Hawaii a haven
for recruitersMainland college coaches always
make it a point to take a trip to the
islands to look for student-athletes
Hawaii is more than a vacation destination for many mainland coaches.
CORRECTION
Thursday, July 15, 2004The last name of Pierce Manglallan, a former Mililani High School baseball player who has been recruited to play for Hawaii Pacific University beginning this season, was misspelled as Magallan on Page B9 in a July 4 story.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at corrections@starbulletin.com.
"It's special for me to recruit players from Hawaii," Fresno State women's volleyball coach Lindy Vivas said. "Players from Hawaii know how to do everything."
Vivas may know this better than most -- she graduated from Punahou.
She has given a scholarship to a player from Hawaii each of the last three years -- this year to Kamehameha's Mounia Nihipali, a two-time first-team all-state player.
"Mounia has ready-made ball-handling skills," Vivas said. "It's hard to teach that, but she brings it with her from Hawaii.
Nihipali, she says, hits with much more power than one would expect from her at 5-foot-9. "She's very quick, a great jumper, and has all-around skills."
Another reason Vivas says she is attracted to players from Hawaii is that "Hawaii kids are tough."
Her 2003 recruit, state Player of the Year Tuli Peters of Kahuku, is tough, tough, tough," Vivas says.
Peters put up the second-highest numbers by a freshman in Fresno State history in kills and attempts, and third-highest in aces, digs and solo blocks. Injured or not, Peters plays.
"Hawaii kids have something special," said Vivas, whose team finished second to Hawaii in the Western Athletic Conference the last two years.
Nathan Daume, women's basketball coach at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas, also sees something special in athletes from Hawaii.
On Friday, he signed Karla Tailele, Kahuku's all-state point guard.
"She plays extremely hard and that's very appealing to a coach," Daume said. "You can find talent, but not always heart and desire as well."
Anybody who saw Tailele in the second half of the state championship game against Konawaena knows what coach Daume is talking about.
Hutchinson was where Kapaa's Cian Carvalho played before she was a rugged post player at Arizona State in 2001-02.
Today, we present four lists of graduates who have either signed or committed to colleges. Today's lists are for men's and women's volleyball, women's basketball and baseball.
The lists are not complete. Other names will be added as they are confirmed. If you have a name and college destination to contribute, please telephone Dennis Anderson 236-3654 (toll free from the neighbor islands: 888-236-3654) or e-mail dennis@lava.net.
Lists will be published for other sports and there will be additions to these lists in coming weeks. The most current and complete lists will be available at www.hhsaa.org.
Many of the scholarships awarded to student-athletes from Hawaii were arranged by Doris Sullivan of Pacific Islands Athletic Alliance. She can be reached at doris@pacificathleticalliance.com or at 261-5000.
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These student-athletes from Hawaii have declared what colleges they will attend and compete for.
They are 2004 graduates unless indicated.
