Owens settles for second in tennis

By Fred Guzman
MauiNow.com

Jackie Owens of Lahainaluna gave three-time defending singles champion Kristin Lim her toughest challenge of the prep season, actually becoming the only opponent to take a set from the Punahou standout.

But it wasn’t nearly enough as Owens capped her outstanding high school career by having to settle for a second straight runnerup finish in the state girls’ tennis championships on Oahu.  The final scores:  6-1, 6-7, 6-1.

Owens is a four-time MIL singles champion.  Kim won three straight state singles titles in addition to capturing a gold in doubles as a freshman.

Punahou easily repeated as champion in both the boy’s and girls’ divisions.

It was two games and out for the two MIL teams – Kamehameha and Maui High — in the state Division-I baseball tournament, but the league’s two entries in D-II ended up meeting each other for third place, with Molokai defeating St. Anthony 6-2 on Saturday.  Scottie Rapanot led the Farmers with three hits and three RBI.

Punahou captured its sixth straight D-I baseball crown be defeating Kailua 3-2 in the title game, while Maryknoll took top honors in D-II with a 3-2 win over top-seeded and defending champion Kauai High.

In water polo, third-seeded Lahainaluna defeated Hilo 8-1 for fifth place while Kamehameha-Maui lost 5-3 to Mililani in the consolation final.

The top finish by an MIL athlete in judo was turned in by Baldwin’s Lori Takafuji.  She was fourth in the girls’ 220-pound division.

Next on the state prep championship docket are softball, boy’s volleyball and boy’s golf.

SOFTBALL:  After completing an unbeaten run through the MIL, Baldwin was seeded third in the state Division-I girls’ tourney that opens tomorrow at the Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium on the University of Hawaii campus.

MIL runnerup Kamehameha-Maui opens its bid against Kapolei at 3 p.m. tomorrow, with the winner facing top-seeded Iolani at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.  Baldwin draws an opening-round bye before facing the winner of Hilo vs. Mid-Pac at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

In D-II, Molokai was seeded fourth and will play the winner of Kaiser-Konawaena at in a 7 p.m. quarterfinal game at Central Oahu Regional Park on Wednesday.  Before then, Hana will meet Aiea tomorrow at 7 o’clock.

VOLLEYBALL:  Kamehameha-Maui was seeded fourth in D-I and Seabury Hall third in D-II.

Baldwin faces a huge challenge in its first state appearance in more than a decade versus Kamehmeha-Kapalama in a 5 o’clock match on Wednesday at Radford High.  Kamehameha-Maui meets the winner of Mililani vs. Kamehameha-Hawaii on Thursday.

Seabury will tangle with the Waipahu-Le Jardin winner at 5 p.m. Thursday at Kalani High.

GOLF:  The state boy’s tourney opens a two-day run tomorrow at the Royal Lahaina, with 20 MIL athletes in the 120-player field.