Iolani Alumni

As the only (male) martial artist to represent Hawaii at the 2008 Olympic Games, U.S. Judo Team member Taylor Takata ‘00 was featured on the cover of the September 2008 issue of MMA Hawaii magazine.

Takata, who earned a gold medal at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials at 66-kg, has his sights set on returning to the Olympics in 2012 and improving on his 9th place finish in Beijing.

He is currently training at the Olympic Center in Colorado Springs while also finishing his degree in finance.

Last weekend, Takata finished tied for 5th at the U.S Open Judo Championships.

Team Shimamoto captured the 2008 Iolani Alumni League “A” Division Championship with a final record of 4-2, one game ahead of second place finishers Team Tanaka (’94/’95) and Team Hirata (’03/’04).

Team Shimamoto: Corey Yamashita ‘93, Dean Shimamoto ‘94, Adam Wong ‘94, Cord Anderson ‘99, Joe Udell ‘02, Bricen McCartney ‘08, Berton Wong ‘08, Taylor Mounts ‘08 (Not Pictured: Dean Shin ‘93, Travis Grobe ‘00)

Final Four Schedule: Friday, July 25
• 7:00pm - Downie ‘97 vs. Shimizu ‘06
• 7:50pm - Chun ‘80 vs. Pacheco ‘98

Third place and championship games will be played on Saturday, July 26 at 5:00 and 5:50 pm.

Event Date: Sunday, July 20th, 2008

Taylor Takata ‘00, the first judoka from Hawaii to qualify for the Olympics in 12 years, will be hosting a fundraiser dinner this Sunday before he heads off to Beijing to represent the United States of America in early August.

The Hawaiian-style dinner will be held at the Iolani Student Center on July 20 from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. to help raise funds for training and other associated expenses.

Athletes, such as Takata, must pay the majority of the costs themselves to compete in the Olympics. The dinner is $40 per adults and $20 per students (18 and under) with children 6 and under free.

Donations can also be made to Friends of Taylor Takata at American Savings Bank.

If you are interested in attending, e-mail Nick Lee at nicholasklee@gmail.com or call 348-3267. Tickets are also available at Iolani School in the Office of Institutional Advancement or the Athletic Office.

Read more about Takata and his recent clinic »

[Photo: Honolulu Advertiser]

Event Date: Sunday, July 13th, 2008

Taylor Takata ‘00, who recently qualified for the U.S. Olympic judo team, will hold a judo clinic on Sunday, July 13th in the ‘Iolani School athletic complex.

The first session will be held 9 a.m. to noon for children ages 12 and under. The second will be 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and is for ages 13 and older.

Cost is $35 per session for participants, $10 per session for spectators.

The seminar will focus on the latest judo techniques at the Olympic level from a world-class coaching staff, featuring Takata, two-time World Judo bronze medalist Danieska Carrion, two-time U.S. World Judo Team member Todd Brehe, and U.S. National Judo Team member Jeff Sato.

Funds raised from the clinic will help cover the traveling costs and training expenses for Takata as he prepares for the Olympic Games in Beijing. Donations can also be made to Friends of Taylor Takata at American Savings Bank.

To register for the clinic, e-mail nicholasklee@gmail.com or call 348-3267.

With a dominating performance at the U.S. Olympic Judo Trials, Taylor Takata ‘00 punched his ticket to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Takata will represent Team USA in the 66kg division (145.5 lb) after defeating No.2-seed Jeremy Liggett in the finals last Friday.

To reach the finals, the top-seeded Takata pinned eighth-seed Tanner Singh in the quarterfinal rounds then held off No. 4-seed Justin Flores in the semifinals.

Takata is just the third judoka from Hawai’i to represent the U.S. in the Olympics and the first since Clifton Sunada in 1996.

[Photo: US Judo]

Taylor Takata ‘00, the top-ranked fighter at 66kg (~145 lbs), will compete for a spot on Team USA at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. The US Olympic Trials are set to begin on June 13th in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In order to participate in the Olympic Games, countries must first qualify their weight division by having an athlete place in the top 6 overall based on the results from major tournaments over the course of three years. With a 5th place finish at the 2008 Pan-American Championships, Takata helped the U.S. qualify the 66kg weight class and will now need to finish first at the US Olympic Trials to earn his spot on Team USA.

