Competing in the Oahu Junior Bowlers' Tour tournament at Pearl Harbor Bowling Center from 9 a.m. until 2:30 p.m., Nakaoka hopped in his car and just made it to McKinley on time to dress for the ceremony.
The fact that Nakaoka could do both things in one day was especially significant, because last October he couldn't count on anything for the future.
That was when the three-time Oahu Interscholastic Association bowling all-star learned he was suffering from naso pharyngeal, a cancer of the nasal passages.
But despite the nausea, hair loss, throat soreness and loss of weight associated with chemo and radiation therapies, Nakaoka continued to compete and earned player of the year honors in the OIA Eastern Division. He also qualified for the state tournament and finished fifth, a couple of days after a double dose of radiation treatment.
Nakaoka, who has dropped from 228 pounds to 165, said he is now in remission and feels much better. He said bowling will still consume most of his time, and he expects to become an assistant coach to David Okazaki at McKinley next season.
As for his hair, Nakaoka said it was falling out in clumps, so he just shaved his head. "Now that it's starting to grow back, my friends call me 'fuzzy,' " he said.
The Rams finished at 13-13 overall and third in the OIA West.
Leong, a mathematics teacher at Radford, was an assistant to Gabriel last season. He also has been a junior varsity football head coach at the school.
Gabriel is now a teacher at Maryknoll.
Most of the wrestlers are from Kahuku High and two of them - Faasea Mailo and Ose Masoe - were first-team all-state linemen.
Flori Cabradilla will replace Jonathan Lyau as boys' cross-country coach and Les Murakami (not the University of Hawaii baseball coach) will become girls' bowling coach, replacing veteran coach Walter Sabati.
In another development, softball coach Bob Cambra has decided to step down. A successor has not been chosen.