Iolani Alumni

The Iolani Boys Cross Country team claimed the 2008 ILH Championship this past weekend by placing five athletes in the top 10, led by freshman Troy Esaki (second, 17:31) and senior captain Tyler Mulloy (third, 17:38, shown).

Up next for the team will be the Honolulu Marathon Cross Country State Championships which will be held at the Hawaii Preparatory Academy on the Big Island next week.

The Iolani Intermediate Football team captured the 2008 ILH Championship on Saturday afternoon with a 23-6 win over Word of Life at Kozuki Stadium on the Iolani campus.

Iolani finished their season at 6-1 with their only loss coming against Kamehameha (14-13) in the opening game of the season. The Raiders are led by head coach Ivan Suzuki ‘89 and alumni assistants Kevin Manuel ‘95, Greg Young ‘91, Gary Young ‘91, Dean Young ‘89, Eric Perkins ‘96, Blaine Kiyuna ‘93, Nolan Nakamura ‘92, Clint Onigama ‘96, Reinaldo Pacheco ‘98, Kawika Nakoa ‘02, Keone Nakoa ‘04 and Chuckie Nakoa ‘70.

[Photo: Honolulu Advertiser]

Kila Ka’aihue ‘02 hit his first major league home run on Saturday evening in the bottom of the 7th inning against the Chicago White Sox (who are attempting to clinch a playoff spot). Watch the video »

In the majors, Ka’aihue has appeared in 10 games for the Royals and is batting .278 (5-18). Kansas City is out of the playoff hunt and has five games remaining this season.

Derrick Low ‘04, a 6-1 guard for the Sydney Spirit, scored 13 points in a 112-102 loss to the Melbourne Tigers to open the 2008-09 NBL season. The Tigers are considered to be among the top teams in the league and expected to contend for a title.

Stat Line: 6-20 (30%) from the field, 0-5 from three, 1-4 from the freethrow line, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 turnovers

The Spirit play their next game on Saturday, September 20th against the Wollongong Hawks.

Read an article about Low from the Sydney Morning Herald »

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In his third appearance as a pinch hitter for the Kansas City Royals, Kila Ka’aihue ‘02 recorded his 3rd hit of the season and raised his major league batting average to .429 (3-7).

Since receiving the call, Ka’aihue has seen limited time on the field and at the plate, sharing at-bats with the team’s three other first baseman. Thus far, he has started just one game (going 1-4) and has appeared in three games as a pinch hitter, striking out once and batting 1-1 in each of his other two opportunities.

Watch video of Ka’aihue’s first major league hit »

Junior QB Jarrett Arakawa completed 19 of 29 passes for 302 yards and three touchdowns to help the Iolani Football team defeat Damien 27-21 in their first ILH regular season matchup. The Raiders built a 21-0 lead at half and hung on in the final minutes as the Monarchs cut the lead to six points late in the fourth.

Senior running back Kellen Imada carried the ball 22 times for 97 yards and Brandon Ball led all receivers with five catches for 118 yards and one touchdown.

Video: Brandon Ball 77-yard touchdown reception »
Video: Carl Gibson interception for touchdown »

More Football: The Intermediate Football team fell to Kamehameha 14-13 on a late touchdown by the Warriors with under a minute to play in the fourth quarter.

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The #2 ranked Iolani Girls Volleyball team (5-0) hung on for a 16-25, 25-10, 27-25 victory over Word of Life in their toughest ILH matchup thus far in the 2008 season. Junior Mahina Haina and senior Chelsea Hardin led the way for the Raiders with 14 and 10 kills respectively while I’isha Keliikoa and Alissa Youart contributed six kills apiece.

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Iolani freshman Lorens Chan captured the Barbers Point Invitational with a final round 73 to defeat runner up Matthew Ma ‘02 by one stroke.

[Photo: Honolulu Advertiser]

Not long after hitting the game-winning home run in extra innings for the Omaha Royals (AAA) on Sunday afternoon, Kila Ka’aihue ‘02 got “the call” to join the Royals major league club on Tuesday after the completion of the AAA season.

As icing on the cake, Ka’aihue knocked in his 100th RBI of the season today after going 2-4 and raising his batting average in AAA to .316. On the season (including AA), he batted a combined .314 with 37 home runs and 104 walks (to just 67 strikeouts). He had an OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) over 1.0 and was named the AA Texas League Player-of-the-Year.

Ka’aihue is the first player from Iolani to be on a major league roster since former pitcher Mike Fetters ‘83, who retired in 2005 after 16 years in the league.

[Photo: Shawn E. Davis/MLB.com]

Two games in… two home runs. Kila Ka’aihue ‘02, who was promoted just three days ago to AAA Omaha, is continuing right where he left off.

The former Northwest Arkansas slugger went deep in back-to-back games for the Royals, batting 4-9 with 5 RBI.

While with in AA, Ka’aihue led the league in home runs, slugging percentage, on-base percentage and walks. His current home run total between the two leagues is 28.

[Photo: BlueRocks.com]

Northwest Arkansas first baseman Kila Ka’aihue ‘02, one of the top hitters in the AA Texas League, was promoted yesterday to the Omaha Royals of the Pacific Coast League, the AAA-affiliate of the Kansas City Royals.

At the time of promotion, Ka’aihue was batting a season-high .314 and leading the league in home runs (26), on-base percentage (.463), slugging percentage (.624) and walks (80). He was among the most popular players on the Northwest Arkansas roster and was named to the starting roster in the Texas League Mid-Season All-Star Game earlier this year.

[Photo: Northwest Arkansas]

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.

Joe Udell ‘02, online editor and staff writer at the Hawaii Herald, won first place for Feature Writing in the non-daily newspapers category at the 2007 Society of Professional Journalists Awards Banquet for his story, “The Magical Reno Weekend.”

