Academy athletics having  very, very, very good year

By Anna Weaver | Hawaii Catholic Herald

Sacred Hearts Academy sports teams are having a very good year.

For the fifth time in eight years, the schools’ air riflery team won the girls state tournament. The volleyball and softball teams took home their respective Division II state championships.

The school’s basketball team is the Interscholastic League of Honolulu (ILH) girls Division II champions and was undefeated as of April 27, with one game left to play before going on to the state Division II tournament in May.

“I think it’s unparalleled as far as the number of state championships,” said Sacred Hearts athletic director and softball coach Wade Okamura. “It was just our time in some of these sports.”

Okamura attributes the teams’ successes this year to “outstanding coaches,” having players “gel at the right time during the right year,” and moving several of the sports teams from Division I to Division II over the last few years.

“We’re a much stronger athletic program competing at the Division II level,” Okamura said.

Having already won the Division II state volleyball and softball championships, Okamura says that if the basketball team also manages to take home a state championship it would be the equivalent of a co-educational school’s “Triple Crown” — championships in basketball, football and baseball.

The high school sports teams aren’t the only Academy successes. In its first year with an independent team, the school’s intermediate soccer team won the Interscholastic League of Honolulu championship. The school hopes to add a varsity team next year.