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Prep Beat
Defending state football champion St. Louis is ranked No. 8 in FoxSports.com's first poll of the season. FoxSports high
on CrusadersIn the regional breakdown, the Crusaders are third in the West -- behind top-ranked De La Salle (Calif.) and No. 4 Poly High (Calif.).
De La Salle heads into the season with a national-record 100-game win streak.
The Fox poll comments that although St. Louis will miss quarterback Timmy Chang and wide receiver Gerald Welch, who both will play for the University of Hawaii this fall, the defense returns seven starters, including state co-defensive player of the year Ikaika Curnan, who is a senior this season.
St. Louis plays at Mililani on Aug. 18 in their first preseason game and will face Samoana High from America Samoa on Aug. 26 at Aloha Stadium. Its ILH season starts Sept. 2 against Damien.
The Crusaders, who won 13 consecutive Prep Bowls before last year's inaugural state tournament, finished 1999 with a 15-1 record and a No. 7 ranking in the Fox Fab 50 poll.
Kalakaua girls back in town
The Kalakaua Basketball Foundation girls' basketball team is back from a trip to Zurich, Switzerland.Kalakaua, coached by Kamehameha coach Clay Cockett, lost, 24-23, in triple overtime to Midwest in the championship game of the Nike Swiss International and finished with a 4-1 record.
The first two overtimes were a minute long, and the third was sudden death. Mayumi Stevens, who graduated from Moanalua earlier in the year, was named to the all-tournament team.
Marcouiller MVP
Dane Marcouiller was named the MVP of the U.S. Amateur World Series in Carson City, Nev., last week.Marcouiller helped West Oahu defeat Fresno (Calif.) 7-6 in the title game.
Marcoullier, who was a second-team all-ILH pick this past season for Mid-Pacific, was also the tournament's batting champ, hitting a remarkable .729.
Kapolei AD assembles staff
Elden Esmeralda has been given the challenge of building Kapolei High School's athletic program from the ground up. Esmeralda, 35, took the job as Kapolei's first athletic director last week.Esmeralda had been Molokai High School's AD since 1998. He has also coached girls' basketball at Aiea.
The Hurricanes will field teams this fall in boys' and girls' cross country, air riflery and volleyball. All the teams will compete at the junior varsity level the first two years except for boys' volleyball. The OIA doesn't have a JV division so the boys will compete at the varsity level.
Kapolei also will compete in football, with Darren Hernandez coaching the 45-member all-freshmen junior varsity team.
Mark Kalilikane will be the Hurricanes' golf coach.
Kalilikane said Kapolei will have a varsity and JV team when the season starts next February. He said he also would like to see the prep golf season expanded to nine months, with one tournament a month, instead of all the tournaments packed into a few months in the spring.
He runs a year-round junior program and is also the founder of the World Junior Masters, which takes place next week, Tuesday-Thursday, at Makaha Golf Course.
Kalilikane said Grant Yasui and Alakai Hao, two of the best junior golfers in the state, will be competing in the tournament.
Softball team going to Seattle
The Na Kolohe Girls' Fastpitch Softball team will head to Seattle next week for the AAU 18-and-Under Western National Tournament.Teams from more than 20 states will compete in Seattle from Aug. 8-13.
Na Kolohe, coached by George La Rosa, advanced to Seattle's competition after placing fourth last month in the ASA Region 14 Tournament in Reno.
Na Kolohe is 6 years old and the girls on the team have been playing together since they were 8.
Members of Na Kolohe are Ashlie Dutro (Roosevelt), Cherlyn Ligot (Farrington), Crissy Moefu (Kaimuki), Amber Juan (Sacred Hearts), Temehani Cummings (Sacred Hearts), Kimi Daniel (Sacred Hearts), Trina La Rosa (Sacred Hearts) and Samara Ortiz (Farrington).
By Tim Crouse