Posted on: Thursday, August 7, 2003
Formats set for II state tourneys
| • | HHSAA Girls Classification |
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
The groundwork for Hawai'i's first Division II softball and girls basketball state tournaments was laid out yesterday, with officials representing each league agreeing on formats and classification of teams.
The traditional 12-team state tournaments for both sports will remain the same, though they now will be called Division I tournaments. Each sport now will also have a four-team Division II tournament, with one representative each from the O'ahu Interscholastic Association, Interscholastic League of Honolulu, Big Island Interscholastic Federation and Maui Interscholastic League.
The three Kaua'i Interscholastic Federation teams have declared themselves as Division I.
The new tournaments in softball and girls basketball will follow the inaugural Division II football tournament this fall. All three tournaments were approved at a Hawai'i High School Athletic Association executive board meeting in June.
"I'm glad we're testing the waters with this; I think it will be good for all kids in Hawai'i," said University High athletic director Jim Bukes. "It'll be healthy for all the kids involved, and I really think we're moving in the right direction."
The state's 51 softball programs were broken up into 29 Division I teams and 22 in Division II. In girls basketball, the 68 programs are split with 33 in Division I and 35 in Division II. Each league was responsible for deciding which of its teams would be in what division.
HHSAA executive director Keith Amemiya said "there were no disputes" when the leagues brought their division breakups to the table yesterday. The leagues will continue to play their normal regular season schedules, with the Division II state tournament representatives determined afterward.
Amemiya said the two rounds of the Division II state tournaments will be played on the same days and at the same venues as the Division I semifinals and finals, with the championships likely to be played immediately before the Division I title games.
For a basketball program like Hawai'i Baptist's, which has had moderate success in the past but never sniffed the state tournament, the Division II tournaments open up a whole new world.
"Everybody's excited," said HBA athletic director Deren Oshiro. "For schools like us with a smaller enrollment (about 400 boys and girls in grades 9-12), it gives us a better chance to play for a state championship. If they had this the past two years, we would have gone."
In softball, University went 10-6 in the ILH last season, including an upset of league runner-up Punahou. But Bukes said his school has only 100 girls in grades 9-12 and the softball team sometimes has only nine or 10 players.
"That concerns me," Bukes said. "We're always very competitive, but our numbers are very small. Our goal is still to win the ILH, but realistically, we're a Division II program."
Amemiya and his wife, Bonny, are contributing $20,000 of their own money this year to help defray travel costs for the softball and girls basketball tournaments.
Amemiya added that some public school teams may switch divisions before the season starts pending the effect of state budget cuts that may affect schedules.
