Hawaii Tribune-Herald Sunday, February 25, 2018 7
RICK WINTERS/West Hawaii Today Courtesy photo Associated Press
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We Salute our Big Island Athletes of 2017
To all our Big Island athletes, we recognize your efforts and dedication in your chosen sport.
May your training today take you far and wide in athletics and life itself.
AUSTIN EWING
Football • Konawaena High
Call it eastside bias, but the prolific
senior quarterback – not to mention
a three-sport standout – hadn’t been
honored as Athlete of the Week until a
record-setting performance in the HHSAA
D-II semifinals that was too hard to ignore.
Ewing completed 30 passes for 370
yards in a 53-50 win against Waipahu,
and he nearly led the Wildcats to a state
championship, totaling five touchdowns
in a seven-overtime loss to Lahainaluna.
IVORY AYERS
Wrestling-Judo • Keaau High
In February, the senior ended a fouryear
BIIF drought at the HHSAA
wrestling championships by winning
gold, and a few months later
Ayers added judo gold to become the
Cougars’ most decorated athlete.
Only Kamehameha’s Megan Aina
(2012) also can claim a wrestling-judo
sweep among BIIF athletes.
Majestic on the mat, Ayers finished
her BIIF career with three
wrestling titles and four in judo.
BRAD TAVARES
Mixed Martial Arts
The Waiakea graduate turned Las
Vegas resident isn’t yet a household
name on the island like fellow
mixed martial artist BJ Penn, but he
enjoyed a coming-out party in 2017.
In July, Tavares won a unanimous
decision against Elias Theodorou at The
Ultimate Fighter: Redemption Finale,
and four months later at UFC 216 he
earned another unanimous decision
against Thales Leites to vault into the top
15 in the UFC middleweight rankings.