St. Mary’s William Beardsley pulls ahead of the pack early in the Far East cross country meet boys race. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
The Top 10 local sports stories for Europe in 2023:
A record year for long-distance runners
Whenever William Beardsley and Jane Williams were about, Pacific cross country and track and field records were bound to tumble.
Beardsley, a tall, lanky senior from Tokyo’s St. Mary’s, and Williams, also a senior from Matthew C. Perry, highlighted a 2023 calendar year which saw a return to a full DODEA-Pacific Far East tournament slate following the coronavirus pandemic.
In the Far East track meet in April at Yokota, Beardsley broke the meet and region 1,600-meter record, clocking 4 minutes, 17.38 seconds. He repeatedly broke the region’s 3,200 record, finishing at Far East with a meet-record 9:10.67.
Cross country saw him do the same. He became the first runner to break 14 minutes on the Tama Hills traditional 4,417-meter course in the Kanto Plain finals. Then three days apart, he was timed in 15:24.5 in the 18th Asia-Pacific Invitational on Guam, then in 15:18.2 in the Far East meet at Misawa Air Base, topping the meet and Pacific records.
As for Williams, she was timed in 19:19.3 at Misawa’s Gosser Memorial Golf Course, less than a month after running a Pacific-record 18:12.4 at her home Iwakuni course.
And she combined with senior teammate Tyler Gaines to win the Far East team relay, helping the Samurai to a school-first sweep of Far East meet Division II team titles.
Williams didn’t set records in track, but won the 800 meters in 2:25.69, the 1,600 in 5:23.56 and the 3,200 in 11:45.95.
Matthew C. Perry's Cecilia Campbell and E.J. King's Aileen FitzGerald scuffle for the ball during Friday's DODEA-Japan girls soccer match. The Cobras won 3-0. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
School firsts galore
Gaines and Williams’ finish helped Perry establish a school first: Capture every D-II cross country banner, boys girls and team, that there was to win.
They weren’t the only Samurai to make school history. Led by veterans Kirby Kendrick and Maddix Larue, Perry’s wrestling team won both the individual freestyle team and dual-meet banners in the Far East meet last February at Yokosuka Naval Base.
E.J. King’s girls soccer team also achieved a school first. Led by their “big three” of senior Aileen FitzGerald, junior Maliwan Schinker and sophomore Madylyn O’Neill, the Cobras won their first Far East D-II title, beating Yokota 2-1 in the final in what FitzGerald described as a “dream finish.”
Kierstyn Aumua, Zama‘s girls student-athlete of the year, has started at second base for the Trojans baseball team for three season. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Aumua brother-sister pair lead Trojans
What could be better than having Kierstyn Aumua, a girl, start in the infield for three seasons on Zama’s baseball team?
Bring in her freshman brother, Rhino. Teaming with his elder sister, the Aumuas and the Trojans cobbled together an 18-3 season, capped by an 8-5 victory in the Far East D-II championship at Osan.
Rhino batted .424 with an OPS of 1.161, five doubles and 16 RBIs. Kierstyn chipped in with a .386 batting average, a .960 OPS and 20 RBIs. The two combined for 11 stolen bases.
It was Zama’s second Far East baseball title overall and first since the 2014 season.
Junior Jeremiah Drummer, named Kadena's boys student-athlete of the year, helped lead the Panthers to the DODEA-Japan Division I football title. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Kadena extends D-I grid record
Kadena, after losing its season debut 34-20 to Kubasaki on Sept. 8, went unbeaten from there on out – six straight victories – including a 35-20 victory over that same Dragons team in the Division I final at home on Oct. 29.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am of these guys rebounding from that first loss,” said coach Sergio Mendoza, whose Panthers extended their Pacific record for D-I titles to eight.
Kadena forced six turnovers in the contest and got 227 yards and four touchdowns from Jeremiah Drummer. He finished the season with 875 yards and 13 touchdowns on 115 carries.
Humphreys senior Ethan Elliott will attend Division II Spring Hill College of Mobile, Ala., of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, on academic and athletic scholarships for shot put, discus and hammer throw. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Humphreys’ Elliott always had shot at record
Whether setting shot-put records in DODEA-Korea or Far East track and field meets, Ethan Elliott never seemed to be satisfied, always wanting to throw further.
Elliott’ ultimate goal, the long-standing Pacific region record of 16.16 set 43 years ago by Rene Delmar of Guam, remained out of reach.
But the Humphreys senior did rewrite two records, throwing 15.71 in the DODEA-Korea finals on April 15 at his home track, then 15.12 on April 25 at Yokota to break the 8-year-old Far East meet mark of 15.11 set by Seoul American’s David Davison.
