Four-peating is one thing, but the "Grand Slam" of Hawaii high school bowling is quite another.
The Pearl City boys team won its fourth straight Billy Tees/HHSAA Bowling State Championships on Friday at Hickam Bowling Center. It’s a big accomplishment, but the scope gets bigger when you factor in the other titles along the way. In all four seasons, the Chargers also won the OIA West regular-season title and the OIA crown.
"We won all three for these four years in a row and it’s like a grand slam," said Pearl City coach James Hayashi, whose teams have won five of the past six state titles.
"Of all 10 years I’ve been coaching, this is one of the best teams. They’re very disciplined and listen and always try. They don’t say, ‘I can’t do it.’ "
It was a whirlwind day for the Chargers in team and individual competitions. The Pearl City girls team won its third state championship in a row after a rough first day of the two-day event.
"We were only 141 (pins) ahead after the first day," Chargers girls coach Millie Gomes said. "That can be made up easily. Today, it was pedal to the metal. They made sure they took care of business today."
Individual champions Nicholas Azumi, a senior, and Chelsi Morishige, a sophomore, spearheaded the Pearl City assault at the Hickam facility, which was packed from wall to wall.
Azumi finished with a nine-game pinfall of 1,905. He edged teammate Ken Hayase-Fong, also a senior, who rolled a 1,858 to finish second. Campbell’s Kristian Adams (1,786), Aiea’s Richard Akamine (1,766) and Hawaii Baptist’s Lane Hosaka (1,733) rounded out the top five boys.
Team-wise, the Chargers girls totaled 7,790 pins, with the boys knocking down 8,748.
Hawaii Baptist finished with totals of 7,483 and 8,039 to take second place in both girls and boys.
The Sacred Hearts girls (7,421) were third, followed by Mililani (7,273 and Moanalua (7,097). Among boys teams, Campbell (8,029) placed third, only 10 pins behind HBA, which was followed by Aiea (7,762) and Damien (7,740).
"I’m super proud of our boys for placing second, and it was a close race (for second against Campbell)," said HBA coach Greg Hayashi, the older brother of the winning coach. "We knew we would be chasing James’ Pearl City team and that was realistically what we wanted to do, finish second. And our girls did a fantastic job to get to second after being in fourth place going into today."
Morishige is one of only five Chargers girls who coach Gomes calls her "Fabulous Five." The new champion was thrilled with her victory.
"I’m surprised and honored," she said. "People think that being this young, you can’t win a state title. I feel happy and proud. For a sophomore to do it, it’s pretty …," she said, still thinking. Morishige couldn’t find the word to finish the sentence, but "amazing" is one possibility.
Kylie Malilay-Madrona, Sasha Nomura-Calistro, Kristin Frost and captain Ashlyn Castro also contributed to the Chargers’ girls victory.
Morishige (1,747) beat out second-place Danielle August (1,699) of Mililani. Sacred Hearts’ Caitlin Cunningham (1,627) was third, followed by Mid-Pacific’s Sheri Tochiki (1,624) and Candace Minami (1,593).
"All year, they knew they couldn’t get sick or we wouldn’t be able to compete," Gomes said. "That was a lot of pressure."
Azumi, meanwhile, was feeling a ton of pressure when he got to Hickam on Thursday. In three previous tries at states, he finished second, third and seventh.
"I was kind of frustrated for a little while and rushing a lot," he said. "But I had the lead coming into today and that gave me more confidence. Yeah, it’s a major accomplishment."
Hayase-Fong, Keenan Kihara, Kristofer Yadao and Ryan Kajihiro also scored pins toward the boys title.
"I’m happy," coach James Hayashi said. "I’m always happy when I beat my brother."
