Saito, Nakagawa earn BIIF golf player of the year honors
Saito and Nakagawa capped the BIIF golf season with player of the year honors after winning conference titles and leading Big Island finishers at states.
Leo Saito and Khloe Nakagawa separated themselves from the BIIF golf field with conference titles, state-stage finishes and the kind of season-long consistency that made them the league’s defining players in 2026.
The Big Island Interscholastic Federation released its All-League selections on May 28, and the top honors went to Saito, a St. Joseph freshman, and Nakagawa, a Hawaii Preparatory Academy sophomore. Both won individual conference championships at the Kohanaiki Resort Course on April 29-30, then carried that form to the HHSAA state tournaments on Oahu.
Saito won the BIIF boys title with a two-round 140, four under par, and beat Waiakea senior Jake Otani by one stroke. Nakagawa took the girls crown with a 151 and finished four shots ahead of Waiakea’s Jordyn Kawachi. Saito finished the BIIF season by winning the final three league matches, posting a 72.4 scoring average and birdieing more than 22% of the 216 holes he played. He began golfing in 2019, when he was 8, and his rapid rise helped turn a freshman season into a league-wide breakthrough.
Saito backed up that BIIF title at the state level. At the boys championship at Kāneohe Klipper Golf Course on May 12-13, he was the Big Island’s top finisher and tied for third overall with a 150, six over par. He finished alongside Lakota Lee and stood out in a field that included state champion Bret Kiyuna of Punahou. Punahou also won the boys team title, while the BIIF sent 18 boys qualifiers to the state tournament, a sign of how deep the league ran from Hawaii Island into the wider state picture.
Nakagawa’s season was just as steady. She finished in the top three five times during the year, then saved one of her best moments for the HHSAA girls championship at Kāneohe Klipper on May 5-6. Nakagawa recorded a hole-in-one on the 18th hole in the first round and went on to finish 11th overall at 155, 11 over par, as the Big Island’s top girls finisher. Waiakea’s Jordyn Kawachi placed 13th, Madelyn Awaya tied for 18th and Hilo’s Lauren Kozohara finished 29th.
Punahou won the girls team title as well, with Alexa Takai taking the individual crown. But the BIIF numbers told their own story: 11 girls qualifiers, 18 boys qualifiers, and two players from St. Joseph and Hawaii Prep who turned strong conference seasons into statewide recognition.
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