Warriors Athletic Director considers himself “lucky”

Kimo Weaver

Sometimes playing sports can lead to life changing opportunity, it did for Kimo Weaver.

Weaver refers to it as being “LUCKY” but there is no luck involved when you have talent on the field.

“I was lucky enough to receive an athletic scholarship where I played football for Southern Utah University,” Weaver said.

The ‘Thunderbirds’ made Weaver into a safety and the rest is history.

“I’m not sure I would have even gone to college, if it wasn’t for that scholarship,” Weaver said.  “I was undeclared for the first two years  when my academic counselor who also happened to be the school’s athletic director asked me what I wanted to declare.”

Weaver spent all of youth involved in team sports.  Football, Wrestling, Track & Field and Baseball were his favorites.

To add to his repertoire at age 4 he started learning Aikido.

So not knowing how to answer his athletic director and his undeclared academic status, Weaver replied “I want to coach!”

From that conversation, years ago, resulted in a lifetime career.

Weaver went onto get his BS in Biology and Physical Education with a minor in Health education and endorsements in coaching and athletic training and was placed in the Teaching Program.

Weaver put his teaching degree and love for sports to good use first teaching for several years.

“Then I moved to Las Vegas where I received my masters degree in education,” Weaver said. 

“I taught high school Bio-chemistry and coached football, wrestling and track & field for about 9 years in Vegas.”

Vegas’ loss soon became the Big Island’s gain as he began a stellar career in coaching at Ka’u in 2000.

Weaver has turned in and produced several hurdle champions both in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation and at the Hawaii High School Athletic Association level.

For his outstanding coaching in track and field Weaver was selected by his peers as “Coach of the Year” in the BIIF on three separate occasions.

Married to Chesha with a recent Kamehameha Hawaii class graduate daughter, Kiana, c/o 2009.

Kiana is age 21 and going to school in North Carolina and will graduate in March.

Weaver now serves at the Athletic Director of Kamehameha-Hawaii.

“I support coaches, managing events, develop schedules, educate student, parents, and would like to hit the ‘panic button,” Weaver said.  “Well, it’s high school athletics!”

Weaver was recently chosen to replace Bob Wagner when Wags decided to place his cleats into retirement.

“There is nothing like being a part of our student’s education and preparing them for the rest of their lives for new experience and life lessons,”  Weaver said.   “I truly believe it can only be attained through athletics.”

Weaver through sports participation has found something he enjoys doing and to think that a football scholarship made it all possible.

“I love what I do!” he said proudly.

And what does Weaver do today to stay healthy and fit?

For diet he follows the same plan as Waiakea Coach Jordan Rosado. 

“I watch the food on my plate go into my mouth,” Weaver said with a huge grin.

“I love food, all kinds and lots of it,” he said. 

But for exercise Weaver is a firm believer of weight training.

“Working with weights is such a big development of athletes,” Weaver said.  “It is what we did in high school and college and while coaching.”

Weaver believes that weight training becomes part of the experience of being an athlete.

“I don’t want to let go of the experience because it is so ingrained in me,” he said.

When I asked him why he exercised?  Weaver laughed and said, “So I can watch what I eat!”

But exercise he does as he is on the elliptical machine or treadmill for about  45 minutes per day, 5 days a week.

He’ll also will do what else?  Hit the weight room and weight train for an hour each day.  His passion for the weights has spilled over to his students as he was the Conditioning Coach for the Warriors in which they produced many BIIF wrestling champions and a couple of state champions.

Everywhere that Weaver goes he manages to bring out the best in student/athletes and he has sent many off to colleges where they too are afforded the opportunity, like himself, to attain a college  education.

Why all the cross training workouts for Weaver? 

“It gives me a feeling of accomplishment afterward and I am ready and alert to take on the day,” he said.

With most people who are use to the feelings and benefits of a regular workout, take this away from them and you throw them off their balance.

“I hate the feeling I get when I miss a workout,” Weaver said.

Kimo Weaver considers himself ‘lucky’ to have gone to college, but can you imagine what a loss he would have been to the youth of the Big Island had he not gotten that football scholarship and never had that opportunity?

So to Mr. Lucky, glad you came, glad you experienced, glad you are here!  From one lucky dog to another.

And someday should you happen to see a very grateful and blessed jogger  come passing through the back roads of Hawaiian Paradise Park remember to say “woof” and never shy away from “Running with the Big Dog.”

Email the Big Dog at waiakeabigdog@aol.com.

