Iolani Alumni

After falling behind in both games, the Iolani bats ignited to score a total of 23 runs in back-to-back victories over Pac-5 on Friday and St. Louis on Saturday.

In Friday’s game against the Wolfpack, the Raiders gave up 3 runs in the top of the 1st only to come firing back in the bottom of the inning with 6 runs to start an offensive barrage that ended in a 14-4 victory after 6 innings due to the league’s 10-run rule.

On Saturday, after picking up a run in the 5th to close the Crusader lead to 8-5, senior Case Miyahira opened the 6th with a triple and sophomore Reyn Nagamine followed with a rocket over the right field fence to cut the deficit to one. The Raiders tied the game in bottom of the 7th after a leadoff triple by sophomore Kela Marciel and ended it on a walk-off RBI single to right by Miyahira. Senior Jon Okada picked up the win in relief, pitching a scoreless 6th and 7th.

With the 9-8 win against the Crusaders, Iolani is now 5-2 and 3rd in the ILH behind the Punahou Buffanblu and the Mid-Pacific Owls.

[Photo: Honolulu Advertiser]

Date: Saturday, May 26, 2007 @ 7:30am
Location: Mokuleia, Army Beach
Cost: $55 entry fee (includes T-shirt, lunch from Outback Steakhouse and ticket to fundraising party)
Tournament Application »

The 2nd Annual Gene Higa Memorial Spearfishing Tournament honors Gene Higa, one of Hawaii’s top skin divers who passed away a few years ago in an unfortunate diving accident, and supports the local efforts of Hawaii divers in their quest to gain national recognition.

Saturday’s tournament will be followed by a Fundraising Party at Rumours Nightclub on Sunday, May 27 at 6:00pm. All proceeds from the party will be donated to the teams representing Hawaii at the 2007 “Nationals”.

The tournament and party is brought to you by Davin Kazama ‘94 of Kai Clothing in association with Hawaii Skin Diver Productions.

Tamiko “Tommy” Hobbs, a 17-year-old student and member of the volleyball team at Iolani School, is the fresh new face of Aloha Street Magazine, a free japanese-language publication that caters to visting tourists from Japan to keep them informed on the latest trends and hottest shops in the islands.

Tommy replaces former cover model Caitlyn Edwards who appeared on the magazine for the last nine years and, due to the exposure over that time, reached celebrity status in Japan.

The magazine is available in various tourist locations throughout Honolulu and Waikiki. Look for Tommy on the cover of the current 2007 Spring issue (shown)…

Iolani Softball Coach Chris Shimabukuro ‘85 has stepped down after 9 seasons with the Raiders during which time he led the team to three ILH championships and back-to-back state titles in 1999 and 2000.

This season, the Raiders finished 2nd in the ILH and 3rd in the state, reaching the semifinals of the 2007 Hawaii State Softball Tournament before falling to the Mililani Trojans.

While there was no reason giving for the resignation, Chris said (in a press release by the school) “I am grateful for the opportunity that ‘Iolani School gave me and I have enjoyed the experience very much. It is time to give someone else this wonderful opportunity.”

A successor has yet to be named for next season when the Raiders return several starters including outfielders Kryn Masutani, Raechele Takara and Jana Tokuhama, All-State second teamers Kylie Ahlo (2B) and Kai Masutani (C) as well as starting pitcher and early season ace Brittney Guro.

[Photo: SportsHigh.com]

Since the release of their first album in 2005, Def Tech has become one of the hottest musical duos in all of Japan reaching the top of the national charts with sales exceeding 1.5 million records and performing in the country’s largest venues including the MTV Video Music Awards Japan in 2005 and 2006.

This year, the group’s third album, “Catch a Wave” (released April 26, 2006) is nominated for “Best Album of the Year” at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan 07. Other nominees for the award include popular US artists Daniel Powter and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The show will air on May 26, 2007 (in Japan).

