Revised high school schedules released

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

After sometimes exhaustive tinkering and shuffling, Hawai'i's public high school leagues have released their revised season schedules aimed at maximizing participation and determining champions and representatives for the fast-approaching state tournaments.

The 20-day Hawai'i State Teachers Association strike which ended on Tuesday not only cost students 14 days of instructional time, it also forced the postponement or cancellation of hundreds of sporting events on the varsity and junior varsity levels. Since each team needed about a week of preparation time before returning to competition, most events will not resume until Tuesday. The Maui Interscholastic League will resume play with three tournament games today.

With all of the state tournaments less than three weeks away, the leagues were forced to radically alter their schedules. The 22-team O'ahu Interscholastic Association wanted to preserve all regular-season games for baseball and girls basketball, making the task even more challenging.

Here are some of the major highlights in the revised league schedules for the MIL, OIA and Big Island Interscholastic Federation:

OIA

Baseball — The regular season will be completed in its entirety, with the schedule including a full slate of games on four dates next week and finishing with Monday-Tuesday full-slate dates the following week. The OIA tournament field will be reduced from 12 teams to eight, with quarterfinals set for May 11, the semifinals on May 12 and the championship on May 14 at Hans L'Orange Park.

Girls basketball — The regular season will be completed in its entirety, with most teams playing three games per week over the next two weeks. The OIA tournament field will be reduced from 12 teams to eight, with quarterfinals set for May 12, semifinals for May 15 and the championship on May 16.

Track and field — Winners for relay events were determined in "timed finals" before the strike began. The West Division championships will be held on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday at Mililani, and the East Division championships will be held in "timed finals" on May 5 at Kaiser. The OIA championships will be held on May 10 and May 12 at Mililani.

Golf — Leilehua's boys and Moanalua's girls, who were the leaders after the team semifinals, were declared team champions. The OIA individual championship tournament will be held over 18 holes on May 5, with the boys at Makaha West and the girls at Kalakaua.

BIIF

Baseball — The regular season will be completed in its entirety, but the league tournament has been canceled. The two state tournament berths will be determined based on the final regular-season standings.

Girls basketball — Because travel between the 12 member schools could result in missed class time, the league has been split into six-team North and South divisions. Teams will complete their regular seasons by playing a round robin against the other teams in their division. The top two teams in each division will then advance to the league tournament.

MIL

Baseball — The league will stick to its contingency plan, which was announced during the strike, of canceling the regular season and instead holding a double-elimination tournament involving all of the teams.

Girls basketball — The regular season has been canceled and the champion will be determined with a single-elimination tournament involving all the teams. Baldwin, which had previously clinched one of two state tournament berths by winning the league's first-round title, now must win the league tournament in order to secure the MIL's sole state berth. The state tournament field was reduced from 12 teams to eight, costing the MIL its second berth.