Maui Sports Year in Review: Champions new and old
Athletes and teams familiar with Maui success provided more of the same in 2008, but a first-time champion might have made the biggest splash of all.
St. Anthony High School graduate Shane Victorino played a major role in the Philadelphia Phillies' run to a World Series title in October, hitting the team's first-ever postseason grand slam and setting a franchise record for postseason RBIs with 13.
Victorino, the first Maui-born World Series champion ever, and first from Hawaii since 1986, when the New York Mets had Honolulu-born pitchers Sid Fernandez and Ron Darling, batted .269 in the postseason. His 14 hits were tied for the fifth-most in the major leagues, and his RBI total was tied for second. He had three postseason stolen bases, tied for fourth-most, and his 25 total bases were tied for ninth.
Victorino had an impressive regular season as well, batting .293 with 14 home runs, 58 RBIs, 102 runs, eight triples (fifth in the National League and tied for eighth in the major leagues) and 36 stolen bases (sixth in the NL).
Maui's other big leaguer, Baldwin graduate Kurt Suzuki, spent his first full season in the majors and batted .279 with seven home runs and 42 RBIs for the Oakland Athletics. He threw out 32 of 87 runners attempting to steal, the second-best total in the American League and fourth-best in the majors.
Less than a month after Victorino made history with a Valley Isle first, the North Carolina men's basketball team set a record by doing what it's done more often than any other squad.
The Tar Heels put forth a dominating performance in winning the EA Sports Maui Invitational, and brought the program's win total at the Lahaina Civic Center to a record 13 - one more than Duke. In claiming its third Maui title, North Carolina nearly became the first champion in tournament history to reach triple digits in all three of its games. The Tar Heels, the unanimous No. 1 in both major polls, missed the century mark just once, in a 98-69 rout of Oregon during the semifinal round.
The Heels weren't the only team that added to an already impressive Valley Isle history.
Lahainaluna had a trio of trifectas. In February, Jack Pope won state swimming titles in both the 200- and 500-yard freestyles for a third straight year. In March, Travis Okano earned a third state wrestling championship in a row, claiming the 130-pound crown. In May, Jackie Owens won a third straight Maui Interscholastic League girls tennis title.
Maui High's Elyse Okada won a fourth consecutive MIL girls golf championship in April.
In July, Hawaiian Canoe Club won a 24th straight Maui County Hawaiian Canoe Association title - though the club's streak of state championships was halted at seven with a runner-up finish in August.
Earlier this month, Stephanie Gilmore surfed to her second consecutive Billabong Pro Maui title.
Aside from Victorino, some of the other first-timers making news were on the golf course.
Daniel Chopra made his Mercedes-Benz Championship debut and beat Steve Stricker in a playoff. Chopra had qualified for the PGA Tour's season-opening event by earning his first tour win.
The inaugural Kapalua LPGA Classic went to Morgan Pressel, who edged Suzann Pettersen.
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JANUARY
JAN. 1-Southern California linebacker Kaluka Maiava, a 2005 Baldwin High School graduate, records three solo tackles, a sack and a forced fumble in the end zone in helping Southern California to a 49-17 victory over Illinois in the Rose Bowl. Maiava plays the entire second half of his third Rose Bowl with a broken thumb.
JAN. 6-Daniel Chopra wins the Mercedes-Benz Championship at the Kapalua Plantation Course with a tap-in birdie on the fourth playoff hole to beat Steve Stricker. Both players finished regulation at 18-under-par 274 before Chopra won the longest playoff in the 10-year history of the event at Kapalua, about 10 minutes before the sun set.
JAN. 10-Roderick Fong is named Maui High football coach. The former longtime assistant under Curtis Lee is the Sabers' fourth head coach in five years.
JAN. 11-Oakland Athletics catcher Kurt Suzuki makes a $10,000 donation to Baldwin, the school he graduated from in 2001, to fund a scholarship and help the Bears baseball team.
FEBRUARY
FEB. 15-First-year King Kekaulike High School paddling coach Iokepa Naeole resigns one day before the final Maui Interscholastic League regatta to protest a Department of Education ruling that former Na Alii coach Paul Luuwai cannot have any contact with the school's paddlers. Luuwai was suspended for 19 months with pay from his teaching job at King Kekaulike, but later reinstated. Luuwai, who declined to discuss the reasons for his suspension, is a keiki coach for Hawaiian Canoe Club, and thus helped King Kekaulike paddlers with their equipment as they used the HCC hale at Kahului Harbor where they practiced. Luuwai was the school's paddling coach from 2002 to 2006.
