Introduced on a trial basis two years ago, the HHSAA regionals were at times a hit on the Big Island. Konawaena scored a rare Division I girls soccer victory for the BIIF in February when it beat Kaiser in Kealakekua, while Kamehameha recorded a rousing boys volleyball victory against Kamehameha-Kapalama in 2014.
In at least one instance, the regionals were a miss. Konawaena hosted Mililani in girls basketball in 2014, but the game, a Wildcats’ loss at Kealakehe, didn’t carry the same luster as if it would have been at the Wildcats’ gym.
Either way, the regional format will take a year off.
BIIF executive director Lyle Crozier said the league didn’t make a regional pitch at the Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association meetings at Hilton Waikoloa Village, though it supported an ILH measure for a softball regional in 2016. The state ADs approved it Wednesday, but a day later the HHSAA executive board overturned the decision, delaying it until 2017.
“The OIA wanted more information,” Crozier said. “That was great for the kids when Konawaena (soccer) won that regional.
“(Softball) will be revisited.”
The regional is far from set in stone in 2017 since the format could always get nixed at next year’s HIADA meetings. A committee that includes BIIF ADs Kimo Weaver (Kamehameha) and Tom Correa (Waiakea) will study its implementation, Crozier said.
If there is one sport in which BIIF teams could use home-field advantage it’s softball. Division I teams are on a 20-game losing streak at states.
In other news:
• The executive board also struck down an HIADA measure that would have cut the number of boys and girls wrestling weight classes from 14 to 12.
“We were in favor of cutting it down to 12,” Crozier said. “It comes down to competition. We don’t have enough to fill a lot of those classes, especially on the girls side.”
• One proposal passed Wednesday calls for the host venue of the HHSAA bowling championships to have at least 22 lanes, effectively taking KBXtreme, which has 16 lanes, out of the mix.
Normally a two-day tournament, the championships were held over three days at KBXtreme in Kailua-Kona last year.
“I think the problem was the amount of school days missed at the three-day tournament,” Crozier said. “We tried to point out that our schools can miss as many as five days when go to Oahu.”
• The Big Island is slated to host three state tournaments during the 2015-16 school year. Division II girls basketball at Keaau and Waiakea, and Division II baseball at Wong Stadium already were set. State tennis recently was moved from Kauai to a West Hawaii site to be determined because of a lack of available courts on the Garden Isle.
