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Saturday, June 18, 2011

Prep combine, camp draw college hopefuls

She never started out in this labor of love with a 10-year plan.
No, when Doris Sullivan got involved with high school athletics, her only goal was to help student-athletes find a compatible college to pursue their dreams.
Along the way, though, she met Darnell Arceneaux, and one of the byproducts of their collaboration was the Pacific Islands Athletic Alliance football combine.
Friday's event marked the 10th anniversary, and Sullivan, Arceneaux and a top-flight staff that includes former UH players Eddie Klaneski and David Maeva continued the tradition.
"I feel good," Sullivan said, looking fit. "I've gone down four dress sizes."
A group of roughly 150 players met on a hot afternoon at Aiea High School field for the series of combine drills, from the bench press to the 40-yard dash to the L-drill, T-drill and vertical leap.
Among them was Saint Louis junior Jeremy Tabuyo, a wide receiver who also is one of the state's top sprinters in track and field.
Despite a lush, thick field of grass — previous combines were held at the faster synthetic turf at Saint Louis and Aloha Stadium — Tabuyo posted a 4.42 hand-timed mark in his 40. He added a personal best in the vertical jump (35 inches) and bench press (nine times at 185 pounds).
A teammate, defensive lineman Kalei Auelua, bench pressed 225 pounds a total of 20 times to lead his position.
In all, it was a chance to feed on the excitement of new competition, something to break the otherwise monotonous off-season schedule of daily workouts.
In association with PIAA, the combine was followed by the Junior Rank Diamond Flight Camp, which appealed to a number of players who chose to rest up and skip the combine.
"The camp is a new twist. We moved the dates later to get the field use, and everyone's got their camps this weekend," Sullivan said. "These kids can get invitations to the U.S. Army All-American game or the Junior All-American game. The camp helps them get ready for the other camps and helps them get a better chance to get recruited."
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