FEB. 16-King Kekaulike paddlers compete under interim coach Kekupaa Naeole, Iokepa Naeole's son, at the final MIL regatta at Hanakaoo (Canoe) Beach Park.
FEB. 23-Lahainaluna's Jack Pope becomes the second MIL swimmer to claim six state titles-joining former Baldwin standout Cheyne Bloch-as he wins both the 200- and 500-yard freestyles for the third year in a row in the Local Motion State Swimming and Diving Championships at the Kihei Aquatic Center. Seabury Hall sophomore Libby Matthews wins the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke titles.
FEB. 23-The team of Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson wins eight skins and $270,000 on the first day of the Wendy's Champions Skins Game at the Royal Kaanapali Golf Course.
FEB. 24-After being shut out on the first day, Peter Jacobsen and Fuzzy Zoeller grab six skins and $320,000 to win the Wendy's Champions Skins Game. Zoeller capped the win with a tap-in par worth $100,000 on the first playoff hole. Nicklaus and Watson finish second with $270,000, and Loren Roberts and Gary Player finish third with $180,000. Arnold Palmer and Jay Haas are shut out.
MARCH
MARCH 1-Lahainaluna High School's Travis Okano becomes the third Maui Interscholastic League wrestler to win three state titles when he takes the crown at 130 pounds at the Chevron State Championships at the Blaisdell Arena. The Lunas' Lake Casco joins his brothers, Kai-noa and Kawika, as two-time champions when he wins at 160. Okano and Casco's efforts lead Lahainaluna to second in the team standings, behind Punahou. Baldwin's Kailee Andrade wins the girls 175 championship, while Kamehameha Maui's Caronne Rozet wins at 108.
MARCH 2-Kihei's James Moser, 18, wins the snatch and finishes second in the clean and jerk and total weight competitions at the U.S. Senior National Weightlifting Championships in Columbus, Ohio, and qualifies for the U.S. Olympic trials.
MARCH 8-Maui High's new softball field is dedicated to and named after former U.S. Congresswoman Patsy Mink, who was born on Maui and graduated from Maui High in 1945.
MARCH 21-UC Irvine's Chelsea Nagata, a Maui High graduate, finishes 17th in the 100-yard butterfly at the NCAA championship swimming and diving meet. Nagata, a two-time NCAA finalist in the butterfly, also swam the 100 backstroke and 50 freestyle in her final collegiate meet.
MARCH 28-Baldwin sophomore Corey Gushikuma wins the Pepsi Youth Championships boys state bowling title at Schofield Barracks on Oahu, and records a perfect 300 game in the process.
MARCH 29-Naomi DeLara, a Maui High graduate and freshman at Wisconsin-Stout, wins the balance beam title with a 9.80 score in the final at the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association championships in Cortland, N.Y.
MARCH 30-Grant Nakamura, a former state champion for Baldwin and three-time NCAA qualifier for Iowa State, qualifies for the U.S. Olympic wrestling trials at 55 kilograms (121 pounds) by winning the Northwest Regional Trials in Battle Ground, Wash.
APRIL
APRIL 6-Veteran Maui baseball scorekeeper and groundskeeper Warren Shimabukuro spends his last day in those capacities for the Maui AJA League at the federation's 73rd annual state tournament at Maehara Stadium, wrapping up more than 40 years of volunteer service for numerous baseball leagues at all levels on the Valley Isle. Shimabukuro's final game is Maui's 9-8, 13-inning win over Oahu in the AJA state title game, breaking Oahu's 15-year championship streak and giving Maui its first crown in 20 years. Joey Tam Ho, a Baldwin High School graduate, becomes the first player in the history of the event to sweep the MVP, batting (7-for-9) and RBI (four) trophies. Maui defeated Kauai 10-6 to reach the title game.
APRIL 9-Randall Tom, a UC Irvine senior and graduate of Seabury Hall, places 11th in the 100-meter butterfly at the world short-course swimming championships in Manchester, England.
APRIL 11-Randall Tom finishes 22nd in the 50 butterfly at the world short-course swimming championships.
APRIL 12-The Philadelphia Phillies place center fielder
Shane Victorino-a St. Anthony graduate-on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right calf.
APRIL 13-Bobbi Kokx wins the Jim Sanders Maui Women's Golf Championship, shooting a 76 at Maui Country Club a day after carding a 73 at Pukalani Country Club and beating Desiree Ting by a stroke.
