking about Division I because I really didn't see enough of Division II to comment (but I really like that Division II exists). The final results were Baldwin, Mililani, Iolani and St. Francis. I saw almost all of Iolani's games this year, know most of the girls, and have to say I'm totally biased in my thinking about them. I also saw St. Francis quite a bit. Mililani and Baldwin I hadn't seen at all until this tournament, although I heard that they were both powerhouses. And they were.

Both Mililani and Baldwin have outstanding pitchers which gave them the edge and the means to make the finals. All four teams have a strong defense and can hit. It's the pitchers, though, that in my opinion made the difference.

Baldwin has Nicole Alconcel and Mililani has Makani Duhaylonsod. I saw them both pitch a few games and they were awesome. I love Makani's changeup. Added to her power it really makes her tough. Nicole, what can I say, if I could pick one pitcher to build a team around, she'd be on the top of my list. Not only is she a great pitcher, she is an all around outstanding athlete and dynamite with the bat.

So, my kudos to the HHSAA for doing a great job with this tournament. Getting the right teams to vie for the championship and running a smooth tournament is not easy. Baldwin and Mililani are both super teams, they deserved to make the finals, and Baldwin is a very worth state champion.

HHSAA Softball Championships

Sorry, loyal readers. I know I've been remiss in my blogging, but it's not because I'm on vacation. I've been at the HHSAA Softball Championships quite a bit, more on this later.

On Tuesday I was hoping to do boys paddling. I've had quite a few requests to cover paddling and I finally had a chance. Of course, the wind was bad on Tuesday and it got cancelled.

Wednesday and Thursday, I've been over at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium mainly covering our Lady Raiders but also doing and watching some other games. Our Raiders have been playing and looking like champs. They won the first game against Moanalua, 10-4, on Wednesday.
The girls are hitting well, defense has been superb, and the pitchers have been in control. I HOPE IT CONTINUES! Tonight we play Mililani at 8pm in the semi-finals. Please come out and support this team. If you absolutely can't make it, it will be televised on OC16.

Tentative Schedule - 1/29/07 - 2/4/07

Monday - day off
Tuesday - Boy's Paddling
Wednesday through Saturday - I am covering the HHSAA State Championships in softball this week. If it turns out that I am free to cover an Iolani event, I will. But, it will be a last minute decision.

The Iolani Varsity Softball team's first game is Wednesday night (8pm) at the UH softball stadium. Please come to support this wonderful, fun to watch, team!

(Very) Tentative Schedule 1/22/07-1/28/07

Monday - Boys Int Red Soccer vs Pac-5
Tuesday - JV Softball vs Kamehameha
Wednesday - Varsity Softball vs Sacred Hearts (last game of regular season)
Thursday - Int Girls Tennis vs Punahou (last match for ILH championship)
Friday - Boys Varsity Soccer vs Pac-5
Saturday -
Girls Varsity Soccer vs Kamehameha
Boys Int I Basketball vs Punahou (maybe a half, depends on soccer game)
Boys Varsity II Basketball vs WOL

Friday, Jan. 18, 2007 Update

On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of seeing one of the best young softball pitchers in the ILH, if not the state. Keiki Carlos is a 7th grader on the Mid-Pacific Intermediate softball time. Wow! I was looking forward to a good, competitive game with our Intermediate Black team. Our Black team is solid. They played well all season and have a lot of talent. I was truly shocked to see them shut down the way they were. Keiki Carlos, a name to remember for all you softball fans. The final score, 8-1 for Mid-Pacific. The Owls truly deserve the Intermediate ILH Championship this year.

On Wednesday, it was the highly anticipated match up between the Iolani Varsity softball team and St. Francis. St. Francis was in first place with 2 losses, while Iolani was in second with 3 losses. A week ago, after Iolani had been dominated by Punahou, the prospects for a state berth looked bleak. But, after a rebound win over Kamehameha and an upset win by Punahou over St. Francis, Iolani was still hanging around. If the Raiders could somehow beat St. Francis, they would be in a tie for first. This was a huge game!

Raider pitcher, Kelly Imada, was on and kept the St. Francis batters off balance all day. And when they did connect (which they did a few times) for a good hit, the Raider outfield was able to run it down. And the Raider bats sizzled on this day, led by Jana Tokuhama who was 4-4. Final score was 7-0. This game certainly put me in a good mood! Thank you, girls.:)

By the way, this team will play Maryknoll on Saturday at CORP if you'd like to see them in person. If you can't make it out to CORP, the game will be televised with Bob Hogue behind the mike!

On Thursday, I moved over to Punahou to cover the Iolani JV Softball team as they played Punahou. The Raiders are having a superb season, only losing once, and currently atop the ILH JV ranks. The Puns are struggling, but Iolani-Punahou matches in any sport are almost always worth the price of admission, so I tend to give them priority when making my schedule.

