Iolani Alumni

The Stanford Men’s Volleyball team concluded its fall season with two wins and two losses at the UC Irvine Fall Invitational this past weekend. The Invitational marked the end of an eight game stretch that began in mid-October with the Husky Oil Can-Am Challenge where the Cardinal went 3-1.

Freshman Brad Lawson ‘08, the 2008 Hawaii State Player-of-the-Year, had a strong fall recording highs of 12 kills in a five-game win over UC Irvine and 13 kills in a four-game win over Alberta.

Junior setter Kawika Shoji ‘06, an AVCA 2nd Team All-American last season, was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Can-Am Challenge.

Stanford will open their season on January 9th, 2009 at the UCSB/Elephant Bar Challenge in Santa Barbara.

Note: There are six players from Hawaii on the Stanford roster: Kawika Shoji (Iolani), Brad Lawson (Iolani), Spencer McLachlin (Punahou), Max Halvorson (Punahou), Erik Shoji (Punahou), Jordan Inafuku (Kamehameha)

Willamette freshman Taylor Mounts ‘08 scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed 9 rebounds in a 106-74 rout of the Alumni on Saturday evening at the Cone Field House.

The 6-6 forward connected on 9 of 16 shots (including 1-4 from three) and was a perfect 3-3 from the line. He also added one block, one assist and one steal in his 23 minutes of play.

Mounts and the Bearcats will open their season on Friday, November 21st at the Duane Wolfe Golden Rule Shootout in Caldwell, Idaho against the College of Idaho.

Willamette University is located in Salem, Oregon and is a member of the Northwest Conference (NCAA Division III).

[Photo: Midweek]

In her first official game as a member of the UNLV Women’s Basketball team, freshman Jamie Smith ‘08 poured in 14 points and grabbed 9 rebounds for the Lady Rebels in a 92-71 win over Sacramento State. The 6-0 guard/forward shot 5-9 from the field, including 3-5 from three-point range, while also contributing one assist, two blocks and three steals.

On November 8th, Smith scored 6 points and recorded 9 rebounds in a 62-55 exhibition win over Cal State San Bernadino.

UNLV (1-0), picked to finish 7th (of 9 teams) in the MWC pre-season poll, will play their next game tomorrow afternoon at home against Southern Utah.

University of Utah junior point guard Hennasea Tokumura ‘06 suffered a knee injury and will likely miss the rest of this season. The Utes are the preseason favorite to win the Mountain West.

Homecoming isn’t what it used to be… It’s better! The long hours spent crumpling up tissue and creating a wire-framed float are gone and have since been replaced with days of practice and preparation for the most energetic, pride-filled event on campus - CHEERFEST!

Watch and listen as the Senior Class of 2009 performs their cheer:

Want more?… (Click the link below)

Continue Reading »

With wins over UC Davis and Pacific at home last weekend, the Long Beach State Women’s Volleyball team improved to 18-4 on the season and are in sole possession of 2nd in the Big West Standings at 7-2.

Freshman Lauren Minkel ‘08 has appeared in every match for the 49ers recording 125 total digs and 4 kills from her position as a defensive specialist. In a three-game sweep of Pacific on Saturday, she finished second on the team in digs with 4 and recorded 1 kill in 1 attempt (1.000).

With a 4-0 win over Oral Roberts on Sunday, the Tulsa Men’s Soccer team has now won eight straight and improved their overall record to 10-3-1.

Blaine Gonsalves ‘08, a freshman forward/midfielder, has started in all but one game for the 8th-ranked Hurricane who are 5-0 in-conference with wins over UCF, Marshall, Kentucky, UAB and then-No.6 SMU. On the season, he has three total points including an assist in a 1-1 tie against former No.2-ranked Connecticut and a goal against Georgia Southern.

Freshman Leinani Keanini ‘08 and the USF Dons are off to their best league start in program history after winning back-to-back games this weekend - against St. Mary’s on Friday and No.18 Santa Clara on Saturday.

In a five-set win over the Gaels, Keanini made three appearances for the Dons recording one dig. Opposite the net, former teammates Kapua Kamana’o ‘07 and Megan Burton ‘06 led the way for St. Mary’s. Kamana’o, a sophomore setter, recorded 60 assists to go along with 11 digs while Burton, a junior middle blocker, totaled 13 kills (.343) and 10 blocks.

On the season, San Fransisco is 15-4 and undefeated in West Coast Conference play at 5-0 after winning their last eight consecutive matches.

