WAILUA — Kauai’s Jessica Hreljac pulled to a tie with teammate Taryn Taguma to lead the Kauai High School girls golf team to a 266 win Saturday during the Kauai Interscholastic Federation golf match contested under soggy conditions at the Wailua Golf Courses.
Deven Kimoto continued to lead the Red Raider boys, finishing the wet round at 80 (40-40) for the best round of the day and leading the Kauai boys to its fifth win at 331 strokes, 45 better than the runner-up Kapaa who finished at 376 led by Kekoa Eisenhour ending the day at 86 (46-42), six strokes off the pace.
Top boys individualist honors went to Kauai’s Kanoa Nii (40-41) and AJ Apalla (42-39) after both boys finished tied at 81, a tie for second place overall.
Kanoa’s 81 was a stroke better than his brother Kamden’s 82 (39-43) in the sibling rivalry in the KIF golf season.
Kelsey Tomimoto of Waimea High School earned top individualist honors in the wet Wailua course after finishing with a 107 (51-56), fifth overall in the girls’ field and three strokes better than Kauai’s Keesha Brown (54-56-110).
Kauai’s girls team was the sole participant in that competition after other schools failed to field the minimum number of players at the match where the first threesome were squeezed in between the boys’ pairings because Kauai High School was scheduled for its prom.
Ben Griep of Island School topped the Boys Nine-Hole players with a 57 over Kevin Cabreira’s 66 from Kauai Christian Academy who tied with Waimea’s Geon Kittredge at 66. Top Girls Nine-Hole player honors belonged to Waimea’s Riley Devalos who finished with a 66, four strokes better than KCA’s Sophia Marvel who ended at 70.
“This match was doubtful because of the weather,” said Sam Pratt, KIF tournament director. “We had a meeting prior to the start, and because there was no lightning, we decided to go ahead and play. If lightning occurred, then there is KIF protocol in place to handle the situation.”
The final round of KIF golf tees off Saturday at the Puakea Golf Course when the first groups go off at 11:30 a.m. The qualifying rounds, where the KIF individualists will be determined along with golfers qualifying for the David S. Ishii Foundation Hawaii High School Athletic Association state finals will take place April 27 and 28 at the Wailua Golf Course.
Results
w Boys Team Kauai: 331 – Deven Kimoto (40-40-80), Kamden Nii (39-43-82), Riley Gokan (41-43-84), Christian Ganir (43-42-85), Jaydon Kyono (46-42-88).
w Boys Team Kapaa: 376 – Kekoa Eisenhour (43-43-86), Justice Chatfield (47-47-94), Tyren Nakamura-Palacio (47-50-97), Kaimana Zarbaugh (49-50-99).
w Boys Team Waimea: 388 – Nick Esposo (45-38-83), Luke De La Pena (49-49-98), Keanu Yamamoto (49-51-100), Braden Kobayashi (54-54-107), Ryan Martin (53-56-109).
w Boys Team Island School: 414 – Reece Valencia (46-42-88), James Pratt (46-47-93), Henry Scherer (54-59-113), Justice Snyder (58-62-120).
w Girls Team Kauai: 266 – Jessica Hreljac (42-45-87), Taryn Taguma (45-42-87), Tyra Oshiro (46-46-92), Sabrina Murphy (49-50-99).
w Boys Individualists: AJ Apalla (Kau) 42-39-81, Kanoa Nii (Kau) 40-41-81, Braeden Yokoyama (Kau) 47-42-89, Mosiah Bautista 46-45-91, Justen Solatre (Kau) 46-48-94, Nathan Marugame (Kau) 53-52-105, Kylan Constantino (Wai) 57-54-111.
w Girls Individualists: Kelsey Tomimoto (Wai) 51-56-107, Keesha Brown (Kau) 54-56-110, Daneica Muraoka (Wai) 61-59-120, Kyra Robley (Kau) 65-62-127, Breeanne Garcia (Kau) 66-78-144.
w Boys 9-Hole Individualists: Ben Griep (IS) 57, Kevin Cabreira (KCA) 66, Geon Kittredge (Wai) 66.
w Girls 9-Hole Individualists: Riley Davalos (Wai) 66, Sophia Marvel (KCA) 70, Jana Sheatz (KCA) 71, Quinn Catlin (IS) 72, Bella Hoyle (KCA) 72.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
