[ HIGH SCHOOL REPORT ]
Punahou takes early
Benham lead
Punahou has a slim lead over Waiakea in the Benham Cup high school sports standings for the 2003-04 school year.
The Benham Cup is the Hawaii high school equivalent of the National Association of Collegiate Athletic Directors' Cup (formerly the Sears Cup). Schools are ranked in order of their athletic achievement in all sports.
Punahou has 70 points and Waiakea is right behind with 68, but those numbers only include fall sports. Another tally will be made after the winter sports season and the final totals won't be known until after spring sports have concluded.
"We're very proud to have a strong athletic program," Punahou athletic director Tom Holden said. "We're not really looking for these kinds of acknowledgements and aren't looking to be No. 1 all the time. We're more interested in kids getting the sports experience itself, to learn the sportsmanship aspect and all the traits of how to compete and take on challenges.
"It's also great to see all the parity that's out there in Hawaii's athletic programs --from volleyball, to basketball to football. In girls volleyball this year, six or seven teams could have jumped up and won the states."
Punahou won that hotly contested girls volleyball championship, and took third in both girls air riflery and girls cross country and fourth in boys cross country, while Waiakea finished second in boys air riflery, girls air riflery and boys bowling, but didn't have any other top-four finishes.
Only 10 points separate the top-four schools. Kamehameha-Oahu is in third with 66 points, followed by Iolani with 60. Fifth-place Kapolei (56) and sixth-place Moanalua (41) are the highest-ranking Oahu Interscholastic Association schools.
The Benham Cup is named after the late Clay Benham, who was the Interscholastic League of Honolulu executive secretary for 32 years before his death in 2002.
Points are awarded for a school's finish in Hawaii High School Athletic Association state championship tournaments. First place in a tournament is worth 20 points. Schools are awarded 16 for second place, 13 for third, 10 for fourth, seven for fifth, five for sixth, four for seventh, two for eighth and one for ninth through 12th place.
As it stands, the winning schools (overall as well as boys and girls champions) don't receive a trophy, but a five-member Benham Cup committee is open to sponsorship offers to handle the purchase of the appropriate hardware.
Committee members are soccer statistician Chester Chee, football scorekeeper and basketball referee Thomas Yoshida, former high school sportswriter Frank Mauz, former girls basketball coach Fran Villarmia-Kahawai, and Roy Benham, Clay's brother.
Sportswriter Dennis Anderson was instrumental in giving birth to the inaugural Benham Cup races last year, but he is no longer involved.
The committee is also looking at ways to add sportsmanship and academic achievement points into the scoring system.
Waiakea leads the girls standings with 44 points, while Punahou is tops in boys sports with 46.
A year ago, Kamehameha won the overall title as well as the boys title, while Punahou won the girls crown.
The overall race went down to the final day of the sports year when the Warriors placed third in girls judo and won the baseball championship to overtake Punahou 290 to 285.5.
Benham Cup
Overall standings (through Fall sports season)
(Note: only schools scoring at least 1 point are listed)
Top five boys standings
Bar Gar Bbw Gbw Bvb Gvb Bcc Gcc Fb1 Fb2 Pts 1. Punahou 7 13 7 0 0 20 10 13 0 0 70 2. Waiakea 16 16 16 7 5 0 7 1 0 0 68 3. Kamehameha-Oahu 1 0 1 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 66 4. Iolani 0 0 0 0 20 0 20 20 0 0 60 5. Kapolei 13 7 10 20 0 0 0 0 0 6 56 6. Moanalua 0 0 20 0 0 10 1 10 0 0 41 7. Baldwin 1 4 0 16 0 0 0 4 11.5 0 36.5 8. Saint Louis 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 0 36 9. Kahuku 0 0 0 0 1 7 0 0 20 0 28 10. Pearl City 0 10 0 13 0 0 2 2 0 0 27 11. Mililani 0 0 13 0 2 0 0 7 4.5 0 26.5 12. (tie) Hawaii Prep 0 0 0 0 0 1 13 5 0 6 25 12. (tie) Sacred Hearts 0 20 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 14. Aiea 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 24 15. Waimea 4.5 5 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 11.5 22 16. Kalani 2 2 0 1 0 13 0 0 0 0 18 17. Seabury Hall 0 0 0 0 13 2 1 1 0 0 17 18. Damien 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 16 19. Hawaii Baptist 0 0 5 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 20. Kealakehe 0 0 0 0 10 1 1 0 0 0 12 21. (tie) Farrington 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11.5 0 11.5 21. (tie) Kauai 0 0 1 2 0 4 0 0 4.5 0 11.5 21. (tie) Lahainaluna 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11.5 11.5 24. (tie) Hilo 0 0 2 4 0 0 0 0 4.5 0 10.5 24. (tie) Roosevelt 4.5 0 0 1 0 5 0 0 0 0 10.5 26. Leilehua 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 27. Kalaheo 0 0 0 0 4 0 5 0 0 0 9 28. Maui 0 0 1 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 8 29. Castle 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 5 30. Kailua 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.5 0 4.5 31. (tie) Campbell 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 31. (tie) Island School 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 31. (tie) Kaiser 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 31. (tie) Kamehameha-Maui 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 31. (tie) Ka'u 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 31. (tie) King Kekaulike 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 31. (tie) McKinley 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 31. (tie) St. Joseph 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
Top five girls standings
Bar Bbw Bvb Bcc Fb1 Fb2 Pts 1. Waiakea 16 16 5 7 0 0 44 2. Iolani 0 0 20 20 0 0 40 3. Saint Louis 20 0 0 0 16 0 36 4. Kamehameha-Oahu 1 1 16 16 0 0 34 5. Kapolei 13 10 0 0 0 6 29
Legend: Gar (girls air riflery), Bar (boys air riflery), Bbw (boys bowling), Gbw (girls bowling), Bvb (boys volleyball), Gvb (girls volleyball), Bcc (boys cross country), Gcc (girls cross country), Fb1 (football, Division I), Fb2 (football, Division II).
Gar Gbw Gvb Gcc Pts 1. Punahou 13 0 20 13 46 2. Kamehameha-Oahu 0 0 16 16 32 3. Kapolei 7 20 0 0 27 4. (tie) Pearl City 10 13 0 2 25 5. (tie) Sacred Hearts 20 5 0 0 25