Def Tech is a Jawaiian Reggae vocal unit comprised of two members, Shen (Shenan Brown ‘99 - shown, right) and Micro, a Japan-native and avid surfer. Together the group perform a unique style of music heavily influenced by the Jawaiian (Jamaican-Hawaiian) beats and vocals that were popular in Hawaii during the early to mid-90s. Listen for yourself…

More Def Tech Videos »

Iolani senior Kaz Masutani was named to the 2007 Honolulu Advertiser All-State Softball First Team for her strong performances in the field at shortstop and at the plate as the leadoff hitter for the Raiders. Iolani finished 2nd in the ILH and advanced to the semifinals of the 2007 State Softball Tournament where they lost to Mililani 5-0.

Senior 1B Tara-lyn Odo, junior 2B Kylie Ahlo and junior catcher Kai Masutani were named to the Second Team and senior 3B Lauren Oyadomori, senior pitcher Kellie-Ann Imada and freshman centerfielder Kryn Masutani were Honorable Mention selections.

After nearly a week on the mainland playing 4 games (two against the top-ranked team in California), visiting a few colleges and making a stop-over at Disneyland, the Iolani Baseball Team returned home Thursday to face the undefeated and 3-time defending state champion Punahou Buff-n-Blu at Iolani School on Friday.

Despite a home run by sophomore Reyn Nagamine and 3-4 performance by senior Case Miyahira, the Raiders were not able to overcome a 7 hit, 8 run third inning by the Buff-n-Blu who held on for the 9-6 win.

The Raiders, however, rebounded on Saturday with a 3-2 win over Damien scoring all their runs in the bottom of the 5th to come back from a 2-0 deficit.

Iolani is 3-2 in the ILH and currently ranked 3rd in the latest Star Bulletin Top 10 poll.

[Photo: Honolulu Advertiser]

After graduating from Santa Clara University in 2003, Cord and Brad Anderson ‘99 (shown, Star Bulletin) have since moved into the “family” business joining their father Brian as partners in Anekona LLC, a real estate development firm which has been featured in the press as of late for their purchase and planned renovation of the historic Ilikai Hotel.

Former 1998 Hawaii State Basketball Co-Players of the Year (along with Kirk Uejio ‘98), Cord (center) and Brad (left) are now part of the management team for Anekona and oversee several of the company’s current projects which includes The Ilikai as well as The Regency on BeachWalk, the Kauai Beach Resort and the W Hotel in Honolulu.

Read the Honolulu Star Bulletin article, “Andersons tackle Ilikai Renovation” »

For their strong performances as the team’s top two shooters and the only senior leaders on a young, inexperienced squad, Ryan Dung and Case Miyahira were named to the 2007 ILH Basketball All-Star First team.

The Raiders finished the ILH season in second to the Punahou Buff-n-Blu and qualified the 2007 State Tournament where they lost in the quarterfinals to Kamehameha-Hawaii.

On the second team for the Raiders was sophomore swingman Liloa Nobriga. Taylor Mounts, Pablo Warner and Kela Marciel were named Honorable Mention selections.

See the complete list of ILH All-Stars »

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In the OIA, Bob Morikuni ‘90 was named the White (East) Division Coach of the Year as the head coach of the 2007 Division II State Champion McKinley Tigers.

He may not be the only one, but, technically Derrick Low ‘04 is on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Can you find him?…

Jumping out to 24-11 first quarter lead, the Iolani Raiders rode the hot shooting of Chanel Hirata and the inside play of Jamie Smith to an easy 59-31 win over the Mid-Pacific Owls. The Raiders hit a season-high 7 three-pointers, 3 coming from Hirata who scored 15 points, and received a strong contribution from Smith who controlled the paint with 18 points.

Johnelle Kapua, who scored 23 points in her last outing, was held to just 9 points for the Owls. Mid-Pacific was led by Jenna Savusa who pitched in 12 points.

Iolani improves to 2-0 on the season and Mid-Pacific drops to 1-1. The Raiders will face Maryknoll on Saturday and then will be off the following week during spring break.

Complete ILH Girls Basketball Schedule & Standings »

Note: Because there are only 5 teams in Division I this season, there will be three rounds of play to determine the ILH champion.

