ByKathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
The Mid-Pacific kane are shown at practice prior to the
Hawai'i Secondary Schools Hula Kahiko Competition. The school's
coed performances captured overall honors in the high school
division and the school's wahine took intermediate overall honors.

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Mid-Pacific Institute
overall hula kahiko champs

By Catherine Kekoa Enomoto
Star-Bulletin

Mid-Pacific Institute repeated as overall high-school and intermediate champions at the recent 1997 Hawai'i Secondary Schools Hula Kahiko Competition.

Mid-Pacific's high-school coed performance -- under the direction of kumu hula Michael Casupang and instructor Moea Sylva -- captured the Gov. Ben Cayetano Overall Trophy. The Mid-Pacific intermediate girls -- taught by Sylva and instructor Jackie Booth -- won the Kahala Foundation Overall Trophy.

Kawananakoa Intermediate School fielded 13 sixth- through eighth-grade boys and girls who placed first in the intermediate boys and coed divisions.

"I'm very, very happy with this group," said Kekaimoku Yoshikawa, an eight-year volunteer kumu hula at Kawananakoa.

"This year I'm especially proud because we started a little late. We sat there and talked and I said the practices would be hard. They have all stayed with me and they have been a pleasure to teach."

Results follow from the annual event held at King Intermediate School:

High school

Overall division: Mid-Pacific hui 'ia (coed)
Kane (young men): 1. Iolani School, 2. Mid-Pacific, 3. Punahou School
Wahine (young women): 1. Iolani, 2. Punahou, 3. Mid-Pacific
Hui 'ia (coed): 1. Mid-Pacific, 2. Iolani, 3. Waimea High School
Malia Craver Hawaiian Language Award: Punahou kane

Intermediate

Overall: Mid-Pacific wahine
Kane: 1. Kawananakoa Intermediate School, 2. King Intermediate School, 3. Kalakaua Intermediate School
Wahine: 1. Mid-Pacific, 2. Iolani, 3. Kawananakoa
Hui 'ia: 1. Kawananakoa, 2. King, 3. Kalakaua
Lokomaika'ikalani Snakenberg Hawaiian Language Award: Iolani wahine