Boys bowling does it, beats Bears, wins MIL title
Photo by Faith Owan
The KS Maui boys bowling team won their individual playoff against Baldwin on Saturday, October 24. From left: Aisake Fakava, David-John Fernandez, Li Furukawa, Russell Nagamine, Lukela Kanaʻe, John “Kahaka” Viado, Tyler Lum, and Kayce Mercado.
The Warrior bowlers made history on Saturday, October 24 at the Maui Bowling Center as the first bowling team from Kamehameha Maui to win the Maui Interscholastic League bowling championship.
The team was victorious over their rival school, Baldwin, with 881-732, and will be competing at the Hawaiʻi High School Athletic Association State Tournament on Kauaʻi from October 29-30.
The Bears have been a mainstay powerhouse in MIL bowling, but when the Warriors were added to the scene three years ago, things got interesting, and both the Warrior boys and girls teams have been hot on the heels of Baldwin since.
In fact, the boys lost their first and only match, 2-1, to the Bears this season in the first round. They narrowly won, 2-1, in the second round, and, at yesterday’s playoffs, they won decisively by 149 pins.
“I am just overwhelmed because they did beyond what I expected,” Head Coach Rodney Carillo said.
After a 2-1 win over Baldwin on October 3, the Kamehameha boys needed to go 3-0 in their last three games of the season against both Maui High and King Kekaulike in order to play off against Baldwin for the MIL title, and they did.
Regular bowling meets consist of three games, with 10 frames in each game. Playoffs only consist of one game (10 frames). The boys stayed in the lead throughout the match.
Senior Russell Nagamine, co-captain and one of the founders of the bowling team at KS Maui, was the top scorer of the day with a 241. A perfect score is 300.
“It feels like this is really what we’ve been striving for this whole season,” Nagamine said.
Coach Carillo said that Russell “finished his job” as the co-founder (with Kasie Apo Takayama [’14]) of bowling at Kamehameha Maui.
The girls bowling team ended its season on October 17 with a 2-1 win over King Kekaulike.
Junior Anela Brittain will be the sole girl bowler to head to the 2015 Billy Tees Bowling Championships as runner-up MIL champion. Senior Lukela Kanaʻe won the gold medal for MIL this year.
Overall, Coach Carillo thinks that the bowlers had a “very good year.”
The boys bowling team will be traveling to Kauaʻi on Wednesday.
Coach Carillo says that going to the HHSAA state tournament will be a good experience for the younger bowlers, where they will be going against bowlers from islands like Oʻahu and the Big Island where “they have a lot more bowling alleys, so they practice a lot more.” Maui Bowling Center is the only bowling alley on Maui.
“For the older kids, it’s a reward for how well they did this season,” he said.
Senior Tyler Lum, who bowled a 155, is hopeful for his team’s chances on Kauaʻi.
“If we bowl like this, I’m sure we’ll win,” he said.
