High schools
Chong, Jobe capture ILH tennis crowns
Advertiser Staff
The No. 1 18-year-old tennis players in Hawai'i are also No. 1 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu after winning singles tournament championships yesterday.
Iolani's Tracie Chong, a left-hander with a mean slice on her serve, handled teammate Marianna Lee, 6-3, 6-1, in the girls final at Punahou. Punahou's Ikaika Jobe beat teammate Robbie Lim, 6-4, 6-1, in the boys final at Kamehameha.
Neither Chong nor Jobe has lost a match this season and both are expected to be No. 1 seeds at the state tennis championships, which yesterday were saved from the post-teachers' strike trash heap and rescheduled for May 19 and 21.
"That's good they are going to have it," Chong said. "This is my last year and I was hoping they would. I want to end my high school career with a championship." Last year Chong lost to four-time champion Erin Hoe of Mililani in the state final.
Chong is headed to UNLV and Jobe to St. Louis, both on full scholarships.
Punahou took the first three places in boys doubles yesterday while the defending state-champion sisters team of Janalle and Kim Kaloi of Kamehameha won the girls title.
Bucky Jencks, last year's state singles champion, and Chris Iwamura beat Chris Farm and Shawn Arita, 7-6 (2), 6-1, in the boys final. Sean Jobe, sophomore brother of the singles champion, and Ryan Laws were third.
The Kalois prevailed over Noelle Lee and Miclynn Crail of Iolani in the day's only three-set final, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. Jennifer and Allison Ishii of Iolani took third.
Tomo Noji of Iolani was third in girls singles.
Punahou's boys and Iolani's girls previously won the team championships. They are both defending state champions as well.
Chong said that Lee played well, "but I had a good day volleying and I was aggressive." The slice on her serve is an advantage, Chong said.
She has not lost a match in Hawai'i since last year's state final, but she did lose twice in Mainland tournaments last summer.
Chong committed to UNLV in the early signing period last November. She plans to major in computer engineering.
Jobe won the state singles championship as a sophomore in 1999 but last year he was among several athletes suspended at mid-season for his involvement in a graffiti paint spraying incident at rival Iolani. "It's nice to be back," he said.
Jobe said he picked St. Louis over University of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Clara and UC-Irvine because of its school of aviation. He wants to be a pilot. He got familiar with the city when he won a clay-court doubles tournament there last year.
Jobe spent the fall semester at the Van Der Meer Tennis Academy at Hilton Head, S.C., where he said he got to practice and learn from "a lot of pros." He returned to Punahou to graduate and play for the Buffanblu's unbeaten boys team.
He says his most memorable accomplishments in tennis are finishing fifth in 16 singles at the Copper Bowl and Fiesta Bowl tournaments on successive weeks in December 1999.
He reached the finals in singles and won doubles with Brad Lum-Tucker of Kaua'i at the Interscholastic West National Open at Fresno last summer.
The men's coach at St. Louis is Derek Mills, who was born in Honolulu and was an assistant coach at Brigham Young-Hawai'i in 1997-98. "It is personally rewarding to bring my home state's best player to my new home in St. Louis," Mills said.
BASEBALL
• MID-PACIFIC 12, DAMIEN 2: Matt Inouye hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the second inning and the top-seeded Owls added six runs in the fifth inning in the opener of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu's double-elimination tournament.
Ryan Basco had two hits and four RBIs for Mid-Pacific.
Damien (0-1, 2-13) 200 000— 2 6 0
Mid-Pacific (1-0, 12-3) 320 061—12 12 2
Matthew Higa, Chase Masuda (4), Justin Cole (5), Daniel Shimizu (5) and Cheyne Kawamoto, Justin Shiroma. Justin Pate, Dane Marcouiller (5) and Matt Inouye. WP—Pate. LP—Higa.
Leading Hitters: Damien—David Doles 2-3, double. Mid-Pacific—Matt Inouye homer, 3 RBIs; Kevin Khan 2-4; Isaac Omura 2-4; Ryan Basco 2-2, double, 4 RBIs; Kyle Yanabu double.
• IOLANI 23, MARYKNOLL 8: Blaine Umeda had four hits, including two home runs, and seven RBIs to power the second-seeded Raiders.
Travis Mitsuda also had four of Iolani's 26 hits.
Iolani (1-0, 11-4) 038 312 6—23 26 3
MAryknoll (0-1, 3-12) 310 220 0— 8 9 3
Rich Olsen, Ivan Ing (1), Olsen (2), Blaine Umeda (5), Chris Loo (7) and Travis Mitsuda. Brendan Higa, Kody Seminara (4), Reid Nakamura (7) and Brandon Koshima. WP—Olsen. LP—Higa.
Leading hitters: Iolani— Aaron Ing 2-4, 2 runs, 2 RBIs; Brad Takamori 2-4, double; Kila Ka'aihue 3-5, homer, 2 runs, 4 RBIs; Mitsuda 4-6, 2 runs; Umeda 4-6, double, 2 homers, 4 runs, 7 RBIs; Travis McGaughy 2-4, triple, homer, 3 runs, 2 RBIs; Travis Watanabe 3-3, 4 runs; Ikaika Goo 2-4, 2 runs. Maryknoll—Brad Goshima 2-5, 2 runs; Sean Ortiz 2-4, double.
• ST. LOUIS 4, PAC-FIVE 3: Grandon Costa singled with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the seventh to score the winning run for the third-seeded Crusaders.
Pac-Five (0-1, 4-11) 000 110 1—3 7 3
St. Louis (1-0, 11-4) 100 011 1—4 8 2
Jon Kato and Corey Shinagawa. Guy McDowell and Nick Tudisco. WP—McDowell. LP—Kato.
Leading hitters: Pac-Five— Laine Matsuda 2-3. St. Louis—Tudisco 2-4, 2 runs.
• KAMEHAMEHA 6, PUNAHOU 5: Jherell Miller's RBI double capped a two-run sixth inning, helping the fourth-seeded Warriors rally from a 5-2 deficit.
Punahou (0-1, 8-7) 200 210 0—5 7 1
Kamehameha (1-0, 9-6) 002 022 X—6 8 2
Reid Matsushima and Randall Mizuno. Hubert Pruett and Danny Nitahara. WP—Pruett. LP—Matsushima.
Leading hitters: Punahou— Matsushima double; Kevin Sahara 2 runs; Tolby Hanzawa double, 2 RBIs; Justin Ariki 2-4. Kamehameha—Jherell Miller 2-3 double; Zach McAngus 2-3, Keoni Roth 2-2, double, 3 runs.
WATER POLO
• Pac-Five prevails: Corina Chun scored two goals as Pac-Five defeated Kamehameha, 7-6, in two overtimes of an Interscholastic League of Honolulu game.
Keala Hiranaka and Keala Yanagihara scored three goals apiece for Kamehameha.
In another game, Daya Mau scored four goals as Punahou trounced Iolani, 13-7. Breanne Castillo-Huang scored five goals for Iolani.
