CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa – In just its first year as a program, Okinawa Christian School International tennis can already claim an Okinawa Activities Council postseason tournament title.James Durham and Ken Tokeshi outdueled Alex Daniels and Nicholas Lay of Kadena 8-3 in the championship match of the OAC district doubles tournament Wednesday at Kubasaki High School.“Saiko!” Durham and Tokeshi said after the match, invoking the Japanese word for awesome.Though its program is in its infancy, the Crusaders possess enough players that they gave Kubasaki’s and Kadena’s top singles and doubles seeds problems throughout the season, coaches said.“I think they’d compete with anybody out here,” Crusaders coach Kevin Wagner said. “They never quit. They’re good athletes and they’re competitive.”The Crusaders remain on the waiting list to attend next month’s Far East tournament at Kadena Air Base. The tournament only has room for 16 schools; OCSI is No. 1 on the list in case one of the teams drops.“They’ve been such a great addition to our regular-season schedule and they’d be a great addition to Far East,” Kadena coach Robert Bliss said.On the girls side, senior Erika Youngdahl and junior Kristin Howard repeated as champions, beating teammates Christina Thompson and Alex Howard 8-5.
OAC cross-country final scrappedYOMITAN, Okinawa – Organizers said they were forced to scrap Wednesday’s Okinawa Activities Council district cross country finals at Cape Zampa when a handful of runners were directed the wrong way on the 3.1-mile course, creating enough confusion in the times that the entire meet was voided.The meet will not be made up, organizers said. Instead, by coaches’ agreement, the OAC individual and team champions will be decided by the individual runners’ placements in the Far East meet’s 3.1-mile individual races.The same method was used by the OAC in the 1998 Far East meet when the district meet was scratched due to bad weather.Kadena, Kubasaki and Okinawa Christian School International are entered in next month’s Far East meet. Zion Christian Academy is not, but team officials chose not to contest the decision, saying they’re a rebuilding team this year and probably would not place high enough to earn individual district honors.