E.J. King's Moa Best defeated her twin sister Miu 6-1, 6-4 in the girls singles final of the Far East tournament. She earlier teamed with Miu to beat Matthew C. Perry's Nina Altig and Julie Apperson 6-1, 6-4 in the girls doubles final. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
King twins are Best on courts
They had been dominant in their freshman and sophomore seasons on the DODEA-Japan tennis courts, but had waited oh, so long for a chance to extend their domain to a Far East tennis tournament.
Juniors Moa and Miu Best finally got their chance in late October and made the most of it. The two combined to win the Far East girls doubles title, then Moa beat her sister 6-1, 6-4 in the Far East singles final.
As a team, King won the Far East girls and overall school banners.
All that came after the Best sisters dropped just one match between them during the regular season – Moa lost 9-8 (7-5) to Matthew C. Perry’s Nina Altig.
Kubasaki left-hander Luka Koja delivers against Kadena during a baseball game on Okinawa. Koja came within one out of a no-hitter as the Dragons won 19-0. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Pitching paces Kubasaki in baseball
It’s said that pitching is 90 percent of baseball. For Kubasaki, that proved to be true and then some.
Led by sophomore left-hander Luka Koja, the Dragons went 19-7 on the season and won their first Far East D-I title in 10 years, shutting out American School In Japan 2-0.
Kubasaki had as many as six players who could pitch effectively. Koja led the starting staff by going 7-0 with a 1.35 ERA, 55 strikeouts in 36 1/3 innings and 1.101 walks and hits to innings. He also batted .403 with two home runs, 13 RBIs and 26 stolen bases.
Kadena sophomore Jessica Petruff executes one of her three successful squeeze bunts against Yokota. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Leadoff stars lift Panthers in softball
Things generally start at the top of the lineup. And where softball was concerned last spring, Julia Petruff and Erica Haas did it all from the leadoff spot for teams bearing the Panther mascot.
Sophomore Julia Petruff pitched and batted Kadena to a 15-2 record, which included a 17-7 triumph in the Far East D-I tournament April 26 at Humphreys. Kadena extended its record for D-I titles to six.
Petruff hit .667 with a 1.870 OPS, 13 extra-base hits, 25 RBI and 21 stolen bases. She won eight times as a pitcher, with a 1.277 walks and hits to innings mark, 57 strikeouts in 47 2/3 innings and a 2.83 ERA. She was named the D-I tournament’s best pitcher.
Haas, Yokota’s leadoff batter and one of two starting pitchers, hit .484 with a 1.342 OPS, nine extra-base hits and 46 stolen bases. That combined with Charlotte Rhyne’s 45 RBIs boosted Yokota to a 20-6-1 record, including a 9-5 D-II finals win over Matthew C. Perry.
Yokota’s Marcus Woods skies for a rebound against Okkodo in the third-place game in the 5th American School In Japan Kanto Classic basketball tournament. (Remi Sherratt/Special to Stripes)
Yokota ends 7-year hoops drought
One of the most experienced DODEA-Pacific boys basketball teams in years, with eight seniors on the roster, ended a lengthy Far East D-II title drought on its home court last Feb. 1.
Yokota went 23-2, including a 72-55 title win on its home court over Osan, giving the Panthers their first D-II title since 2016.
And it mattered not that the player considered Yokota’s best, Zemon Davis, went down with a torn ACL the previous month.
“It turns out, we have a team of ‘best players,’” Panthers coach Dan Galvin said. “We felt like we could outrun everybody, and except for a few teams, we did.”
Shou Murakami-Moses didn't intercept this pass, but he stood tall defensively for American School In Japan with four interceptions in the Far East Division II championship game. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Shou time ends Zama streak
Zama’s football team was trying for its 15th straight win and its fourth Far East D-II title. That neither happened was due in large part to a freshman who had never played football prior to the season.
Shou Murakami-Moses intercepted four passes, giving him nine in the team’s previous four games, as American School In Japan snapped the Trojans’ 14-game win streak and snared the D-II title 14-0 on Oct. 27.
“He gave us security back there,” ASIJ’s outgoing coach and athletics director Tim Jacobsson said. Murakami-Moses’ first interception led to the Mustangs’ first and only touchdown they needed, an 11-yard scoring pass from Isreal Rodriguez to Noa Grasse.
“Winning 14 straight games is hard; winning 15 can be impossible,” said coach Scott Bolin of the Trojans, whose winning streak included a 7-0 home shutout of ASIJ five weeks earlier.