APRIL 14-The state high school executive board adopts a statewide transfer rule, loosening the Maui Interscholastic League rule implemented seven years earlier. The new rule is similar to the MIL's, but allows transfers without penalty to a student-athlete's district public school.
APRIL 22-Kealakai Maiava, a Baldwin graduate and rivals.com freshman All-American offensive lineman in 2007, announces he is transferring from Colorado.
APRIL 26-Maui High's Elyse Okada, an Oregon State recruit, wins her fourth MIL individual girls golf title with a four-round total of 298 after a
final-round 73 at the Experience at Koele. Okada becomes the league's first four-time girls or boys golf champion.
APRIL 29-Shane Victorino is activated by the Phillies and flies out in a pinch-hit appearance during Philadelphia's 7-4 win over the San Diego Padres.
MAY
MAY 8-Oakland catcher Kurt Suzuki, a Baldwin High School graduate, hits his first home run of the season, a walkoff shot in the
10th inning, to give the Athletics a 6-5 win over the Baltimore Orioles.
MAY 10-The St. Anthony baseball team gives up a first-inning run and loses 1-0 to Kauai in the first Wally Yonamine Foundation Division II Championships title game, at Les Murakami Stadium. The Red Raiders' David Jordan Buster throws a three-hitter to outduel the Trojans' Michael Jahns, a Northwestern recruit. La-
hainaluna's Jackie Owens places second in the Carlsmith Ball State Tennis Tournament after a 6-2, 6-0 loss to Punahou's Kristin Lim in the final on the Big Island.
MAY 15-Offensive lineman Kealakai Maiava, a Baldwin graduate, announces he will transfer to UCLA.
MAY 17-King Kekaulike's Bailey Massenburg wins the 800 and 1,500 meters at the Island Movers State Track and Field Meet at Mililani High School, and finishes second in the 3,000. Sea-bury Hall's Kailea Visintainer-Tracy takes gold medals in the 200 and 400. Baldwin's Sean Tesoro wins the boys discus championship and Joey Amescua defends his crown in the 800. At King Kekaulike gym, Iolani defeats Punahou in three games in the New City Nissan Boys Volleyball Championships Division I title match.
MAY 29-St. Anthony names Charlie Pico - a 1976 graduate and the school's football coach - its new athletic director.
JUNE
JUNE 6-Baldwin High School graduate Derrick Saito, a junior left-handed pitcher for Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, is selected by the Kansas City Royals in the 16th round of the Major League Baseball draft.
JUNE 8-Derrick Saito signs with the Royals, getting a $100,000 bonus.
JUNE 13-Defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen, a Molokai graduate and
15-year NFL veteran, signs a one-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles.
JUNE 21-Kanekoa Texeira of Kula, a Kamehameha Oahu graduate and pitcher in the Chicago White Sox organization, is named a Carolina League All-Star after posting a 2-0 record with a 1.33 ERA and 14 saves in 25 appearances for Class-A Winston-Salem.
JUNE 24-In the first-ever meeting between two Major League Baseball players from Maui, Kurt Suzuki's Oakland A's beat Shane Victorino's Philadelphia Phillies 5-2 in an interleague game.
JUNE 25-Lake Casco of Lahainaluna and Bailey Massenburg of King Kekaulike are named the MIL boy and girl athletes of the year by The Maui News. Shane Victorino and the Phillies beat Kurt Suzuki and the A's 4-0.
JUNE 26-The A's win 5-0 in the final game of their series with the Phillies.
JULY
JULY 4-A two-out RBI single by St. Anthony High School graduate Shane Victorino in the bottom of the ninth inning gives the Philadelphia Phillies a 3-2 victory over the New York Mets. Strum finishes first overall in the Victoria-to-Maui International Yacht Race, crossing the finish line at
6:22 p.m., covering the 2,308 nautical miles in 12 days. Strum, owned and skippered by Wink Vogel out of Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, was also the corrected-time champion.
JULY 6-Henry Muragin is named the Makawao Rodeo's All-Around Cowboy after winning the Po'o Wai U title and teaming with Harold Deniz to finish first in steer mugging at Oskie Rice Arena. Samantha Wilson, the breakaway roping and steer undecorating champion, is named the All-Around Cowgirl.
JULY 10-Baldwin High School graduate Kurt Suzuki hits his first career pinch-hit home run, a solo shot in the ninth inning, helping the Oakland Athletics eventually beat the Seattle Mariners 3-2 in 11.