Mike Hirokawa ‘06 (shown), a junior wide receiver/running back for the CMS (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps) Stags, scored three touchdowns in a 41-17 win over visiting Lewis & Clark College. Hirokawa caught three passes for 66 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 23 yards on three carries with one touchdown.

Also on the Stag roster are recent graduates Landon Patoc ‘06, Ronnie Hirokawa ‘08 and Justin Yamamoto ‘08.

Utah running back Raynold Stowers ‘04 made the most of his first opportunity to carry the ball this season, rushing for 17 yards on 5 carries and scoring a 2-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter in a 58-10 win over Utah State.

Utah is currently 3-0 and ranked No. 20 in the latest AP and USA Today polls. Next up for the Utes is Mountain West Conference opponent Air Force who is also undefeated at 3-0.

[Photo: CMSAthletics.com]

With more than 30 Iolani athletes headed to college to participate in athletics, there are just a handful who have signed to play at the Division I level on athletic scholarships. They are as follows:

• Blaine Gonsalves (Soccer) - University of Tulsa
• Leinani Keanini (Volleyball) - University of San Francisco
• Bradley Lawson (Volleyball) - Stanford University
• Kelsey Outram (Baseball) - Southern Utah University
• Leah Schrententhaler (Swimming) - University of South Dakota
• Jamie Smith (Basketball) - University of Nevada Las Vegas

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.

Kyle Ahlo ‘08, a Second Team All-State and First Team All-ILH selection last season, and her high school teammate, Kaz Masutani ‘07, a three-time First Team All-ILH selection and First Team All-State selection in 2007, well be headed to Loyola Marymount University in the fall to join the women’s softball team.

Ahlo was a two-sport athlete at Iolani, competing in basketball and softball. She was the 2008 recipient of the “I” Club Award. Masutani, the 2007 Father Bray Award winner, spent a year at Oregon State following graduation, but did not play, giving her four years of eligibility at LMU.

[Photos: Al Linsky @ Iolani-Events.org]

It may be the middle of the summer, but remembering Iolani’s dramatic upset victory over Punahou to capture the 2008 Hawaii Boys Volleyball State Tournament still brings a smile to my face… (Thanks, Wes)

A panel of coaches and media members from the Honolulu Advertiser honored Iolani outside hitter Brad Lawson ‘08 and head coach Mike Among as the 2008 Hawaii State Player and Coach of the Year.

Playing through injuries to his knee and wrist, Lawson emerged as an unstoppable force this season, carrying the Raiders to a 16-4 record and leading them to an improbable win in the state finals over the undefeated Buffanblu. He is currently featured on the cover of the July issue of Volleyball Magazine as the top player in the nation and will be heading to Stanford next fall to join former teammate Kawika Shoji ‘06.

In his third season as the head coach of the Raiders, Mike Among made his second appearance in the state finals in 2008, capturing his first state championship. With the win, Iolani snapped Punahou’s four-year streak of 74 consecutive regular and postseason victories.

View the entire 2008 Honolulu Advertiser All-State Volleyball Team »

[Photo: Honolulu Advertiser]

Seventeen seniors in the Class of 2008 have been honored as Valedictorians for the exemplary academic record over the course of the last four years. Together their cumulative GPA was 4.30.

The 2008 Iolani Valedictorians:
• Signe Chambers (Washington University - St. Louis)
• Alanna Cooney (Washington University - St. Louis)
• Aaron Fong (Pomona)
• Jonathon Fung (UH - Regents Scholar)
• Ryan Gomoto (USC)
• Allison Hasegawa (Colorado College)
• Kimberlee Hashiba (Northwestern)
• Pamela Ho (USC)
• Kate Ikehara (USC)
• David Jaress (University of Chicago)
• Scott Kaneshiro (Harvard)
• Leslie Kim (Harvard)
• Clay Ozaki-Train (Arizona State)
• Christine Tamaru (Whitman College)
• Kyla Teramoto (Santa Clara)
• Marisa Wang (UPenn)
• Zhuangjun Wang (USC)

Why so many? To select their valedictorians, Iolani determines the lowest possible GPA of the students who only received As throughout their high school career (regardless of Honors or AP classes) and sets that as a baseline. All students with cumulative GPAs above the baseline are considered valedictorians.

(In theory, the baseline GPA could be set at 4.0 if a given student took no Honors or AP courses but earned all-As. In that case, all students with GPAs above 4.0, even those who didn’t get all As, but took Honors and AP courses, would be considered valedictorians.)