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Canefire Conditioner a tradional fun race for pairs

KEAAU – The Big Island Interscholastic Federation opened its season with a traditional Canefire Conditioner, on the campus of Christian Liberty Academy.

It doesn’t happen to be your usual 3 mile cross country race because harriers are paired up with a teammate and there are special rules for team scoring.

“I ran a conditioner at Taylor University (Indiana).  It too was a preseason race,” CLA Coach Frank Grotenhuis said.

The objective is to allow everyone to run with a partner doing a relay format so that each runs a total of 3 miles (the total distance in a BIIF race, but with taking a 1 mile interval beak in between.

Hilo’s 1st and 2nd place teams.

“I think that the kids like it because they have a rest between each mile and they can get away with not being in 3 mile shape,” Grotenhuis said.  “Coaches have liked the fact that it’s a low key event, they get to see where their kids are at, and they can see some of their runners win awards.”

 “Our goal has been to make it a fun event for the schools and give them a chance to get out to Keaau and see our campus,” Grotenhuis said.  “It is always an eye opener for our school to see how popular cross country is!”

The Canefire conditioner gives 3 team trophies and 15 pairs of medals per race, according to Grotenhuis.

This year’s winner pair were both for Hilo in Stephen Hunter and Timon Skinner for the boys and Mahana Sabado-Halpern and Nina Bean for the girls.

Viking Coach Lory Hunter divided her girl pairs so that their number 1 runner would be paired with their number 4 runner and their #2 would be paired with #3.

“We wanted the team pair to push each other,” Coach Hunter said.

And Hilo strategy paid off as their two teams battled for first place and finished one-two with Carmen Garson-Shumway and Kaylee Rapoza finishing within  three minutes of each other.

#2 boys team Honokaa & #1 Hilo

“This is an exciting run and this is my favorite race,” Garson-Shumway said.

Bean echoed her teammate statement, “we pushed them to run hard and we paced them to make it fun” she said.

The Hilo pairs were clocked at their mile splits in the 6:52 range with the final mile reaching a speedy 6:02.

The third pair crossing the finish line was TeHani Jones and Tiana Iwata from Kamehameha.

Each coach came with their own strategy.

Michael Franklin head coach for Hawaii Prep Academy girl’s team said he has been doing the same thing for the past 5 years. He didn’t want to pull any surprises on anybody and the whole thing about his team strategy is to try to train them to run as a pack.

HPA lost to Hilo in team scoring by one point. But that didn’t change Franklin’s opinion of his strategy to train them to run as a group.

Coach Jordon Rosado of Waiakea said he likes the format at CLA because it affords his team to rest between miles and he wants to see what it is like when you put all these miles together during the week.

“It’s a great fun way to keep kids motivated to want to run and the CLA coach does a fantastic job putting this event together,” Rosado said.

Coach Joel Truesdell of Kamehameha’s team has done the Canefire conditioner for all seven years.

“It’s a great way to kick off the season, the kids love it. We don’t really train for the race.

Frank Grotenhuis is a great host and it’s his way of showing aloha,” Truesdell said.

On the boy’s side, was another pair of Hilo boys in Stephen Hunter and Timon Skinner taking first place.

“We were running in second place until our final baton pass in which we took over the lead,” Hunter said.

The Honokaa Dragon’s had a ten second lead on Hunter but the young Viking made up the time in a thrilling eleven second turn around.

Hunter had to pass the Dragons in the final baton pass to make it a clean sweep for the Vikings, but Honokaa still pulled out a team title.

Another pair of Vikings in Isreal Sim and Max Panoff came in third place within a minute of the other Hilo team.

Fourth place went to the pair of Paul Gregg and Tyler McCullough from Parker as the Bulls were separated by a mere minute and twelve seconds from first place.

But in the Conditioner format it takes your top four scoring teams to win the team title.

Despite the high temperature of a noon day boy’s race and no trade winds coming through the cane fields it still made for a great venue.

Grotenhuis keeps getting larger and larger participation, with 300 last year and a total of 328 runners this year.

CLA makes the awards possible through a series of fund raisers throughout the year, according to Grotenhuis.

A change in venue has BIIF cross country moving to the campus of HPA next Saturday Sept 1 starting at 10 a.m. instead of Kealakehe.

HPA’s Sims, Honokaa’s Moniz, crowned BIIF cross country champions

Zoe Sims

KEAAU – Honokaa’s Chayce Moniz and Hawaii Preparatory Academy’s Zoe Sims won individual cross country titles and in the process led the Honokaa boys and HPA girls to team titles during the Big Island Interscholastic Federation cross country championships held Saturday at Kamehameha.