BASEBALL
NAME SCHOOL HONOR POS. COLLEGE Ryan Asato Mid-Pacific 2nd All-State OF Hawaii Aaron Asher Aiea 1st All-State C Hawaii JJ Eno Baldwin 1st MIL 2B Brown Chris Freshour Mid-Pacific HM ILH INF Chicago State Tyler Fujiwara Lahainaluna MIL Player of Year P/OF Portland Tony Ganigan Pearl City 1st OIA West P Hawaii Pacific Chris Goya Mid-Pacific 2nd ILH OF Chicago State Michael Kealahoa Kailua 2nd All-State SS Hawaii Pacific Robert Kirisu Punahou HM ILH C Claremont-McKenna-w Shaun Kiriu Punahou 1st All-State P Puget Sound-w Randy Kitagawa Kalani 2nd All-State P Yavapai (Arizona) JC Harrison Kuroda Mid-Pacific State Player/Year P Hawaii Michael Lam Punahou 1st All-State 2B Creighton Blake Lamug Aiea 1st OIA West P Hawaii Pacific Danny Lee Saint Louis 1st All-State 3B Hawaii Pacific Ronnie Loeffler Waiakea P Hawaii Pierce Magallan Mililani Hawaii Pacific Pono Moises Saint Louis 1st BIIF C Chicago State Jacob Myking Kalaheo HM OIA E/drafted C San Joaquin Delta (Calif.) JC Spencer Omalza Leilehua 1st All-State SS Hawaii Pacific Noah Phillips Punahou 1st ILH 1B Pepperdine-w Randy Rundgren Mid-Pacific Ist All-State/drafted SS Sacramento (Calif.) JC Kanekoa Texeira Kamehameha Drafted 31st round P Saddleback (Calif.) JC Mark Veneri Punahou 1st All-State OF UH-Hilo Leonard Zalopany III Waimea All-KIF INF Central (Arizona) JC
Notes: Brenton Endo, second-team All-ILH second baseman for Mid-Pacific, is going to Hawaii on a band scholarship. Texeira signed with Hawaii but opted for a junior college so he would be draft-eligible next June.WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
NAME SCHOOL HONOR COLLEGE Saundra Cariaga Kealakehe 1st BIIF Hawaii Bre Carson McKinley 3rd All-State Cal State-Hayward-w Ginger Gravelle Iolani 3rd All-State San Francisco-w Nancy Hoist Konawaena State Player of Year Eastern Kentucky Chaunte Jackson Campbell 1st OIA West Missouri Valley Kepua Lee Moanalua 1st OIA East Menlo (Calif.)-w Marci Lobendahn Pearl City OIA W Player of Year Missouri Valley Lia Mickey Radford 1st OIA West Missouri Valley Krystal Omlan Lahainaluna Yuba (Calif.) JC India Soo Kamehameha 1st ILH Idaho State Karla Tailele Kahuku 2nd All-State Hutchinson (Kansas) JC Jordan Tongonan Kamehameha HM ILH George Fox (Ore.)-w Monica Vehikite Lahainaluna 2nd All-State Hutchinson (Kansas)JC Latoya Wily Kahuku 1st All-State Alcorn State
Notes: Kami Kapaku, Baldwin (1st All-State) has signed with Oregon for soccer.MEN'S VOLLEYBALL
NAME SCHOOL HONOR COLLEGE Sean Carney Iolani State Player/Year Lewis (Chicago) Michael Contee Iolani 1st All-State Lewis (Chicago) Kyle Teves Kealakehe 1st All-State Hawaii Adam Tuifagu Kamehameha 1st All-State Missouri Valley
WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
NAME SCHOOL HONOR COLLEGE Monarisa Ale Kahuku 1st All-State Utah State Kana'i Bento Kamehameha Seattle-w Allison Caban Leilehua '02 Missouri Valley Anuhea Friel Kamehameha 2nd ILH Delaware Ashley Hanohano St. Joseph HM All-State Fairfield (Conn.) Kuuipo Hayes St. Joseph '03 HM All-State Missouri Valley Lindsey Lee St. Joseph 2nd All-Statex2 Fairfield (Conn.) Marci Lobendahn Pearl City HM OIA West Missouri Valley Lori Nakamura Kamehameha Redlands-w Mounia Nihipali Kamehameha 1st All-Statex2 Fresno State Pikake Nutter-Gaudet Leilehua 1st OIA West Taft (Calif.) JC-w Jazmin Pa'akaula St. Joseph 1st All-State'03 Fairfield (Conn.) Kristin Ponce Kamehameha 2nd All-State St. Martin's, Wash. Catrina Pratt Mililani Missouri Valley Makana Recca Kamehameha 2nd ILH San Francisco-w Lecca Roberts Seabury Hall 1st All-State Pepperdine Rose Vea Kamehameha HM ILH BYU-w
Legend: Honor is most significant honor won. Bold-face entries are first team All-State. 2nd: 2nd team honor. HM: honorable mention honor. w: Invited walk-on, or non-scholarship program
