WAIKOLOA — With another Big Island Interscholastic Federation (BIIF) golf season well underway, the Waiakea boys have a target on their backs once again.
The Warriors are coming off two consecutive state titles, looking to complete the three-peat in 2025. But Waiakea is facing different challenges this season — challenges that head coach Alika Toledo hopes will ultimately make the team strong enough to make another championship push.
“We’re a young team this year, so there’s always room for improvement,” Toledo told West Hawaii Today at Friday’s match at Waikoloa Kings Course. “We have three state champions on our current team, but we are a little behind the 8-ball.”
The Warriors lost two key pieces from their title runs to graduation. Noah Otani, who placed in the top 10 of the boys individual competition at states, left to golf at Hawaii-Hilo while Ryder Ng now plays for Linfield University in McMinnville, Ore. Now in 2025, the team has no seniors.
With the loss of the star pair, Waiakea has fallen a tad behind where it wants to currently be. Through four BIIF matches, the Warriors have won two of them — conceding the other two to Kealakehe, who has made big strides as a unit this season with stars such as Noah Okazaki, Malakai Akeo and Xander Broderson.
“Kealakehe has been on our tails the last couple years,” Toledo said. “So the way they’ve been playing this year doesn’t surprise me. The competition makes us all better, so it’s good to have.”
But as Toledo said, the Warriors still have three champions on their squad that they trust, including junior Jake Otani. The junior has been on a tear this season, winning three boys individual competitions with an average score of 70. In the March 26 meet at Hilo Municipal Golf Course, Otani shot a career-best 64 (-8), which was also a BIIF record.
“It felt amazing,” Otani said of his historic round. “I felt like I was unstoppable; I felt confidence with every shot I hit. It’s all about confidence in golf and being able to grind it out.
“For me, it felt like it was natural. I didn’t enter the round thinking I was going to do well, I just wanted to focus on my game and make sure all of my drives were in the fairway and all of my shots were on the green.”
With Otani’s older brother and Ng now playing collegiately, the young star has a bigger responsibility this season as Waiakea’s top golfer. But Otani is battle-tested despite his age, as he placed in the top 15 at states as a sophomore a year ago after parring the final round.
But like any athlete, Otani knows he can keep improving. He pointed to his mental fortitude as something he’d like to shape as the season goes on.
“(Golf) is all about mentality,” he explained. “Your game may not always be on point, but being able to grind it out with your mind and bounce back from the negatives is what it’s really all about.”
“Jake is a blessing to have,” Toledo added. “Being a state champion as a freshman and sophomore, he definitely wants to continue that drive and winning mentality for us. Now that we don’t have seniors, I told him that he needs to take the leadership role by encouraging his teammates and sharing his knowledge with them. Jake is a thinker — he sees stuff that other kids his age may not see.”
Otani also has two other teammates that can help the team now and in the future. Sophomores Noah Miyazono and Skyler Miyashiro have made noise during the meets this season, with both consistently placing in the top 15-20. A year ago at states as freshman, the pair both placed in the top 40. Toledo has been pleased with their play thus far, but firmly believes there is another level each can hit as they inch closer towards playoffs.
“(Miyazono and Miyashiro) were inspirational for us last year as freshmen to help win our state title,” he said.
Sophomore Olin Sakamoto is also making strides. Consistently placing in the top 20 this season, Toledo believes he will be ready for the bigger matches down the road due to his experience as a freshman in 2024.
“(Sakamoto) was our first alternate at states, so he was able to experience the tournament atmosphere, which I thought was good,” Toledo said.
No matter what happens this season, Waiakea plans to enjoy the journey of improving each week as a young team. But to hoist another state trophy, the Warriors agreed that their accountability and attention to detail need to be on point.
“I would say mentally, we need to get tougher,” Toledo said. “I told the boys that I don’t care about your age, grade or last name — you need to be accountable for yourself. I expect them to go out there and play like champions every week. We want to get back to our team philosophy of making pars and limiting your mistakes. Every year, the team that wins the state championship is the one that makes the most pars.
“We’re a statistics team, we always keep our statistics. We’re into hitting fairways, greens and regulations. We’re into recognizing if we 3-putt or not. So we take these stats and try to recognize our shortcomings and what we can improve on. It’s my part to be encouraging and trying to make sure they understand our team philosophy.”
“We need to have dedication,” Otani added. “We’re going to need to know how to practice. We don’t have all the time in the world because of school, but being able to be smart out there with our practices and recognizing what areas of our game we need to work on will be one of the biggest things for us.”
Waiakea won Friday’s match at Kings Course with a team score of +26, beating second-place finisher Hawaii Prep by 11 strokes. To see the full results from the day, see Page 3B.
The Warriors’ season will continue at 10 a.m. this morning at Kona Country Club.
