Season over
HHSAA cancels spring sports
It was an announcement that was anticipated by both, but it still hit hard for a pair of Maui Interscholastic League coaches whose teams had realistic state championship hopes.
Hawaii High School Athletic Association Executive Director Chris Chun officially announced the cancellation of sports for the remainder of the 2019-20 academic year in a press release on Friday afternoon due to complications from the coronavirus pandemic.
“This decision to cancel the remainder of the spring season was extremely difficult for all involved considering the impact it will have on our students, parents, coaches and administrators throughout our state,” Chun stated in the release. “I would like to commend our leadership team from our five leagues in working together, thinking outside the box, in the face of an unprecedented crisis.”
Baldwin High School baseball, ranked No. 2 in the state by scoringlive.com, had 15 players on its roster who have won world titles as youth baseball players.
“I was anticipating this, I heard the news, it really starts to sink in a little bit now,” Bears head coach Craig Okita said. “It’s very disappointing, that’s all I can say.”
The Seabury Hall girls track and field team also appeared to have a real chance at claiming its third state championship in the last seven years this season.
“You kind of know, but it’s still disappointing,” Seabury Hall head coach Bobby Grossman said. “You’re hoping that something good might happen soon, but it is what it is.”
Grossman said several of his athletes had continued to work out in hopes of the possible resumption of sports that were halted by concerns over the virus in mid-March. The final MIL contests were held March 13.
“I think this year because of the senior group that we had, they are making that effort, just because it’s their last opportunity,” Grossman said. “It’s going to be pretty disappointing for them to end the year this way.”
When asked if his team had a shot at the state title, Grossman didn’t hesitate. He coach state championship teams in 2014 and 2017.
“I felt like we did and normally we do pretty well as the season goes, we peak and stuff,” he said. “So between, like I said, the five seniors and (sophomore) Kaylee Volner and we have this new freshman girl (Ruby Kessler) — who is top eight in the state in the 100 and 200; she’s just starting to get in shape — we looked really good. We were a top-two team in each relay, we had hurdles, we had jumps, we had sprints and we have our distances just like we always do. It was more of a wellrounded team.”
The Spartans seniors included Sophia Horovitz, Ameera Waterford, Kallalei Ryden, Sienna Bigelow and Elly Swartz.
Volner is ranked No. 1 in the 3,000 meters, Ryden “was probably the front-runner in the 1,5(00) and the 8(00),” according to Grossman. “Telling the kids, they’ll all be disappointed. There’s a couple that are going to be really disappointed — Ameera, Kallalei is going to be severely disappointed. … Sophia is going to be super disappointed.
“Sophia Horovitz is the one who put us over the top — she just gradually improved and now she was in the top eight in the 100, she’s ranked No. 1 in the long jump, three or four in the triple jump. … All of them, Kaylee is going to be our next superstar girl.”
Grossman summed it up by saying, “This one is going to be our would-of, could-of year.”
Chun said the decision was unavoidable at this point. The announcement came minutes after the state Department of Education said that online learning would continue through May 28.
“Collectively, we have always planned for many different emergency scenarios, from security threats to medical emergencies to natural disasters,” Chun said. “In this case, the HHSAA and its member leagues used that same spirit and planning by expressing a willingness to discuss and explore every scenario and option possible to save the spring season.
“However, because the health and safety of our student-athletes and communities are our top priorities, there is no viable option to salvage the spring season.”
In addition to track and baseball, others spring sports are golf, judo, softball, tennis, boys volleyball, girls water polo and surfing.
The Baldwin baseball team has seven seniors on the roster. Okita said five have college potential in either baseball or football.
Infielder Reyn Okita, Craig Okita’s son, is one of the Baldwin seniors — the others are Dawson Tokishi, Haku Dudoit, Adam Yamashita, Kapena Kamai,
Shaeston Machida-Santos and Jenson Chong.
“There’s no senior night, there’s no last game, that’s the one thing that kind of stings at this point,” Craig Okita said. “A lot of these kids, we’ve coached them throughout their life. Haku, Reyn and Adam, we’ve coached them since they were 5 and to go out like this, it’s very heartbreaking.”
The Bears were state champions in 2016 and 2018 and a final four team last season.
“There’s good teams around the state, but we had a chance at it,” Craig Okita said. “And those times that you do have a chance at it don’t come around every year.”