JULY 12-Shane Victorino homers twice off Randy Johnson and finishes 3-for-3 with three RBIs, but the Philadelphia Phillies lose 10-3 to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Hawaii Cup soccer champions are crowned. In girls play, the winners are Rip Girls (under-19), Manuia (U-16), Maui United (U-14), Team Tropix (U-12) and Pono (U-10). The boys titles go to Maui United 94 (U-14), the Kaneohe Predators (U-12) and Excel (U-10). Chris Hupfeld wins the Iao Valley 10K in 36 minutes, 9 seconds. Lindsey Wilbur is the top female finisher, in 43:12.
JULY 13-Jamie Mitchell wins the Naish Maui International Paddleboard Championship unlimited title, covering the 9.54 miles from Maliko Gulch to Kahului Harbor in 1 hour, 13 minutes, 9 seconds. Shakira Westdorp wins the female unlimited crown in 1:28:41.
JULY 14-Joe Balangitao heads up his first Maui Interscholastic League athletic
directors meeting in his new role as executive secretary.
JULY 19-Hawaiian Canoe Club finishes the Maui County Hawaiian Canoe Association with 1,033 points, claiming a 24th straight county title.
JULY 21-T.J. Figueroa of Kahului and Garrett Okamura of Wailuku win the Aloha Section PGA Pro-Pro championship, defeating Regan Lee and Beau Yokomoto of Oahu on the third hole of a playoff at the Kaanapali Kai Course. David Marocco announces Monday that he is stepping down as athletic director at Kaahumanu Hou, and will be succeeded by the Alii Lions' boys basketball and baseball coach, Glenn Foo Sum.
JULY 27-Jamie Mitchell wins the QuiksilverEdition Molokai-to-Oahu Paddleboard race for the seventh year in a row, posting a time of 4 hours, 57 minutes, 14 seconds on the 32-mile course. Kanesa Duncan wins the women's title for a sixth time in 6:28:12.
AUGUST
AUG. 2-Hawaiian Canoe Club's run of seven straight Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association state titles ends with a second-place finish at Keehi Lagoon. Hawaiian scores 352 points, finishing three behind Lanikai.
AUG. 3-Bobbi Kokx wins the Maui Women's Invitational, posting a second-round 75 at The Dunes at Maui Lani for a 147 total and a one-shot victory over Desiree Ting.
AUG. 9-Jason Sugimoto of Kahului wins the tako title at the Larry Libres Fishing and Diving Tournament with a 4-pound,
12-ounce catch at Kanaha Beach Park. Stanfur Lassen wins the 12-and-under oama division with a 14.7-centimeter catch, and Glennis Shinjo's 14.4-centimeter oama takes the 13-and-over title.
AUG. 10-Defensive lineman Kimo von Oelhoffen, a Molokai High School graduate, is released by the Philadelphia Eagles.
AUG. 14-Fausto Allosada pitches a two-hit shutout as Hybrid defeats the Slump Bustahz 2-0 in the Maui Open League championship game at Maehara Stadium.
AUG. 15-Baldwin graduate Kurt Suzuki hits a walkoff, pinch-hit, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Oakland Athletics a 6-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
AUG. 16-Mau and Mehealani Ah Hee of Lahaina become the first brother and sister duo to win the open divisions at the Ole Longboard Classic. Mau, who won all five of his heats, also takes the 19-29 title at Launiupoko Park. Archie Kalepa and Jaime Funakoshi win the tandem division for the second straight year.
AUG. 18-Kai Barger of Haiku takes first place at the $5,000 Macy's E-Series Junior Pro, winning a tiebreaker with Sebastian Zietz at Waikiki. Haiku's Albee Layer finishes fourth.
AUG. 24- Chris Lieto takes first place in the Cycle to the Sun, needing 2 hours, 51 minutes, 46.71 seconds to cover the 36 miles from Paia to the Haleakala summit. Gabriela McClure is the top women's finisher, in 3:25:45.20.
AUG. 28-Pinch-hitter Kurt Suzuki doubles in the winning run in the ninth inning and the Oakland Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins 3-2.
AUG. 30-Tattersalls Masters Australia wins the Maui Channel Swim, covering the 9.5 miles from Lanai to Kaanapali in 2:53:14, two minutes off the record the team set in 2005. RCP Tiburon Milers Wahine win the women's race in 3:35.54. Bill Goding claims the individual title in 3:48:55.
