KSH senior athletes announce college commitments

KEAAU — Sixteen seniors from Kamehameha Schools – Hawai‘i announced their commitments to join collegiate athletic programs on Monday at an “athletic recognition” event.

The event was the senior project of Micah Wana, a boys volleyball captain at KSH.

The Pacific Northwest will become home to the majority of those seniors — with 11 of them heading to schools in Oregon, Washington and Montana.

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California dreamin’: Two-time HHSAA state wrestling champion Lainey Eckart will take her talents to Silicon Valley, where she will wrestle for Menlo College. There, Eckart will join several other wrestlers from Hawaii as part of the Oaks — who placed fourth at the 2023 NAIA National Championship.

Kale‘a Kuamo‘o will move to the other side of the Bay Area and play volleyball for Cal State East Bay in Hayward. The Pioneers compete in the NCAA Division II California Collegiate Athletic Association, and finished the 2022 season with a 20-7 overall record and a 13-5 conference play record. Kuamo‘o was a 2022 DI All-BIIF Honorable Mention.

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Four Warriors head to PLU: Savanna Colliado, Ezekiel-Aaron Gragas, Jadin Chaves and Rycen Pola will attend Pacific Lutheran University. Colliado will play volleyball while Gragas, Chaves and Pola will all join the Lutes’ football team.

PLU is a NCAA Division III Northwest Conference member — located in Tacoma, Washington.

Colliado was a Division I All-BIIF Second Team setter for Fall of 2022, and led the Warriors with 31 aces for the season. At PLU, she will join numerous women from Hawaii to play under head coach Kevin Aoki, who grew up in Honolulu and graduated from ‘Iolani School before going to PLU — where he has coached since 1996 and led the Lutes to 11 conference championships.

“I love the medical program that PLU has,” Colliado said. “The volleyball program is nice, I got to meet the girls and the coach was really comforting. I can see myself being successful there.”

Gragas and Chaves were members of the 2022 DII All-BIIF First Team Defense. Pola also made an impact on KSH’s BIIF DII Champion baseball team, but chose football for the next step in his athletic career.

PLU’s football roster includes a whopping 27 players from Hawaii — including Konawaena HS alumni Jesse Canda, Marc Basa and Kamaehuokalani Makanui, Waiakea HS alumnus Cheyn Tam-Switzer, Hilo HS alumni Kalen Davis-White and Layne DePeralta, Kealakehe grad Kekoa Meyers, Hawai‘i Prep grad Braeden Samura and numerous players from Oahu and Maui.

“PLU is a great fit for me sports-wise and academic-wise,” Chaves said. “A lot of the Hawaii boys that I met there were gearing me towards coming over there, and it felt like home. I feel like I have a chance to show what I’m capable of there.”

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Two more Warriors join Northwest Conference: Also joining the NCAA DIII Northwest Conference, Ka‘olapa Masuko will swim for Willamette University and Dylan Pires will play football at George Fox University — against his former teammates at PLU.

Masuko was consistently one of the top male short-distance freestyle swimmers in BIIF. He will get to become part of Willamette’s men’s swim team, which team placed No. 6 at the 2023 Northwest Conference Championship. WU is in Salem, Oregon’s capital city.

On the Bruins’ football team, Pires will join Konawaena’s Kawelu Kaiawe and Anthony Torres. GFU is located in Newberg, Oregon — which is roughly one hour’s drive southwest of Portland.

“George Fox felt a lot like home, since I’m from Waimea” Pires said. “Newberg is a small town that felt like everybody is close together.”

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Four more Warriors will move to Oregon: Three other KSH volleyball players will play for universities in Oregon — Taina Kaauwai, Kilinoelehua Helm and Cammie Masanda.

Kaauwai, an All-BIIF First Team middle blocker, will play NCAA Division I volleyball at University of Portland. In 2022, she led the Warriors in blocks and notched a total of 29 kills in three games during the HHSAA playoffs. In Portland, she will play alongside other players from Hawaii — such as Kamehameha Schools – Kapalama alumnus Maui Robins and Roosevelt HS graduate Jordan Bardouche.

Helm — also a 2022 DI All-BIIF First Team middle blocker — will play for Western Oregon University, an NCAA Division II Great Northwest Athletic Conference member. WOU is located in Monmouth, which is a 20- minute drive from Salem. Helm will play under head coach Kaiao Nahale-a, who graduated from KSH in 2010.

Masanda will trade in the wood court for the sand court, playing beach volleyball at Corban University — an NAIA Cascade Collegiate Conference member in Salem. The Corban Warriors were the NAIA National Runners-up this spring, falling 3-1 to Vanguard University three weeks ago in the NAIA Championship.

Dylan Hanson, one of the KSH baseball team’s best hitters and pitchers, will also play in the Cascade Collegiate Conference — at Eastern Oregon University. EOU is in La Grande, a remote city near the Umatilla National Forest, Baker City and Hell’s Canyon.

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Frontier-bound: Tobey Lau, a 2022 DI All-BIIF First Team linebacker and 2023 HHSAA sliver medalist discus thrower, will play football at University of Montana Western — an NAIA Frontier Conference member located in Dillon, Montana, near Yellowstone National Park. MWU’s roster includes eight players from Hawaii, mostly from Oahu — as well as line coach Jed Heffernan, a native of Hau‘ula.

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Into the desert: Two Warriors will land in the southwestern states at NCAA Division I Western Athletic Conference member schools.

Basketball player Logan Enos will attend Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona. The Antelopes went 11-7 in conference play for the 2022-23 season before falling to Gonzaga in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Elijah Dinkel will play football and soccer Utah Tech University (formerly known as Dixie State) in St. George. Dinkel was the 2023 BIIF DII soccer Player of the Year, HHSAA 2023 DII All-Tournament Most Outstanding Player, All-BIIF DII football First Team Kicker and All-BIIF DII First Team Punter.

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All the way to the midwest: Waiahuli Akau, one of the KSH water polo team’s top scorers, will play for Augustana College — located in Rock Island, Illinois, part of the Quad Cities metropolitan area. Last week, the Augies placed third in the USA Water Polo DIII National Championships.

Leisey Keli‘i, the DI All-BIIF First Team libero, will play volleyball at Dodge City Community College in Kansas. The Conquistadors play in the NJCAA Division I Region VI Plains District, and went 22-9 for the 2022 season.