#Maui Interscholastic League

Bal grew up as the granddaughter of a longtime Maui High coach and the daughter of a standout Maui High player, and now she and the 12-0 Sabers are on the verge of their second-straight MIL title.

With the title, the Aloha Volleyball Association’s Under-14 boys team qualifies for a spot in the AAU national tournament in July in Florida.

With high school surfing becoming an official state sport in Hawaiʻi this spring, coaches are required to take safety clinics that include a long swim, CPR and first aid.

Now, Na Ali’i are headed back to the Hele/HHSAA boys Division I state tournament as MIL champions for first time since their state title run four years ago.

Despite playing without the only returning starter from last season’s state championship, the Spartans swept Hāna and improved to 19-2 overall and 9-0 in MIL Division II play.

The Bears have ridden that family atmosphere to a 7-0 start in the Maui Interscholastic League Division I regular season and are on the brink of clinching their sixth berth in the last seven state tournaments.

The Lady Lunas won an MIL all-sports record 164 league games in a row and secured 19 consecutive titles from 2005 to 2024. But last season, Maui High won the title, and with both teams undefeated so far, their first showdown of the season comes with high stakes.

Oregon State University started the tournament, involving four teams, in 2016 and it has been played every year since with the exception of 2020 when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the first full-time Major League Baseball manager ever from the state of Hawai’i, Suzuki was humbled as he prepared to go to the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings in Orlando, Fla., on Dec. 6.

Kamehameha Maui had 11 senior starters play their final high school game on Friday, including the school’s all-time leading rusher Zedekaiah Campbell, college-football-bound offensive lineman Pa’u Spencer, and defensive leader Kolt Kaho’ohanohano.

Together, one of the most prolific running back tandems in the state led the Warriors to a 37-18 win over sister school Kamehameha Hawai’i in a semifinal of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Division II tournament on Saturday night.

Iapani “Poncho” Laloulu and Fa’anu Ma’o were always close growing up, Laloulu on O’ahu and Ma’o on Maui, but they grew closer as Ma’o’s mother, Failagi Laloulu Ma’o, battled breast cancer that first hit her in 2017 when Fa’anu was 9 years old and Poncho was 13.

The Warriors are taking the “college bowl” approach, spending the four weeks before the state tournament studying film, lifting weights and getting healthy before they play a semifinal game in the state tournament on Nov. 22.

Saturday night’s second-place finish felt different than 2007, 2012 or 2014 when Seabury Hall was also the Division II state runner-up; the Spartans fought back from two sets down to force a fifth set that came down to the wire before bowing to Kapa’a of the Kauai Interscholastic Federation.

Lahainaluna saw its remarkable Maui Interscholastic League record of 17 straight trips to state football tournaments come to an end with Saturday’s result.

Kurt Suzuki, a 2001 graduate from Mauiʻs Baldwin High School, will become the first MLB manager from Hawai’i when he takes command of the Los Angeles Angels.

The Warriors rolled to a 27-7 win over Lahainaluna on Friday night at Kana‘iaupuni Stadium to clinch another trip to state with a 3-0 record in the second round of Maui Interscholastic League play — they were already the first-round champions in Division II with a 4-0 record.

Archer Fabrao will participate in her fourth state tournament that runs Oct. 27 and Oct. 30-Nov. 1 after the Warriors clinched their 21st consecutive state tournament appearance with a 25-12. 25-20, 26-24 win over King Kekaulike on Tuesday. 

The 41-year-old Donan Cruz was named an assistant coach for the University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball program that he has battled for the last four years as head coach at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. 

The Warriors took another impressive step towards showing everyone who’s boss in Maui high school football with a 49-28 win over Baldwin on Friday night at Kanai’aupuni Stadium.