SEPTEMBER
SEPT. 12-Ceejay Santos kicks a Maui Interscholastic League-record 51-yard field goal for Baldwin High School in a 37-12 victory over Maui High at War Memorial Stadium. The kick breaks the old mark of 48 yards set by St. Anthony's Shane Victorino in 1998 and tied by the Pac-3's Tye Perdido in 2005.
SEPT. 13-Reid Hunter wins the Front Street Mile open male division in 4 minutes, 28 seconds, and fellow King Kekaulike student Bailey Massenburg takes the open female title in 5:19.
SEPT. 14-Junichi Kawabata of Japan takes first place in his Maui Marathon debut, winning in 2:36:24. Youko Yamazawa, also of Japan, is the top women's finisher in 3:09:40. Beth Arnoult of Kula and Kaitlyn Verfuerth of California place fourth in women's doubles at the Paralympics in Beijing, falling to Florence Gravellier and Arlette Racineux of France in the bronze-medal match.
SEPT. 19-Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies hits his career-high 13th home run in the Phillies' 14-8 loss to the Florida Marlins.
SEPT. 21-Rich Landry of Kihei wins the 1.7-mile Maui Roughwater Swim, from Keawakapu Beach to Polo Beach, in 42:32. Angelina Dermibag of Pukalani wins the female title in 42:52.
SEPT. 27-Shane Victorino singles three times and scores the eventual winning run in the Phillies' 4-3 victory over the Washington Nationals, which clinches the National League East title.
SEPT. 29-Scott Soldwisch takes over as Lahainaluna athletic director.
OCTOBER
OCT. 2-St. Anthony High School graduate Shane Victorino hits the first postseason grand slam in Philadelphia Phillies history, helping the team to a 5-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 2 of a National League Division Series. Victorino would finish 3-for-4 with two doubles, two stolen bases and four RBIs.
OCT. 5-Bobbi Kokx shoots a 70 at Maui Country Club to beat Desiree Ting by a shot and take the Panasonic Lester Hamai Memorial title.
OCT. 6-Point Loma Nazarene's Sam Cyr, a King Kekaulike High School graduate, shoots a 60 in the first round of the Grand Canyon University Fall Invitational. Cyr would finish off his three-round total of 15-under 201 the next day to win the tournament.
OCT. 10-Shane Victorino goes 2-for-5 with a triple and four RBIs to help the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series. After the game, Victorino learns of the death of his grandmother Irene Victorino, who was 82.
OCT. 13-Shane Victorino hits a game-tying two-run homer in the eighth inning of the Phillies' 7-5 win over the Dodgers in Game 4 of the NLCS.
OCT. 15-Shane Victorino reaches base three times as the Phillies beat the Dodgers
5-1, ending the NLCS in five games.
OCT. 19-Morgan Pressel birdies the Kapalua Bay Course's 18th hole to win the inaugural Kapalua LPGA Classic. Pressel's final-round score of 3-under-par 69 gives her an 8-under total of 280, one shot better than Suzann Pettersen.
OCT. 26-Ruben Razafa wins the Xterra World Championship off-road triathlon, finishing the 0.9-mile swim, 19.1-mile mountain-bicycle leg and 6.9-mile trail run in 2 hours, 37 minutes, 36 seconds. Julie Dibens takes the women's title for the second straight year, in 3:03:57.
OCT. 27-Shane Victorino drives in two runs before the fifth game of the World Series is suspended due to rain with the Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays tied 2-2 in the sixth inning.
OCT. 28-Paul Berce of St. Anthony places second in the Civilian Marksmanship Program Boys State Air Riflery Championship at Blaisdell Exhibition Hall with a score of 535, 11 points behind LeLan Aranaydo of Pearl City. Berce's 169 standing score ties for the best of the event.
OCT. 29-Shane Victorino becomes Maui's first World Series champion after the Phillies beat the Rays 4-3 in the completion of the fifth game. Victorino would finish the postseason with a franchise-record 13 RBIs.
OCT. 31-A pair of Maui Interscholastic Leaguers claim state championships. King Kekaulike's Bailey Massenburg wins the Honolulu Marathon State Girls Cross Country Championship, covering the course at Hawaii Preparatory Academy in 20:42.90 seconds, and Seabury Hall places second in the team standings. Baldwin's Corey Gushikuma wins the Billy Tees Boys Bowling Championship at Lihue Bowling Center, finishing the two-day tournament with a score of 1,788, 28 pins better than Kalani's Jonathan Nakagawa. Jason Solomon, John Joaquin, Tim Adams and Stephanie McLaughlin win the Halloween Shootout fishing tournament with a 349.8-pound blue marlin caught aboard the Seazure, captained by Junior Carvalho.