Game Highlights: 2007 NCAA Tournament Video: Washington State »

Despite getting off to a slow start, the Washington State Cougars finished the first half strong and came alive in the second half to secure a 70-54 victory of Oral Roberts.

Through the first 19:50, the Cougs “hung around”… then with under 10 seconds to go in the first half, WSU guard Taylor Rochestie hit a soft runner in the lane and Kyle Weaver stole the inbounds pass for a dunk as the buzzer sounded to start a 24-5 run that saw Washington State turn a 6-point deficit into a 13 point lead midway through the second half. They never looked back… See the Video »

Senior forward Ivory Clark led the Cougs with 19 points and 5 “monster” blocks while the three starting guards combined for 37 points (Rochestie 15, Low 12, Weaver 10). Derrick Low ‘04 finished 5-7 from the field (2-4 from three-point range) with 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and no turnovers.

Washington State will face Vanderbilt on Saturday, March 17th for the right to go to the Sweet Sixteen. The Commodores easily took care of George Washington in the first round with a 77-44 victory.

Note: Iolani alumnus and Honolulu Advertiser Sports Writer, Wes Nakama ‘86, is in Sacramento to follow Derrick’s progress in the opening round of the tournament. Read his article here, “National spotlight shining on ‘D-Low’” »

In an intense game between the two top-ranked teams in the state, the Iolani Girls Basketball team came away with a decisive 49-33 win at home against the Kamehameha Warriors. The Raiders were able to attack an early zone by the Warriors with precise passing and good shooting to finish the first quarter with a 17-9 lead and then continued their offensive output throughout the second half as Kamehameha turned up the pressure in a man-to-man. On the defensive end, Iolani used a mixture of “man” and “zone” to keep the Warriors off-balanced throughout most of the game and were able to hold them to just 11 points in the second half.

Iolani was led by junior Jamie Smith and senior Alana Matayoshi who scored 17 and 14 points, respectively. Leading the way for Kamehameha were Analee Viena-Lota with 13 (on 3 three-pointers) and Lindsey Wong with 10 points.

The Raiders are 1-0 in the ILH and will play two more games this week against Mid-Pacific on Thursday and Maryknoll on Saturday before taking a week off during spring break.

A senior guard on the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Women’s Basketball team, Lana Young ‘03 was named to the 2007 All-SCIAC First Team for her part in leading the Athena to a second place finish in league play with a 10-4 record in conference and a 15-10 record overall.

Lana led the Athena in scoring at 11.8 points per game shooting 45.8% from the field and was also first on the team in total assists (57) and steals (31). She had a season high 28 points in a 2 point win at Whittier and closed out her career with a 20 point, 8 rebound performance in a win against Cal Lutheran.

Since picking up a win in his collegiate debut against the Hilo Vulcans, Wally Marciel ‘06 has made 4 more appearances for the Kansas Jayhawks and now sits at 2-1 with a 7.07 ERA. His inflated ERA came mainly as the result of a poor performance against Oral Roberts where he gave up 6 runs on 6 hits in an inning and a third. Wally’s second win of the season came against Tabor where he pitched 4 2/3 innings giving up 1 run on 1 hit with 4 strikeouts.

Through 22 games for the Central Arizona (JC) Baseball team , CJ Johnson ‘06 is batting .343 with 5 doubles, 1 home run and 9 RBI. Central Arizona is currently 19-6 overall and 11-3 in-conference.

Galen Komo ‘04 has started in 17 (of 25) games for the Azusa Pacific Cougars who are currently 21-4 overall and 13-3 in conference. Galen is playing 2B and batting .323 with 4 doubles and 8 RBI.

Junior pitcher, Eric Muraoka ‘04 has made 4 appearances for Lewis and Clark College and is currently 2-0 with a 3.29 ERA. The Pioneers are third in their conference at 6-2 and sport a 7-6 record overall.

Other Alumni: Travis Nishioka ‘06 has only made one plate appearance for the Washington Huskies and is 0-1; Jarvis Nohara ‘06 has recorded 1 strikeout in 3 appearances for the University of Puget Sound giving up 3 runs on 2 hits with 2 walks