Saya Yabe’s belief sys-
tem for BIIF cross coun-
try is a simple one: You
earn what you get.
The Waiakea junior
came close to winning her
second meet, but tripped
near the finish line, and
finished second at the
three-mile Kamehameha
course.
Whittier (California)
Christian’s Amy Baray fin-
ished in 20 minutes and
45 seconds on an oven-
baked Saturday to edge
Yabe (20:54) and Hawaii
Prep freshman Emi
Higgins (21:04).
“I tripped on the last
downhill and I couldn’t
recover in time,” Yabe
said. “It was my mistake. I
can’t blame anyone.”
The field of 64 runners
was loaded with young
BIIF potential. (There
were 68 boys.)
Out of the top 20 BIIF
runners, only four were
seniors, and there were
seven freshmen: HPA’s
Higgins, Kamehameha’s
Joey-Ann Cootey, fifth;
Konawaena’s Nanea Wall,
eighth; Hilo’s Navi Varize,
ninth, and Sam Marrack,
10th;
Kamehameha’s
Nevaeh
Fukui-Stoos,
14th; and Honokaa’s
Sophia Cash, 16th.
HPA pocketed its sec-
ond consecutive meet
SPORTS
INSIDE
| PAGE 2B
Big-Fish
List
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2015 | WEST HAWAII TODAY
ONLINE
| WESTHAWAIITODAY.COM/SPORTS
B
Waiakea’s
Ondo excels
again
Louie Ondo looks like a
cross-country runner. The
Waiakea senior is 5 feet 4,
slender and has fairly long
legs for his height.
He’s got pretty good
endurance, too. Ondo had
more in his gas tank after
he won a BIIF boys meet
on a scorching Saturday
at the Kamehameha
campus.
Ondo covered the
three-mile course in 16
minutes and 46 seconds
to run away from Hilo’s
River Brown (16:58)
and Konawaena’s Cody
Ranfranz (17:00) to claim
his second straight race.
At the BIIF sea-
son-opener at hilly Hawaii
Prep, Ondo won in 18:08,
a whopping 30 seconds
ahead of runner-up
Ranfranz.
Rather than talent or
strong lungs, the reigning
BIIF champion pointed to
intangibles as the biggest
reason he wins by such
wide margins.
“It’s more mental and
preparation,” Ondo said.
“You need a positive atti-
tude. That’s what you
should have to be a good
runner.
“I liked how my legs
didn’t feel tired. I felt like
I could run some more.”
For the second straight
meet, Hilo won the team
title with 39 points, fol-
lowed by defending
BY KEVIN JAKAHI
HAWAII TRIBUNE-HERALD
Waiakea junior
runs away
from pack
BY KEVIN JAKAHI
HAWAII TRIBUNE-HERALD
BIIF
CROSS COUNTRY
SEE
BOYS
PAGE 3B
SEE
GIRLS
PAGE 3B
QUEEN LILIUOKALANI OUTRIGGER CANOE RACES
PADDLING ON
Busy Day 4 as Queen Liliuokalani winds down
Sunday was a busy day on the
water for the Queen Liliuokalani
Outrigger
Canoe
Races.
Competition started at 7:30 a.m.
with the last race going off a little
after noon. All in all, there were
nine races on the fourth day of the
43rd annual event.
Races on Sunday were a mixed
bag of competition types. The
focus of the day was on the Waa
Kaulua, a 5-mile double-hull
canoe sprint that started and fin-
ished at Kailua Pier. The day also
hosted a stand-up paddleboard
contest and single hull canoe
races.
In the paddleboarding compe-
tition, a relatively new event, ath-
letes competed in a 4.5 mile race
for the Unlimited Division and a
3.5 mile race for those with stock
boards. There were OC1 and OC2
single hull canoe races, which
competed on the same course as
the Waa Kaulua.
The Queen Liliuokalani wraps
up on Monday with the Alii
Challenge. Wahine and kane
paddlers will test their skills and
knowledge of the Hawaiian cul-
ture on a land course and then
the competition will move into
the water for a 12-crew, 17.5 mile
single hull canoe race. At the mid-
point of the race, a second set of
crew members will take over to
finish the competition.
Rainy weather
does not slow
Kona fishing
JIM RIZZUTO
KONA FISHING
CHRONICLES
Clockwise from the top: An 8-man crew competes in the double hull canoe race; a paddleboarder
races in Kailua Bay; a keiki competes in an OC1 event.
Full results for Day 4 are available on page
2B
.
RICK WINTERS/
WEST HAWAII TODAY
WEST HAWAII TODAY
LABOR DAYWEEKEND RODEO
Parker Ranch hosted the Labor Day Weekend Rodeo on Saturday
and Sunday at Parker Ranch Arena. Clockwise from above: Alvin
Kawamoto and Fern White participate in team roping; Brandi
Joseph goes for the head shot in calf roping; Warren Matsumo
poses with his grandson Riley, who won the calf scramble; Lexis
Andrade and Kaili Brenneman participate in the double mugging
.
PHOTOS BY NANCY ERGER/
SPECIAL TO WEST HAWAII TODAY
SADDLE UP
Parker Ranch hosts event
over 3-day weekend
T
hunder, lightning,
torrential rain,
flash flooding,
roads turned into rivers,
even some scattered
blasts of hail — last week
we had it all. How did
Kona’s mini-monsoon
affect your fishing?
As seen in many fish-
ing stories last week,
the answer is both sur-
prising and important
because it shows the
uniqueness of fishing
along the Kona Coast.
Take Friday, for
example, because that
was the day headlined
in Saturday’s papers
because of flooding
and road closures.
Despite ominous
warnings about the con-
tinuing impacts of three
hurricanes (a first-ever
phenomenon), Friday
dawned bright, sunny
and calm. Charterboats
took out their scheduled
parties knowing that they
could reach good fishing
spots quickly and get back
to port in a half hour or
less if the weather turned
against them. Kona is
one of the few places
where you can get to blue
marlin water and back
in less time than it takes
to go grocery shopping.
Indeed, by 8:30 a.m.,
the charterboat Luna
had gotten to its favorite
fishing grounds, hooked
four blue marlin, reeled
them to the boat, released
them and reported the
news back to the Charter
Desk. The seas stayed
calm for the rest of the
day even as the skies over
the island darkened, the
nearby hillsides turned
into waterfalls, and the
county closed roads that
had become impassable.
Indeed, the ocean
continued to be inviting
so Capt. Chip Von Mols
stayed offshore and kept
trolling throughout the
rest of the day. Chip and
his party went 5 for 5
on blue marlin that day,
releasing all of them.
That was Chip’s second
5-release day of the year
but his best perfect score
in converting strikes into
hookups and catches. His
previous 5-release record
day came on seven strikes.
Meanwhile, Night
Runner went fishing
even though Capt. Shawn
Rotella and his gang had
no charter. Fishing holo
holo (just for fun and
maybe something for
market) they boated a
200-pound blue on the
kind of flat seas the rest of
the fishing world envies.
That set Night Runner
up nicely for a great
Saturday trip during
which they caught two
blue marlin, three mahi-
mahi and three ono and
an assortment of small
tunas. While Shawn and
his party were filling the
cooler with tasty dinner
SEE
RIZZUTO
PAGE 2B
