Jones tests his team's off-season conditioning

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

One clap turned into a dozen and soon it sounded like a "Lord of the Dance" performance as University of Hawai'i football teammates applauded Shayne Kajioka's sprint to the finish line.

"I'm proud of him," Jones said of the 307-pound Kajioka. "He sucked it up, and did it."

After accepting praise, Kajioka hobbled toward a water cooler. Instead of dispensing water, he sat in a heap on the cooler.

"I can't breathe right now," Kajioka said. "I'm real fatigued. It takes a lot out of you."

The test, in which players must run 220 yards 10 times, is a measurement of offseason training.

"It shows you busted your rear end for the last three or four months," Jones said. "Basically, the guys who busted their rear ends all summer made it."

Linemen must complete each 220-yard run in 40 seconds or less. Linebackers, quarterbacks and kickers are allotted 38 seconds; defensive backs, receivers and running backs get 35 seconds.

Fail the test, and the make-up exam will be offered daily until a player passes or Jones decides enough is enough.

Safety Leonard Peters decided to compete in bare feet. "It's like elementary-school days," said Peters, who grew up in Kahuku.

Wideout Justin Colbert ran without a shirt and placed a breathing strip on his nose. Peters and Colbert were among the 70 players who failed the test.

"I'm not an endurance runner, anyway," Colbert said. "I'm a speed runner. When it comes to endurance, that's how it's always been. I don't have the wind to compete in long races. I'm not disappointed in the results. I'm going to keep running them until Coach Jones tells us to stop."

A surprise finisher was assistant coach Tyson Helton. "I try to hang with the guys, that's all," he said.

Also successfully completing the test were linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa, safety Sean Butts and quarterbacks Tim Chang, Shawn Withy-Allen, Jeff Rhode and Ryan Stickler.

"I didn't make it two years ago because I didn't train hard enough," Butts said.

Butts managed to balance summer school with conditioning drills. He will receive his bachelor's degree in marketing Sunday. He has been accepted into the UH School of Travel Industry Management's graduate program.

Butts was one of the few players sprinting during the later runs. "I wanted to finish strong," he said. "It's like the fourth quarter. I wanted to give it all I've got."

Kajioka, too, was huffing and puffing until he blew away doubts about his offseason training. Kajioka, a St. Louis School graduate who weighed 390 pounds as a UH freshman in 1999, now weighs 307.

"He dropped a whole human being," Jones said.

DeLaura said Kajioka, who will start at left guard, reduced meal portions and focused on agility drills during the summer.

"We had this test last year and the year before, and there was no way he even came close," deLaura said. "He's just unbelievable. He kept going and going."

Kajioka said: "This takes a lot out of you. In the past, I never came close to making these. I don't think I could run 220 (yards) once. But I worked hard, and it paid off. ... I remember when I was running, after a while, I couldn't really hear anything. All I could think was, 'keep going, keep going.' I just wanted to make it. Fortunately, I did."