Rachel Kyono cruises to individual championship By JASON GALLIC – TGI Sports Editor Led by individual champion Rachel Kyono, the Kaua’i girls golf team took the team title at the 2001 David Ishii Girls Golf Championship Saturday on Maui. Kyono,
Rachel Kyono cruises to individual championship
By JASON GALLIC – TGI Sports Editor
Led by individual champion Rachel Kyono, the Kaua’i girls golf team took the team title at the 2001 David Ishii Girls Golf Championship Saturday on Maui.
Kyono, who fired a 1-over 143 for 36 holes of golf at the Ka’anapali South course, was eight strokes better than the next-closest finisher, Leah Whiting of Waiakea. Before the tournament Kyono, a senior, said it would be a treat to end her high school career with a state title.
She went out and made it happen, recording the only 18-hole par score of the tournament with a 71 for the second round.
“None of the other girls were really that close to Rachel,” Kaua’i coach Winston Ogata said. “She always seemed to be one step ahead of them.”
Ogata said that in his 23 years of coaching, Kyono will go down as one of the best he’s coached.
But a team title is not won alone. An eighth-place finish by Lehua Wise (12-over 154 for the tourney) and a 12th for Kiilani Matsuyoshi (20-over 162) were the pieces of the puzzle that helped to lift the Red Raiders over Waiakea by 11 strokes. Kaua’i finished with a team total of 457; Waiakea with a 468.
“I’m really proud of the girls,” Ogata said. “It was good to see them play the golf they were capable of.”
The Kaua’i boys, however, did not reach the coaches hopes.
“They played well,” Ogata said. “But they could have been better.”
The boys finished sixth on the Kapalua Village Course. Casey Watabu placed eighth individually, firing rounds of 76 and 73 on the par-70 course.
The rest of the Kaua’i Interscholastic Federation competitors finished as follows:
Boys (followed by two 18-hole scores and school represented)
Kurt Inouye, 80, 78, Kaua’i; Juston Thomas, 82, 81, Kapa’a; Erick Wong, 85, 79, Kaua’i; Allan Baab, 88, 82, Kaua’i; Ashford Rita, 84, 86, Waimea; Darrin Furusho, 84, 92, Kaua’i; Kainoa Nakazawa, 89, 96, Kapa’a
Girls: Mackenzie Ajimura, 86, 88, Kaua’i; Jasmine Ornellas, 89, 86, Kapa’a; Jennie Pleas, 81, 94, Kaua’i; Robyn Cacayon, 86, 100, Kaua’i; Marisa Yamamoto, 103, 95, Kapa’a; Ashlie Moriguchi, 126, 109, Waimea; Virginia Fajardo, 123, 116, Kapa’a
