Division II classification added for girls sports
• Division II state football tourney approved
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
While it was the approval of a Division II state football tournament that drew attention to yesterday's Hawai'i High School Athletic Association executive board meeting, two other major changes to prep sports here also highlighted the nearly three-hour session.
The 2004 state softball and girls basketball tournaments each will have two divisions for the first time, and Pac-Five will be eligible to participate as a team in six state tournaments, another first.
The classification of girls basketball and softball was approved mainly to ensure gender-equity concerns regarding the addition of the Division II state football tournament.
But the result promises to lift the spirits of small schools like Hawai'i Baptist, which has had success in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu's Division II basketball league but had nearly an impossible road to qualify for the all-inclusive state tournament.
HBA has 412 boys and girls in grades 9-12.
"A lot of coaches in the basketball circle knew we had a good program, but the reality of it was we had almost no chance to make it on the state level," HBA athletic director Deren Oshiro said. "This would benefit us. It's a nice carrot for our kids. I spoke to our coach and he's pretty excited about it."
For a small-school ILH girls basketball team to qualify for states, it must earn the third ILH berth. To do that, it must have the best regular-season record among small schools in Division II, and then win a postseason tournament that involves the rest of the Division I teams that did not qualify for the states. The top two Division I teams automatically qualify for the states.
"You have to win four games in five days, against some really good teams," Oshiro said. "We've been competitive in our league, but every time we'd go up to the big tournament we'd usually lose in the second game. This year might have been the closest we've come — we lost to Mid-Pacific by six in the second game."
In softball, Sacred Hearts Academy has had success — winning the ILH in 1997 — but has yet to win a state championship. The Lancers lost to eventual champion Kailua in the 1997 state quarterfinals.
Sacred Hearts, an all-girls school, has about 537 students in grades 9-12. Softball has struggled with parity statewide, with one team losing a game, 46-0, this past season.
As for Pac-Five's sudden eligibility, it comes as a big relief for Wolfpack parents who believed their kids were not being afforded the same opportunity as other high school athletes.
"This is wonderful news," said Cindi Seminara, whose son Kody was on this past year's Pac-Five soccer team that took second in the ILH but was ineligible for the state tournament. "Every kid should have the opportunity to play in a state tournament and be seen by college coaches."
A proposal to allow students from public charter schools to play for their area schools in state tournaments was unanimously passed at a state athletic directors conference two weeks ago.
But Pac-Five, a conglomeration of small private schools that uses different combinations of players to form its teams, did not fall under that category. A separate proposal to make Pac-Five eligible was defeated.
Yesterday, however, athletic directors John Hom of Pac-Five and Jim Bukes of University High urged the board to reconsider, and the proposal won a vote of league presidents and executives 4-1. The Wolfpack will be eligible in football, boys and girls soccer, paddling and girls water polo.
The Big Island Interscholastic Federation voted against the proposal.
