KAILUA-KONA — As the BIIF bowling season approaches, it seems as if one thing has become abundantly clear — with most of their BIIF championship rosters intact from a year ago, the Konawaena boys and Kealakehe girls will be the teams to beat once again.
The Wildcat boys have dominated in the sport for three straight years. The team put together a 29-1 record last season behind three top-five BIIF bowlers — Tresen Arakaki, Torin Savella and Chad Galiza.
Arakai is the only one of the trio who will not return. Last season, Arakaki finished second in the BIIF in overall average with a score of 185.57 per game.
Both Savella (third in the BIIF) and Galiza (fifth) will look to pick up the slack, along with a third returning senior, Connor Harrington.
“All three returning seniors went to state last year and that experience really helps,” said Wildcats head coach Clyde Takafuji. “There will be less butterflies this year.”
Savella and Galiza will jump right up into the conversation of possible BIIF individual champions this year after the graduation of Kamehameha-Hawaii’s Brandyn Lee-Lehano and Kealakehe’s Kawika Pierson.
Last season, Lee-Lehano was named the best all-around male bowler. Pierson finished second, but managed to pull off an upset in the BIIF tournament to become the Big Isle champ.
As for teams who could make a run at Konawaena this season, Takafuji left the door wide open.
“I fear everyone,” he said. “But the expectations are very high for this team.”
On the girls side, Kealakehe returns five bowlers from last year’s BIIF championship team that went 28-3 overall. The Waveriders have won the championship for the past two years.
Leading the strong group of returners this year is senior Rose Stephenson and sophomore Kara Nishida.
Stephenson finished the season No. 2 in the BIIF tournament and No. 2 in overall average, trailing only Konawaena’s Mikki Fujimoto, who graduated.
“This is an exciting season for Rose as a senior,” said Kealakehe head coach Loreena Ganeko. “She is eager to get out there and give it her best. She has very good leadership skills and has been pretty focused on her game this summer.”
As for Nishida, she managed to finish fourth in the BIIF tournament and fifth in overall average last season, despite only being a freshman.
Ganeko says that Nishida has already bowled a 173 during practice, which has her pretty excited about the season.
“She knows she can do it,” Ganeko said. “Right now, we will just wait and see.”
Ganeko admits to being pretty focused on her team during practice early on, so she has not spent much time getting to know the other teams on the island. Kamehameha was the second best team last year with a record of 27-4.
“Last year, Kamehameha was our toughest opponent, but really anyone could step up if they bring out someone strong,” Ganeko said. “Right now I am just focused on getting our girls prepared.”
The Kealakehe girls and Konawaena boys will enter the season as favorites once again, thanks in part to their vast collection of returners, but also because the schedule this year highly favors west side schools. All games will be played at the Kailua-Kona bowling alley KBXtreme.
“There was a time when most bowling sessions took place on the Hilo side,” Ganeko said. “Most teams were located over there and it is a real shame they do not have a bowling alley anymore. This is not anything I would like to see any team go through.”
Takafuji echoed the sentiment, adding “We have the home field advantage, but it can’t be helped.”