NOVEMBER
NOV. 2-Ed Simmons and Nelani Unger, aboard the Kai Lio, captained by Rusty and Dave Unger, catch a 385.5-pound blue marlin to win the Lahaina Jackpot fishing tournament.
NOV. 5-Philadelphia Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino, a St. Anthony High School graduate, wins a National League Gold Glove after posting a .994 fielding percentage with two errors and seven assists. The University of Hawaii's Taryn Fukuroku, a Maui High graduate, is named the Western Athletic Conference's women's soccer offensive player of the year after finishing the season with six goals and seven assists.
NOV. 10-Jesse Richman of Haiku places first in the freestyle, racing and junior divisions at the final event of the Kiteboard Pro World Tour, in Morocco, and takes the series championship.
NOV. 13-Kanekoa Texeira of Kula, a Kamehameha Oahu graduate, is traded by the Chicago White Sox to the New York Yankees after having a combined 21 saves, 6-3 record and 1.33 ERA in 2008 for Class-A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham.
NOV. 14-Hank Gaskell of Hana posts an 18.80 in his second-round heat the Reef Hawaiian Pro at Alii Beach Park, which would prove to be the second-best score of the Triple Crown of Surfing event.
NOV. 19-The field for the 2010 EA Sports Maui Invitational is announced, with Chaminade being joined by Connecticut, Kentucky, Michigan State, Oklahoma, Virginia, Washington and Wichita State.
NOV. 21-Baldwin loses 34-15 to Leilehua in a First Hawaiian Bank Division I State Football Championships quarterfinal game at War Memorial Stadium.
NOV. 22-Dusty Payne of Lahaina finishes fourth in the Reef Hawaiian Pro championship heat at Alii Beach Park.
NOV. 26-North Carolina beats Notre Dame 102-87 in the Maui Invitational championship game at the Lahaina Civic Center. The win gives the Tar Heels three Maui titles, and a record 13 victories on the Valley Isle, one more than Duke. The Tar Heels' average margin of victory of 29.7 points breaks a tournament record, and average of 105.0 points per game is second-best ever. In the title game, Notre Dame's Kyle McAlarney hits 10 3-pointers, also a tournament record.
NOV. 28-Lahainaluna loses 33-27 to Radford in a First Hawaiian Bank Division II State Football Championships quarterfinal game at War Memorial Stadium.
NOV. 30-The 2009 Wendy's Champions Skins Game field is announced - newcomers Greg Norman and Bernhard Langer will join defending champions Fuzzy Zoeller and Peter Jacobsen, as well as Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Jay Haas and Gary Player.
DECEMBER
DEC. 4-Dusty Payne of Lahaina reaches the semifinals of the O'Neill World Cup before being eliminated, and takes the lead in the Triple Crown of Surfing standings.
DEC. 7-Cassy Isagawa of Wailuku wins the 13-14 girls title at the Hawaii State Junior Golf Association's Tournament of Champions, shooting a 72 at the Wailea Gold Course for a two-day total of 140. Aaron Kunitomo of Lahaina wins the boys 13-14 title with a 140 (71-69). Chad Kauhaahaa, a Baldwin High School graduate and former Bears football coach, is hired as Utah State's defensive line coach.
DEC. 8-Southern California linebacker Kaluka Maiava, a Baldwin High School graduate, is named to the Pac-10 second team after posting 62 tackles (7 1/2 for loss) with an interception and three passes broken up.
Dec. 10-Dusty Payne is eliminated from the Pipeline Masters in the third round. He would finish second in the Triple Crown.
DEC. 18-Stephanie Gilmore wins the Billabong Pro Maui, beating Melanie Bartels in the final, which is moved to Hookipa because of a lack of waves at Honolua. Gilmore, who had clinched the Association of Surfing Professionals world title before the Maui event began, also wins the Triple Crown.
DEC. 22-Jonah Hu of Maui Swim Club and Raphael Marcoux of the South Maui Sharks finish off perfect runs at the Hawaiian Short Course Championships at Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center. Both swimmers claimed eight gold medals - Hu in the 11-12 division (50 and 100 butterfly, 50 and 100 freestyles, 100 and 200 individual medley and 50 and 100 backstroke), and Marcoux in 10-and-under (50 and 100 fly, 50, 100 and 200 free, 100 and 200 IM and 100 back).
