By KEVIN JAKAHI
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
A garden, not just a single flower, grows from the brightest sunshine, and that’s a good way to describe Hawaii Prep senior Taylor Doherty.
She is the civic-minded and tireless captain for the HPA swimming and water polo BIIF championship teams.
Doherty headlines the 15th annual Roy Fujimoto Senior Scholarship class and is joined by Keaau’s Chayna Ann Yoshida, Kealakehe’s James Caudell and Laukoa Santos.
The scholarship program, named after the former BIIF executive director, is sponsored by KTA Super Stores and the league.
The recipients, who each receive a $1,500 stipend, are chosen based on their athletic and academic achievement as well as community service.
Doherty, who’s headed to the University of San Diego on a swimming scholarship, circles the bases several times on all fronts.
She holds a 3.92 grade-point average and plans to major in neuroscience with the dream of starting her own optometry practice.
In her favored swimming event, the 200-yard freestyle, Doherty was fifth in 1 minute, 56.29 seconds at the HHSAA state championships.
It was far behind her best BIIF time of 1:52.93, which would have been good enough for third at states and also a reminder how tough the competition is.
However, her personal record time in the 200 free stands for something better than a gold medal.
“After a long, mentally challenging two years of intense and exhausting training in and out of the pool without any improvement, the day finally came where I broke through the barriers that had been stopping me from achieving my goals,” she said. “It was more than just the 1:52.93 that defines my favorite moment in my BIIF swimming career.
“It was the 5 a.m. wake-up calls for morning practices, weight lifting sessions in the gym before school and weekends filled with eight-hour meets followed by long bus rides with my team all coming together that led to my success in the water that day.
“My coach (Mark Noetzel) had been preaching the ‘Stonecutter’s credo’ to my team since my freshman year. After my race, he told me how proud he was to see my swimming career truly embody the motto of not just the last hit of the hammer breaking the stone but all the hits before that had allowed the rock to finally crack.”
Noetzel knows Doherty well. He’s the HPA dean and has coached her at his Academy Swim Club since she was 9 years old.
“Her love for the water not only is about herself but assisting others as well,” he said. “For her leadership in the water and a kind, listening ear on the pool deck, Taylor’s teammates voted her captain.”
When she wasn’t serving as a Jr. Lifeguard or volunteer at water patrols for community ocean events, Doherty was playing for the HPA water polo team, which won its first BIIF title since 2007.
Ka Makani water polo coach Greg McKenna had Doherty in his AP Physics 2 class and also serves as a swimming assistant coach.
Physics is about the nature and properties of matter and energy, so McKenna knows what he’s talking about when he paints a picture of Doherty, who found ways to get better in his class. She got a B+ in the first semester and an A- in the second.
“Taylor has a special way of generating positive energy on the team,” he said. “As a coach, I am always impressed with the way that she motivates the people around her but is still able to transfer that energy to her own moments of brilliance.
“She knows that the success of the team is just as important as her own successes. This was one of the many considerations when she was elected captain for her senior year on both the swim and water polo teams.”
The other honorees from a field of 21 applicants are:
• Chayna Ann Yoshida: a Keaau senior who ran track and cross country and stood out for service to her school, in all 20 extracurricular, community, and civic activities, including captain roles for her sports, student body government, and Hawaii Meth Project volunteer.
Yoshida, who had a 4.081 GPA, painted the mural at school called “The Uninhabitable Zone,” a theme inspired by marine debris in the environment. During the summer, Yoshida worked 100 hours on the mural, six hours a day, then went to cross country practice.
That same dedication applied to her track event, the 100-meter hurdles. She averaged 21 seconds, cut it to 17 seconds and reached the BIIF finals last year.
“I too often felt overwhelmed by the challenges before me,” she said. “Although I finished eighth overall, I remarkably felt like I won something. Truly, I won the satisfaction of knowing that I had accomplished one of my greatest achievements in track and field.”
• James Caudell: a Kealakehe senior who played soccer, was part of four league titles and a three-time All-BIIF first-team defender.
Caudell, who had a 4.093 GPA, started his own SAT tutoring program and is a Legacy of Life volunteer. His dad, John Caudell, is a liver transplant recipient. He also works at the family’s car dealership.
He was strongly endorsed by his club coach Vince La Porta, from Kona Crush Soccer Academy, who was a stem cell researcher at Harvard and noted that he utilizes sports to cultivate well-rounded student-athletes.
“In my time as a coach over the past 12 years, nobody has surpassed James in his student-athlete capabilities,” La Porta said. “James has a 4.1 weighted GPA with five AP (advanced placement) classes. He attends training consistently and is the most honest and hard-working member of the team.”
• Laukoa Santos: a Kealakehe senior who played soccer, was part of four league titles and distinguished himself as a three-time BIIF player of the year.
Santos, who had a 3.952 GPA, has helped coach youngsters at the Kona Crush, organized several Highway Cleanups and served in the school’s Interact club to feed the homeless.
“His dedication on the field is a result of his character, the same character that drives his scholastic success,” La Porta said. “It helps that he is extremely athletic and blessed with high intelligence, but it’s his perseverance and commitment to hard work that truly has gotten him to his levels of success.”
