Current weather
Kaunakakai, HI
- Broken clouds
- Temperature: 73.4 °F
- Wind: East-Northeast, 22.2 km/h, gusts up to 31.5 km/h
- Pressure: 1019 hPa
- Rel. Humidity: 78 %
- Visibility: 16.1 km
Sat, 2010-07-31 21:54
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Sports
Standing Tall
Younger paddlers excel in sold-out Molokai Channel race.
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Riggs Napoleon is just like any other local 12 year old – he loves his family, the water, and having fun. Except on this particular Sunday, fun means ironing the 32-mile Kaiwi channel for over seven hours straight."It's going to be fun - I'm excited,” said Riggs minutes before the start of the 14th annual Molokai to Oahu Paddleboard World Championships. This year’s race, for the first time in its 14-year history, sold out the first week in July. Riggs, from Oahu, rode a 13’6” Paddle Surf Hawaii board and set a new record as the youngest stand up paddler to cross the Molokai channel. The original record was set last year Maui’s Connor Baxter who was then 14. Baxter returned on Sunday hoping to set a different record.
Add your commentMolokai Paddlers Race in World Sprints
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Molokai paddlers proved themselves in the international arena this year. Penny Martin, Cami Kimball and Crystal Egusa brought home one silver and two bronze medals from the 14th World Va`a Sprint Championships in May, held in New Caledonia in the southwest Pacific. Held every two years at different locations around the world, Molokai paddlers have been participating in the event since 2004. This year, Martin, Kimball and Egusa raced on a six-woman team with other women from Maui and the Big Island as the Island Masters. They came in 3rd place in both the V6 500 meter and 1000 meter events. Molokai paddlers also teamed up with Lanikai paddlers to come in second in the V12 event.
Paddle Battle
Molokai crews head to states.
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With swift, powerful strokes, Molokai canoe crews paddled feverishly to the multicolored flag finish line last Saturday. Coaches and family members shouted out techniques or simply ‘Go Molokai!’ as they approached the wharf. Over a hundred participants, coaches and spectators attended in this season’s fourth and last regatta held on Molokai. For some, the race was the last chance this season for an improved time; for others, the race could qualify them for the state championship in a few weeks.
Batter Up
Little league gets boost from community.
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Ask any Molokai Little Leaguer what brought them out to play baseball Saturday morning and they’d tell you it’s for the love of the game. “I love to hit homeruns!” exclaimed 10-year-old Royden Abafo. “I’m so happy we got to play.”But it took a little more than love for baseball to make the Grandma and Grandpa Little League Tournament at Kaunakakai Ball Park possible – it took the love of the community.Getting a late start due to the loss of its charter, the 9 and 10 year old Little League teams did not have the opportunity to play a full season this year – which was unacceptable to Molokai resident and grandparent Wayde Lee.
Ready, Set, Hike!
Football returns to Molokai after 50 years.
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Get your cleats ready, Molokai, because the streak is over. After a 50 year hiatus, Molokai High School football is back in the lineup and will take to the field this fall.The 1960-61 Farmers were the last high school football team on Molokai.“It’s going to be big,” said Mike Kahale, a social studies teacher at Molokai Middle School. “Our kids have been waiting for this opportunity for a long time.”Kahale, head coach of the team, said he and his wife had been developing a strategic plan to bring back high school-level football for the past two years, and is finally becoming a reality.“There is already a lot of talk about it,” he added. “We have about 44 kids signed up.”
Maui News Honors Molokai Star Athlete
Molokai’s Kalei Adolpho was named The Maui News Maui Interscholastic League Girl Athlete of the Year last week, making her the first Molokai girl to earn the honor. Adolpho was the league’s Division II volleyball Player of the Year and helped the Farmers finish third in the state tournament. Adolpho was also an All-Star basketball player for the state runners-up and the state’s third-place finisher in the high jump, according to The News. “I feel really honored and I guess I am surprised, but definitely honored,” Adolpho told The News. Adolpho’s brother Manu was named Boy Athlete of the Year in 2006-07, making them the first brother-sister pair to earn the awards.
Making Waves
Molokai surfer takes on the pros.
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Big waves don’t scare Molokai’s Taoa Pou. Neither, apparently, does big competition.The envy of many young surfers, 13-year-old Taoa was granted wildcard entry into last week’s Sponsor Me Hawaii pro surf competition at Ala Moana Bowls on Oahu.Taoa Pou at Sponsor Me Hawaii last week. Photo courtesy of Teva Pou.Competing alongside some of the state’s top surfers, Taoa held nothing back, even attempting the coveted reverse air-360. “There was no pressure on me -- I had nothing to lose,” he said. “There was more pressure on the professionals ‘cause they didn’t want to lose to a 13-year-old kid.”
Off to the Races
Australian race horse Mr. Molokai causes stir.
Mr. Molokai at a race last month in Warrnambool, Australia. Credit: Colin Bull (Sportpix)Thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean, the name Molokai has people talking – but not about this island. A three-year-old race horse named Mr. Molokai has race fans in Australia buzzing – after just four races, he has one win, two third place finishes and one fifth place finish.Mr. Molokai comes from a long line of horses with Hawaii-inspired names. His mother was No Hula No Dance; he also has close relatives named Never Hula, Hula Chief, Hula Drum, Hawaiian Song, It’s Hula Time, and Hulachine.
Record Attempt Makes a Slash
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Early on Thursday morning, while the rest of Kaunakakai slept peacefully, a lively group at Cooke Memorial Pool was wide awake to represent Molokai in a record-breaking swim lesson. Participants in the World’s Largest Swimming Lesson event at Cooke Memorial Pool last Thursday morningLessons were beginning simultaneously at over 175 sites around the world in far-flung places like Zamia, Lebanon, South Korea and Germany. Combined, they comprise what organizers hope will be certified by Guinness World Records as the World’s Largest Swimming Lesson.
Adolpho Third in State High Jump
Softball ends season at states.
Molokai’s Kalei Adolpho went into last weekend’s Track and Field State Tournament with only one jump under her belt this season, and came out with a bronze medal in high jump out of 23 girls.Adolpho, a junior at Molokai High School, earned her third place title by clearing the pole at 5 ’2”. None of the top four girls, including Adolpho, cleared 5’4”, which is the next height up. Ties are decided upon by how many attempts each athlete took to get over previous heights, leading up to the last height cleared, said Coach Jesse Ford.