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KAT WADE / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER
Cassidy Sumibcay, left, and Aaron Arconado from Lahainaluna High School finished second at the state Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills competition at Leeward Community College.
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Mitchell Borge and Lawrence Paet will be the latest Maui High School students to represent their oft-winning school at the national Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills competition in Dearborn, Mich., in June.
Taught by Maui High teacher Shannon Rowe, the pair won this year’s state competition Saturday at Leeward Community College.
All three will travel to nationals, where the students will compete against two-member teams from the 49 other states for a share of $11 million in college scholarships and other prizes.
On Saturday, all teams were tasked with diagnosing similarly “bugged” vehicles.
“Borge and Paet showed a lot of composure and poise during the competition,” said Avo Asdourian, student auto skills competition chairman for AAA Hawaii. “They worked well together to find and fix the ‘bugs’ planted in the vehicles with speed and accuracy.”
Other competitors included mostly Maui teams, including Maui High’s Kelly Takushi and Fritz Acorda, under teacher Neill Nakamura; from King Kekaulike High School, Bryan M. Johnson and Tiana Miguel with instructor Matt Doty, and Ben Kinney and Tyler Kronowski under the tutelage of Petar Kovacic; and from Lahainaluna, Aaron Arconado and Cassidy Sumibcay, with direction from teacher Dennis Sasai.
Richard Dalere and Deven Oshiro of Aiea High School, with teacher Edmund Okada, made up the sole Oahu team.
While Maui High was second in state competition last year, it has sent contestants to the national competition for many years. In 2011, Maui High students placed second at the national level.