The article was published in the Herald’s Dec. 7, 2007 edition. It recapped Joe’s reunion with three longtime friends in Reno, Nev. for the University of Hawai‘i Warriors-Nevada Wolf Pack football game last November as the Warriors tried to hold on to their undefeated season.

Read the award-winning article »

Side Note: Former Iolani and UH standout Bobby Nash ‘03 is featured on the cover of the current issue of the Hawaii Herald. Pick up a copy at Borders Books and Music in Kaneohe, Waikele Center and Victoria Ward Center; Best Sellers in downtown Honolulu; Shirokiya; the Kahala, Kaimuki, McCully, Waimalu and Waipahu Times Super Markets.

More for you to read from the people that you went to school with… Some professional, some not, yet all entertaining in their own way. Enjoy!

Iolani Alumni - Blogs:
• Prep Talk - Wes Nakama ‘86
• Quarterlife Cafe - Kim Fassler ‘02
• Pulpconnection - Greg Yamane ‘90
• Katsuyoshi.org - Clayton Katsuyoshi ‘92
• Life in Vietnam - Greg Nakajo ‘94
• The Diary of an Enginerd - Ryan Kanno ‘96
• RemyOmar - Remy Hiramoto ‘88
• Straying From the Norm - Michael Ni ‘01

Additions:
• How to Change the World - Guy Kawasaki ‘72
• So Necessary… - Jason Genegabus ‘95
• Bytemarks - Burt Lum ‘73
• Olympic Dream - Taylor Takata ‘00
• The Notebook - Peter Boylan ‘97

If you know of any others, please post them in the comments and I’ll add them to the list. Mahalo!

Add an Iolani Alumni Blog »

Kila Ka’aihue ‘02 continued his hot hitting yesterday with a 4-5 performance against the Corpus Christi Hooks with two home runs and six RBI. The 6-3 first baseman hit a two-run homer in the first and returned with a grand slam in the fifth - his league-leading 22nd home run of the season.

Through his last 9 games, Ka’aihue is batting .471 (16-for-34) with five home runs and 11 RBIs and has raised his season average to .305.

[Photo: Northwest Arkansas]

Coming off an appearance in the Texas League Mid-Season All-Star Game last weekend, Kila Ka’aihue ‘02 is one of the hottest hitters in Double-A, currently 2nd in the league in home runs (18), 1st in walks (57), 2nd in on-base percentage (.437) and 5th in slugging percentage (.560).

His production dropped slightly in June, but the Northwest Arkansas first baseman is still batting .282 on the season and has earned 57 walks against just 30 strikeouts. Northwest Arkansas is the AA-affiliate of the Kansas City Royals.

Kila’s younger brother, Kala Ka’aihue ‘03, got off to a slow start this season, batting just .184 in April, but has consistently improved over the last two months with a .242 average in May and .338 average in June. On the season, he is batting .248 with 10 home runs and 39 RBI and is coming off of two home run performance two days ago against Montgomery.

Kala is a first baseman for the Mississippi Braves, the AA-affiliate of the Atlanta Braves.

Michael “Ian” Mopas ‘06 recently started his second season with the GCL Twins of the Rookie Gulf Coast League and has made 4 appearances for the team, amassing a record of 1-1. He has an ERA of 2.57 in 7 total innings of work with 4 strikeouts and 2 walks.

Keoni De Renne ‘97 has appeared in a team-high 61 games for the York Revolution (Independent League) and currently leads the team in walks (31), is 2nd in home runs (6), 2nd in doubles (13), 3rd in runs scored (30) and 4th in RBI (23).

Northwest Arkansas first baseman Kila Ka’aihue ‘02 will be in the starting lineup for the North Division at the 2008 Texas League All-Star Game at Hammons Field in Springfield on June 25th.

Ka’aihue, a fan favorite for the AA Naturals, is currently second in the league in home runs (13), 5th in slugging percentage (.556) and 10th in RBIs (39). During the month of May, he batted .400 (22 for 55) with 4 HR, 15 RBI, an on-base percentage of .521 and slugging percentage of .655.

Northwest Arkansas is the Double-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals.

Kila Ka’aihue ‘02, a power-hitting first baseman for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (AA affiliate of the Royals), hit a 400-ft bomb over the centerfield fence to bring his league-leading home run total to 10 early in the 2008 season.

Ka’aihue is second in the league in RBI (29) and fifth in slugging percentage (.589) while batting .263 with an on-base percentage of .408. His hitting coach, Tommy Gregg, credits a more disciplined approach for his hot start, saying “He’s still aggressive, but he’s laying off the pitches that he was swinging at in the dirt last year and fastballs up. He’s staying in the strike zone more and swinging at pitches that are his strength.” On the season, Ka’aihue has just 13 strikeouts to his 23 walks.

[Photo: Northwest Arkansas]

Kala ‘03, Kila’s younger brother, hit his first home run of the season yesterday to go along with a double and 4 RBI in a 9-7 comeback win against the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx of the AA-Southern League. On the season, he is batting just .183 with 36 strikeouts for the Mississippi Braves.

Kila Ka’aihue ‘02, a first baseman with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (AA), is a on a tear to open the 2008 season. Coming fresh off of a 2 HR, 4 RBI performance yesterday evening, he has gone 6-14 (.429) in his last five games with 5 home runs and 13 RBI.

On the season, Ka’aihue has hit safely in 9 of 10 games and is batting .294 (10-34) with 16 total RBI.

The Naturals are in their inaugural season as the Double-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. They are currently 4-6 and in a tie for 1st in the Texas League - North Division.

[Photo: Northwest Arkansas]