For Moniz and Sims it was the first time either had crossed the finished line in first place during a season of parity and unpredictability.

Sims credited her win to flying fruit, saying that images of being a plantain traveling through the air at 70 miles per hour made the difference during the race.

“I kept thinking of a poem our coach, Michael Franklin, read to the team called Problems with Hurricanes, as I kept seeing all these flying fruit during the race and I was a plantain,” Sims said.

With Sims victory the BIIF had seen six different girls win a meet in six weeks, with four of those girls wearing the red and white Ka Makani uniform.

talking about flying fruit

“I had fun today running with my teammates in the lead pack,” Sims said.  “We talked to each other and encouraged each other.”

Sims ran with teammates and previous BIIF winners, Kristiana Van Pernis and Mariah Haight as the threesome led from start to finish, while exchanging words.

Waiakea’s Kelsie Kobayashi and Hilo’s Carmen Garson-Shumway tried their best to stay with the leaders, but in the end finished in fourth and fifth respectively.

“I’m really excited about winning this race and I don’t want the season to end,” Sims said.

“Whenever Zoe would say something to me during the race, I answered her back,” runner up Van Pernis said.  “Zoe would say plantain and I’d say coconut.  The idea was to focus on other things and take the pressure off running.” 

“We always try to read poems to them before each race and we’d expect them to take that into the race,” Franklin said of his unusual race tactic.

Ka Makani girls dominated the team competition, as they’ve done all season long, capturing their fourth consecutive league title and their 34^th league crown in the last 38 season.

“I guess now the secret to our success is out,” Franklin said with a wide grin.  “The ability to have six different winners in six weeks is a complement to the credit of the running programs on the Big Island”

HPA legend, Stan Shutes

Franklin also gave credit to HPA’s rich tradition of winning cross country titles to his predecessor, Stan Shutes.

“I walked into this program and I’m just glad that I can continue it during the years that I’ve been here, but Stan, who passed away this year, deserves much of the credit,” Franklin said.

Franklin’s assistant coach, Sarah Hayslip, English teacher at HPA, has implemented the reading of poems along with Franklin during the regular Monday team meeting.

“Our girls are made stronger by the level of talent here on the Big Island,” Franklin said.  “Girls like Kelsie and Carmen push our girls to be better and we are appreciative of the caliber of running they bring each week.”

Waiakea’s Kobayashi, a senior, was very pleased with her fourth place finish saying that she ran her best.

“I am blessed for having a supportive team, coaches and competitors,” Kobayashi said.  “I am also grateful to have had my parents at every race during my four years of running.”

Ka Makani harriers won the varsity 3 mile team scoring with 24 points followed by Hilo with 82.

In the boys race it was a health Chayce Moniz showing what he is capable of doing when healthy.

Moniz had been out early in the season with an illness, according to Honokaa Athletic Director Keith Tolentino.

“The boys team (Honokaa) had either illness or injuries throughout the season and we only got to see them running together in the last two meets,” Tolentino said.  “Our coaches, Josh Abner and Johnny Anderson, work really hard with the kids and they really push them.  Bottom line is whoever steps up during the last meet is what matters and these kids peaked at the right time.”

The Honokaa coaches and team declined to be interviewed after winning their fifth consecutive team title.

“I’m sorry, but my team and I have no comment and we don’t want to be interviewed until after states,” Moniz said.

Moniz victory was the only one of the season and Waiakea’s Jackson Halford who had won most of the meets during the season having high praise of his competitor.

Halford

“I ran my hardest and Chayce earned the win,” Halford said.  “I just tried pacing off him during the race as I didn’t expect him to be in the lead and he took me by surprise.”

Moniz and teammate Tony Conners took the early lead with a pack of four runners, in Halford, St Joseph’s Andrew Langtry, Kamehameha’s Shawn Correa Doll, Makua Lani’s Brandt Mabuni and Parkers Paul Gregg in hot pursuit.

“I never expected Chayce to hold the lead for the entire three miles,” Halford said.  “I was expecting him to die out at the end, but he didn’t.”

Honokaa beat out Waiakea in team scoring, 50 to 65, with a philosophical Waiakea coach Jordan Rosado.

“I’m happy with our second place finish,” Rosado said.  “It is better than coming in third.”

The top two boys and girls teams, HPA and Hilo, along with Honokaa and Waiakea, won the automatic berth to the HHSAA championships along with the top 38 boys and 37 girls to the state championship coming up on Saturday on the island of Maui.

