Kealakehe girls rout HPA 13-4, advance to BIIF title match

Mele McMichael, Alana Mast, Macailey Lund, Lilinoe Daniel-Barnes and Hannah White helped Kealakehe turn a senior-night celebration into a postseason statement, as the Waveriders rolled past Hawaii Preparatory Academy 13-4 in a BIIF semifinal at the Kona Community Aquatic Center.

When the final horn sounded Thursday, April 24, tears came first, then hugs across the pool deck with players, coaches, friends and parents. In the middle of the celebration, coach Hannah Tomlinson was playfully pushed into the water as Kealakehe’s fan base erupted in the bleachers, a fitting finish to a night built around the seniors and the program’s rise.

The result mattered because the matchup had looked like a tossup on paper. Kealakehe beat HPA 10-7 on March 21, then HPA answered with a 12-6 win on April 15, setting up a semifinal that could have gone either way. Instead, Kealakehe controlled the game from start to finish and produced its sharpest performance of the postseason, while HPA was limited to four goals.

That victory sent Kealakehe into the BIIF championship and underscored how far the Waveriders have come in a sport where Big Island programs often fight roster depth, pool access and year-round competition just to stay in the hunt. For a school in Kailua-Kona, a deep playoff run is more than a good week at the pool. It signals a team that is building an identity and giving alumni something familiar to recognize again: Kealakehe can make noise when it matters.

The run also showed up in the broader season results. Kealakehe had already put together wins over Kamehameha Schools-Hawaii, 10-5 on April 17, and Keaau, 22-3 on April 11, along with a one-goal loss to Hilo on April 11. BIIF’s final standings later placed HPA first, Hilo second, Kamehameha Schools-Hawaii third and Kealakehe fourth, after the Waveriders fell 8-6 to Kamehameha Schools-Hawaii in the championship game on April 26.

The moment fit a longer Kealakehe arc. In 2017, the Waveriders broke through by upsetting seven-time defending BIIF champion Kamehameha-Hawaii and reaching a state-tournament win, proof the program has periodically reached top-tier island form. This spring’s seniors, with their haku leis, their final goal and the celebration that followed, left another marker on that path.