Sports

Farmers Afar: Brayden Willing-McCutcheon

Thursday, June 25th, 2015

Brayden Willing-McCutcheon, a 2014 graduate of Molokai High School, is attending the University of Northern Colorado where he is studying Physical Therapy as his major.  He also made the UNC baseball team, NCAA Division I, however utilized his athletic Red Shirt year this year.  He received honors with the Western Athletic Conference, being recognized for his academic achievements of maintaining a 3.3 or higher GPA during the baseball season.

Brayden is playing in a collegiate summer ball league with the Greeley Grays, where he is pitching as well as getting some split time in the outfield.  He elected to play under the lights instead of in the ocean this summer.…

Players Test Skills in Football Showcase

Wednesday, June 17th, 2015

Competing in one of two Hawaii eight-player football leagues, Molokai rarely gets the chance to test itself against neighbor island teams in a sport without a state championship. However, at a football showcase on Oahu from June 5-7, the Farmers got to rub shoulder pads with scores of the state’s best athletes and take tips from some of the nation’s top college coaches.

Maximum Exposure Camp, put on by Hawaii’s Gridiron Performance Academy, helps players hone fundamentals while connecting with college coaches. In its second time at the camp, Molokai brought nine players, the most out of any Maui Interscholastic League school.…

Youth in Motion Takes on Ka`iwi Channel

Thursday, June 11th, 2015

Community Contributed

By Clare Seeger Mawae

The Maui Jim 40th Annual Molokai Challenge was held on Saturday, May 30 with an international fleet of paddlers racing Surf Ski’s OC1, Prone and SUP (Stand Up Paddle) from Kaluakoi, Molokai to Hawaii Kai, Oahu in this 32 mile race. Youth in Motion put a three-person SUP team together so that the kids could experience the channel as they lead up to their main event in July 2015.  The team consisted of 13-year-old Alex Mawae from Molokai, 15-year-old Lara Claydon from Maui, whose Dad works with the Molokai Baptist Church, and Youth in Motion founder Clare Mawae.…

Softball Seventh in State

Wednesday, May 20th, 2015

In the first game of last week’s state softball championships, Molokai sports fans had sinking feelings of déjà vu. For the third year in a row, the Lady Farmers faced Division II nemesis St. Francis. For the third year in a row, the Saints won. In the last two years after being defeated in the first game, Molokai lost a second to be eliminated from the tournament.

However, this year’s team wrote a different story. Despite falling 14-2 to St. Francis last Tuesday, the Lady Farmers turned around and beat Kalaheo 14-3 on Thursday and Konawaena 13-3 on Friday in the consolation bracket.…

7 Judoka Compete at States

Friday, May 15th, 2015

Molokai’s introductory course in judo is complete. The Farmers ended their first-ever judo season at last Saturday’s state competition, and while none of them took home a medal, the coaches were pleased to see how far their developing judoka, or judo students, have come.

“Considering that these guys just learned judo about two months ago, making it this far, winning some matches, getting to states, that’s real good pretty darn good,” said boys’ Head Coach Eli “Lihau” Maioho.

Three Molokai judoka were seeded within the top four in their weight classes going into the tournament. Senior Kaila`oe Cabanting (115) and junior Kui Han (285) went in ranked third, while freshman Ikua DePonte (145) went in fourth.…

Baseball Finishes Fifth at States

Wednesday, May 13th, 2015

For six and a half innings, the teams had fought hard. Pac-5 had been aggressive on the basepaths and Molokai had been timely with the bats, but with the two-hour limit up and the score tied, it had all come down to a coin toss, per the league’s time limit rule. A flip of a piece of silver would determine who would advance to the next round of the Division II state baseball tournament, and who would go home.

“In my mind I was thinking, this is the biggest coin toss of our life,” said Molokai Assistant Coach Kenny Adachi.…