[Photo: USA Judo]

Training out of the USA Judo National Training Site in Harlingen, Texas, Taylor Takata ‘00 earned gold medals in his final two competitions leading up to the 2007 Pan American Games in mid-July.

In El Salvador on June 11, Takata picked up his first gold at the II Copa Yaniro Ramos Vigil, his first competition since finishing second at the 2007 Senior Nationals in April.

He followed that up with a second gold medal last week at the FEDOJUDO International Cup in Santo Domingo where he faced his 2006 Senior National opponent Nate Torra in the 66kg final. With a penalty each at the end of five minutes, the match went into overtime where Takata threw Torra for the win.

[Photo: USA Judo]

It was a season of “firsts” for the Iolani Girls Water Polo team this year as they picked up their first ILH championship, made their first state tournament appearance and won their first ever state championship defeating the Kahuku Red Raiders 11-4 in the finals of the 2007 Hawaii Girls Water Polo State Tournament. The win also marked the first state title for Iolani School in 2006-07. Not since 1985 has Iolani been shutout of winning at least one state championship during an entire school year.

The Raiders finished their season at 10-1 and will graduate seven seniors from their “short-handed” roster with two sophomores returning next season to defend their title.

Iolani is coached by by third-year head Linda Look and assistants Neil Kuioka ‘00 and Ian Kusao ‘02.

[Photo: Honolulu Advertiser]

UPDATE: Iolani defeated Punahou 9-8 in sudden-death overtime… Read More »

As the ILH Champions, the Raiders will be the #1 seed in the 2007 Hawaii Girls Water Polo State Tournament which begins this Thursday at CORP.

See the complete schedule »

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The Iolani Girls Water Polo team will face the Punahou Buffanblu in the title game of the ILH postseason tournament on Monday, May 7th at 6:00pm at Iolani. Winning the tournament title would secure the ILH championship for the Raiders who won the regular season with a record of 5-1. Their only blemish came in a loss to the Buffanblu after they had already clinched the regular season.

Should they fall tomorrow, Iolani will have a second opportunity to win the championship the following day (against Punahou). In the ILH, the regular season champion and the tournament champion playoff for the overall title if they are not the same team (somewhat like baseball).

The Iolani Girls Water Polo team consists of just nine players, quite a small roster for the physically demanding seven-on-seven sport, but has managed to hold their own this season, making it through their first 5 games undefeated and taking down both Punahou and Kamehameha in the process. Read more about the “Short-Handed” Raider squad »

The Raiders are led by third-year head coach Linda Look and assistants Neil Kuioka ‘00 and Ian Kusao ‘02.

[Photo: Honolulu Advertiser]

For their performance on the field, 2 boys and 3 girls were named ILH First Team All-Stars for the 2006-2007 soccer season. They are as follows:

Boys:
Brook Granger - Forward
Vince Cachero - Defense

Girls:
Jesi Sasaki - Forward
Nicole Ha - Midfield
Caroline Tamayose - Defense

Several other Iolani players were named to the second team including Kevin Fung and Andrew Inaba on the boys’ side and Sammi Terame and Randi Furutani for the girls’.

See the full list of 2006-2007 ILH Soccer All-Stars »

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In the OIA, Kalani Falcons’ Head Coach Ryan Shinkawa, a 2000 Iolani Graduate, was named 2006-2007 Co-Coach of the Year for leading his girl’s varsity team to the OIA Eastern Division title.

After running through the OIA Tournament as the #6-seed (but losing in the final) and making their first ever state tournament appearance in 2006, the Kalani Falcons Girls Soccer team had high expectations for this season and with a 9-2-1 record, it appears that they’re living up to every one of them.

The Kalani Falcons, led by Head Coach Ryan Shinkawa ‘00 (shown with team - Honolulu Advertiser), enter the 2007 OIA Tournament as the OIA East Champions and hope to make it to the finals again this year and avenge their loss to the Mililani Trojans, the 2007 OIA West Champions and only undefeated OIA team at 9-0-3.

Read more about the Kalani Girls Soccer team (Honolulu Advertiser) »