The Raiders weren't totally sharp, as there were a few uncharacteristic errors, but they were up to the task, led by the superb hitting of Keli Umeda who hit with power and timeliness. Final score, 8-5, Raiders.

Monday 1/15/07 Update

It was an up and down, busy time in Iolani photo land this past week.

On Monday, it was the always fun Intermediate Black vs Red Boys Soccer game. The weather was iffy at best. Off and on rain. Dark. I took photos from the comfort of the stands. The photos weren't too bad considering the conditions. The game, 1-1. Good game between two even teams. I was glad it ended in a tie.

On Tuesday, I revisited the Intermediate Black Softball team as they took on the stronger of the two Punahou teams, Punahou Blue. The Blacks earned an 8-6 win over a good team, setting up the biggest game of the season on Tuesday against Mid-Pac for the intermediate championship. Big game folks! I'll be there!

On Wednesday, the Varsity Softball team ran into a hot pitcher and fell to Punahou, 4-0. BUT, the Raiders bounced back to beat Kamehameha on Saturday to stay in the STATES race with St. Francis, who also lost to Punahou, who has become the hot team of late. This Wednesday the Lady Raiders get their chance against St. Francis at Kamamalu Park. Another huge game for the Lady Raiders!

On Thursday, I saw the Varsity Girls Soccer team fall to Punahou, 1-0 in a VERY physical game on a penalty shot. How physical? In my opinion, the Punahou team pushed past the limit of the rules. It seemed to these old eyes that at least some of the Punahou players were playing the body too much and not the ball. The violence in this game really took away from the beauty of the game. Tough loss.

On Friday, it was the Varsity Boys Soccer team's turn to take on Punahou. Both teams played well and within the rules. This was good soccer and fun to watch, but was marred by an injury (concussion) to goalie Scott Kawakami with a few minutes to go in the game. Punahou came away with the win, 2-1.

It was another marathon Saturday as it was back to Punahou to see the JV Boys Soccer team take on Punahou Gold. The Raiders had many chances in this one, especially in the first half, but had trouble finding the back of the net. Loss, 2-1.

Then it was back to Iolani to catch 3 basketball games in a row.

First, it was the Boys Intermediate Basketball team dominate Damien - 64-43. A really fun game to watch.

The Boys JV Basketball vs Punahou Gold was a great game, marred by a double technical and then a very scary injury (concussion) to Kainoa Chu. This team showed great character and grew a lot in this challenging game, winning 57-44, to break my personal losing streak vs Punahou. Thank you guys!

I had decided to see the Boys Varsity II Basketball vs Kamehameha game, rather than the one the previous night, as I expected Kamehameha to be a better team and capable of producing a great game with our Raiders. I was so right on this one! It went to overtime with the Raiders making clutch play after clutch play to win 44-40 in the first overtime period. I have to tell you, I was so exhausted by this point and then to face overtime! But, this was one great game and a big win for the Raiders!

Tentative Schedule 1/15/07-1/21/07

Monday - Day Off
Tuesday - Intermediate Black Softball vs Mid-Pac - Intermediate Championship Game
Wednesday - Varsity Softball vs St. Francis - 2nd place vs 1st place - Biggest game of the season
Thursday - JV Softball vs Punahou (need I say more)
Friday - Boys Varsity Soccer vs St. Louis
Saturday - undecided at this time as I want to see what happens in a few events during the week, but I will shoot for at least the Girls Varsity soccer game vs Punahou and the Boys Varsity Basketball game vs Punahou

Iolani Intermediate Black Softball

Last Thursday, the Intermediate Black Softball team beat the Punahou Gold team, 32-0. Yes, 32-0, that's not a typo. Punahou divides their intermediate softball teams by ability. I understand the thinking, I guess, but these blowouts are not very good for either team.

Anyway, yesterday at Punahou School, the Black team faced the Punahou Blue team, the stronger Punahou team. I expected a much better game and it was, with the Iolani team winning 9-6. Iolani Black now has one tie and one loss. Mid-Pacific has one tie and has been the class of the league this year. I hear they have some superb pitching.

On Tuesday, 1/16, the Blacks will take on MPI for the championship at Ala Wai field. Should be an excellent game.


Which brings me to Kimberly Souza. Kimberly is the catcher on the Black team. She has a real cannon for an arm and is having an astoundingly good season with the bat. I don't know what her stats are, but in the games I've seen, she has come through in the clutch so many times that I really hope there is someone on base when she's up. And, there has been. I wonder if anyone keeps records for RBI's at the intermediate level. Kimberly's got to be in the running!

Tentative Schedule - 1/8/07 through 1/14/07

Monday - Boys Int Soccer - Black vs Red
Tuesday - Int Black Softball vs Punahou Blue
Wednesday - Varsity Softball vs Punahou
Thursday - Girls Varsity Soccer vs Punahou
Friday - Boys Varsity Soccer vs Punahou
Saturday - Boys Basketball - Int1, JV, VarII