As the 2012 athletic campaign shifted into gear, Pearl City senior Nakoa Naauau was forced to make a tough decision entering his final year of high school.
The student-athlete was practicing to play center for the Charger football team while also planning on ending his prep career as a four-year member of the bowling squad.
While the school allows students in good academic standing to participate in multiple sports within the same season, Naauau had to choose between the two extracurricular activities because he was told that he could not continue missing football practice to work on his bowling game.
Naauau stuck with life on the lanes, and the decision paid off Thursday as he and his Pearl City teammates claimed a third consecutive Oahu Interscholastic Association boys bowling championship at Schofield Bowling Center.
Pearl City is also the two-time defending state champion, and will shoot for a third straight "triple crown" — the term coined by the boys to describe the feat of notching the OIA West, OIA and state championships in the same season — when the Chargers hit the road in search of the three-peat at the Billy Tees/HHSAA Bowling Championships slated for Nov. 1 and 2 at Kauai Bowl in Lihue.
"We had a prayer and talk with our coaches before we started bowling, and that really motivated us," Naauau said. "To bowl this well, we put in a lot of practice. I’m glad I got kicked off the (football) team. I had to dedicate myself to one thing, and I’m glad I chose bowling. To be a part of this, I think we’re one of the first classes from Pearl City to get the triple crown."
Pearl City led the team standings with 5,846 points and fended off OIA East champion Kalani (5,571 points), Mililani (5,427 points) and Moanalua (5,369 points). The top three teams earned spots at the upcoming state tournament, while bowlers also competed for individual hardware. The team scores were based on the cumulative marks of each team’s five bowlers designated to score in the team competition. Each bowler competed in six games throughout the day, and Pearl City held a slim 24-pin lead over Moanalua before eventually pulling away thanks in part to a collective score of 1,116 in the final game of the day.
The top 32 individual bowlers earned berths to the state tournament, and Pearl City ended up with seven qualifiers, five of whom placed in the top 20. Ronson Dagdag of Mililani finished as the event’s top scorer with 1,368 pins, while Nicholas Azumi of Pearl City (1,340 pins), Andrew Abadilla of Waipahu (1,338 pins), Naauau (1,324 pins) and Dorien Antonio Martos of Kapolei (1,315 pins) rounded out the top five.
Naauau and Azumi also notched the day’s top game scores, rolling a 267 and 263, respectively.
"We have good team players that helped me out, and we used a great inspirational speech from our coach to pick things up," said Azumi, who led the team as a junior with a 234 average throughout the regular season. "It’s hard for a team to win the triple crown back to back, so going for a third time would be pretty amazing. I’ve never heard of anybody doing that before."
"I wanted them to be impressive in every game, not just the last one they bowled," said Pearl City coach James Hayashi. "When the lanes started breaking down (with oil dissipating), they had a hard time adjusting. I just talked to them and asked them to give me all they got in that last game, and they executed well.
"We still have state tournament left, so we’ll see what happens then. This is a team event, so we need to continue improving as a team. We missed a lot of easy spares, and what kept us in the tournament was our ability to throw strikes. But if we come to an alley where we can’t throw strikes or pick up spares, we’re going to have a difficult time."
The Chargers girls’ squad earned a second consecutive OIA crown, amassing 5,554 points and holding off Mililani (5,149 points), Kalani (4,477 points) and Moanalua (4,440 points).
Mililani’s Danielle August took top individual honors with 1,201 total pins, while Kacee Taniyan of Leilehua (1,197), Chelsi Morishige of Pearl City (1,191), Jordan Oliveros of Mililani (1,124) and Kristin Frost of Pearl City (1,119) made up the top five scorers out of the 31 who qualified for the state tournament.
