Na Menehune remember fallen classmate Wednesday night

Moanalua's Bryanne Yasui, Erin Fujitani and Silerolia Gaogao show the inscribed "LM" on the inside of tape on their wrists to honor the former baseball player Leighton Mow. Peter Caldwell | SL

SALT LAKE — Just two days after the tragic and unexpected death of one of their classmates, the Moanalua girls' volleyball team paid tribute to Leighton Mow in their two-set win over Castle Wednesday night.

Team members kept the memory of Mow — who had recently begun his senior year at Moanalua — close to them. Players inscribed "LM" on the inside of tape on their wrists to honor the former baseball player.

"Erin Fujitani, one of our girls, would hang out with him and her brother is in the same group that he hung out with," Na Menehune coach Alan Cabanting said. "They asked at the beginning of the night if it would be OK to do that for him and I said absolutely."

Mow died on Labor Day when his body was recovered at Kapena Falls in Nuuanu. He was with friends that morning, but they were unable to locate him for sometime and later that afternoon firefighters found his body at the bottom of the pool of water.

"(Wednesday) was a lot better than (Tuesday)," said Fujitani, a sophomore defensive specialist. "(Tuesday) was pretty hard, but I think it brought our school closer. We all really came together to just remember his life and celebrate it."

A prayer circle was held afterschool Tuesday and athletic director Joel Kawachi said the school has provided counseling services for those in need.

"We've had a lot of support for the kids between the extra counselors the (Department of Education) provided and also the military for any of our military students that needed extra counseling," Kawachi said Wednesday night. "Everyone's been working with the kids, both individually and in groups, to just help them get through a very tragic situation."

Junior outside hitter Johanna "Jojo" Kruize said she wasn't close to Mow, but knew him as a "smart, super-amazing boy."

"It shouldn't have happened to him, he was too young," Kruize said. "The team just wanted to pay tribute to him because it's just horrible and just heart-wrenching what happened to him and our condolences go out to this family. We just wanted to show our respect and that we do care about him and we hope he's safe now."

Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].