Kamehameha rules in high school sports
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Chart: Point breakdown by events
By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
It came down to the final day of high-school competition with Kamehameha Schools surging from behind to claim the overall title as the top high school in athletic achievement.
Kamehameha also won the boys title. Punahou won the girls title.
The title rewards excellence across the board by awarding points for first through 12th place in each of the 32 championship tournaments conducted by the Hawai 'i High School Athletic Association.
It is similar to the Sears Cup in college but is without an official name yet, although the Clay Benham Cup for the late ILH executive secretary has been suggested.
Kamehameha surged ahead by placing third in girls judo — the state's newest championship sport — and winning baseball in a cliffhanger. Both were completed Saturday.
The Warriors won by 4 1/2 points, overtaking Punahou, 290 to 285.5 with its 37-point surge in the last three championship tournaments of the school year.
"This is an exciting reward for the hard work of the kids and the coaches and all that they have done," Kamehameha athletic director Blane Gaison said yesterday.
After winning the girls basketball championship on Friday night, Punahou held a 30-point lead, 283.5 to 253. But Kamehameha closed the gap by finishing third in girls judo (13 points), seventh in boys judo (4 points) and winning the final event of the year — baseball (20 points).
The baseball game, which put the Warriors over the top, went down to the last half of the last inning before a double play snuffed Kailua 4-2 with the winning run on base.
But Kamehameha had already clinched the title in judo, which finished about an hour earlier, because even a second-place finish in baseball would have earned 16 points — and the Warriors would have taken the title by one-half of one point, 286 to 285.5.
"Imagine," exclaimed Chester Chee, the CPA who crunched the numbers, "32 tournaments, more than a thousand games, matches, races and other competitions, and it came down to the last two events of the last day of the high school sports year to determine who had the best overall athletic program in 2002-03."
Iolani finished third with 203 points. Pearl City was fourth and the highest-scoring public school with 141.2 points. Waiakea was fifth and the highest scoring Neighbor Island school with 133.5.
All sports count the same in this format, so Kamehameha's state championship in cheerleading earned 20 points, just as the Warriors' other five championships — boys volleyball, boys cross country, girls canoe paddling, boys track and field, and baseball.
Punahou's girls earned 20 points each for state championships in air riflery, soccer, tennis and basketball and finished second (16 points) in cross country, swimming and diving, and canoe paddling.
Iolani had a great winter season, winning four state boys titles in 17 days in basketball, swimming and diving, canoe paddling and wrestling.
The Raiders and Kamehameha shared the lead in championships with six each, but Iolani had no second place points. Kamehameha was near the top in half the tournaments with two second places and eight thirds in addition to its six titles.
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