Jamboree will have
By Pat Bigold
top talent
Star-BulletinWhat would it be like to have Punahou's brilliant state tournament Most Valuable Player, Ki'i Spencer-Vasconcellos, in the same backcourt with Iolani's preseason Street & Smith's second-team prep All-American Erin Stovall? That's a lot of drive power to the hoop.
Well, the pairing of these University of Hawaii and Virginia scholarship recruits, as well as other intriguing combinations, will be on display Saturday in the Fourth Annual Mufi Hannemann Basketball Jamboree at the Iolani gym.
The jamboree will feature an all-star prep game at 11 a.m., in which Interscholastic League of Honolulu, Maui Interscholastic League and Kauai Interscholastic Federation players will team up against players from the Oahu Interscholastic Association and the Big Island Interscholastic Federation.
University of Hawaii Wahine Alumni, featuring Jenny Kaeo and Melanie Azama, will take on the North Shore All-Stars, led by ageless Valerie Cravens, in a 12:30 p.m. game.
The winners of these games will face each other at 4:30 p.m.
A keiki game will open the day at 10 a.m.
Besides Spencer-Vasconcellos and Stovall, other outstanding prep players who have committed to play Saturday are state champion Punahou's Onaona Miller and Lisa Kowal; state runner-up Honokaa's Dayna Gambill and Penny Kaae; McKinley's Marjorie Nepo and Vae Tipoti; Kalaheo's Kim Taylor; Iolani's Karyn Fitisemanu; Kapaa's Cian Carvalho, and University High's Cherrilani Melson and Nikki Drevno.
Proceeds will benefit the Gender Equity Sports Club.
STEVENS CHOOSES HARVARD: Hawaii Baptist Academy's Matt Stevens, Hawaii's only three-time state cross-country champion, and winner of three events (800, 1,600 and 3,200 meters) at the recent state track meet, has chosen to attend Harvard.
Stevens, whose last grade point average was 4.0, has been the state's most dominant male distance runner of the last three years.
He plans to compete in the Crimson's upcoming cross-country season but said he will have to determine how best to balance his athletic career with Harvard's considerable academic demands.
Stevens is considering a major in literature.
Joining him at the Cambridge, Mass., campus will be Punahou basketball guard Lisa Kowall and Punahou swimmer Pia Chock.
In the ILH, HBA's Stevens, representing Pac-Five, was named male athlete of the year. Iolani's Stovall earned top honors in girls' track.
In the OIA, Bryan Clay of Castle and Endia Abrante of Kaiser garnered MVP notice in the Eastern Division, while Ricky Marshall-Greene of Moanalua and Haliimaile Apana of Nanakuli took honors in the Western Division.
Iolani had been ranked No. 6 throughout the season before being dethroned as state champ by the Warriors last winter.
In other prep wrestling news, two McKinley senior wrestlers who won state championships this year earned "All-American" recognition for placing sixth in their respective divisions at the National Scholastic Showcase in Kansas City.
They were Troy Fujiyama at 125 pounds and Keola Kalama at 152 pounds.
There were more than 32 wrestlers in each division and the top eight were awarded All-America distinction.
The showcase, staged by the NWCA, involved about 40 states, according to McKinley High head coach Chris Johnson.