Waiakea uses home course advantage to take top cross country spots

Kobayashi and Halford

Home course advantage paid big dividends for Waiakea as Warriors Jackson Halford and Kelsie Kobayashi raced to the finish line to win cross country meets on the home turf this past Saturday.

Kobayashi won her first Big Island Interscholastic Federation of the season in convincing fashion beating out a talent laden Hawaii Preparatory Academy squad.

“This is my home course and I’m a senior so those things were my motivation today,” Kobayashi said.  “I wanted to raise the bar and make my mark as I know I’ll never be able to compete here again.”

Kobayashi gave the crowd of over two hundred little doubt as the Warrior took the lead early with a pack of four Ka Makani giving chase.

“I was running scared for two miles as I knew there were girls behind me and I kept telling myself to keep the pace,” Kobayashi said.  “I really wanted to win this one today and I wasn’t going to let anyone catch me.”

Kobayashi, who has had an up and down season this year won her last cross country race last season, on where else, the Waiakea course.

“I can be my biggest critic and have been battling some confidence issues, but today I put all that behind me,” she said.

Ka Makani Mariah Haight and Zoe Sims finished second and third respectively behind Kobayashi finishing more than 30 seconds behind while Viking sophomore Carmen Garson-Shumway took fourth.

Haight

“I liked the Waiakea course,” Haight said.  “I especially like the downhill’s as I felt as though I was gliding.  It was a fun day and I set a personal record time in running 20 minutes and 1 second.  This has to be my second favorite course behind HPA.”

Another sophomore, Garson-Shumway, had trouble getting out and separated from the more than 140 girls in the competition.

“There were a lot of girls ahead of me at the start and I had a hard time getting out,” Garson-Shumway said.  “I was in eighth place going into the first hill and tried to catch up to the HPA girls.”

Garson-Shumway managed to break the foursome of Ka Makani and then tried valiantly to pull pass Sims and Haight at the end.

“I need to work on the middle part of my race as my finish is good,” she said.

Correa Doll

Prior to the boys race Kamehameha’s Shawn Correa Doll made the bold statement that he was going to win, but the gritty senior fell a little short as Halford pulled out the big win.

“I went out too fast,” Correa Doll said from the trainer’s tent after the race.  “My shin splints were painful as I am trying to train and race through the discomfort.

Despite falling short Correa Doll had a positive attitude about his second place finish.

“I didn’t allow anyone to pass me on the course,” he said.  “I have to give Jackson (Halford) a lot of credit as he is an awesome runner.”

Halford clocked in at 16 minutes 37 seconds with Correa Doll less than 20 seconds behind.

Conners

“I like running on this course and racing against Shawn,” Halford said.  “We traded the lead several times as he would throw surges at me and I’d have to respond.  I could tell that Shawn was here to win and he gave me a very good race.”

The surprise came when Honokaa’s Tony Connors claimed third place, his highest finish in his BIIF cross country career.

“I just wanted to see how I’d do and I tried to stay with the top runners in this race,” Connors said.  “I surprised myself that I could stick with the leaders as I’ve never finished in the top 10 of any race before.”

In team scoring Waiakea won the boys race by 18 points over Kamehameha to a jubilant home cross country coach Jordan Rosado.

“Our boys have won every race this season and winning on our home course today is extra special,” Rosado said.  “We basically told them all week that this is their home course and it’s all about pride.”

Does home course have an advantage?

“It was definitely an advantage to be running here as we train on this course everyday and a couple of days ago we had time trials,” Rosado said.  “I’m glad the boys are pushing themselves in races and at practice.”

The girl’s team scoring race was won by HPA, which has won every BIIF race this season with Hilo following in second.

The BIIF season continues on Friday with an all schools meet in Waimea on the campus of Hawaii Prep starting at 3 p.m.

Warrior 3 mile run/walk scheduled for Saturday, Sept 17 at WHS

photo from past Warrior 3 miler

The Waiakea cross country team will be host a 3 mile run/walk on Saturday, Sept 17 starting at 8 am at the Warrior track.

The purpose of the run is to raise funds for the WHS cross country teams travel expenses, according to Coach Jordan Rosado.

Entry fee is $20 which includes a Warrior tee shirt and post race refreshments.  Participants and asked to meet at the schools locker rooms for number pickup between 7 and 7:45 am.  Awards will be given to the top overall male and female in a variety of age divisions.

Call Waiakea High and ask for Jordan Rosado for further information or contact any member of their cross country team.