There are a number of multiple-sport athletes in Hawai'i high schools, but few who do theirs concurrently.

Kamehameha Schools senior Randolyn Hoku Nohara is one of them. And she excels at both.

She is the starting third baseman for the Warriors' softball team, currently in the thick of a tight Interscholastic League of Honolulu softball race. She also is a three-time defending state champion in wrestling, which started the regular season Friday night. Had it not been for a knee injury her sophomore year, she probably would be excelling in judo, too.

"It's not that hard," said Nohara of competing in two sports that fall in the same season. "I love the sports so much I'll do whatever it takes."

Friday nights find her on the wrestling mat, hoping an opponent shows up for the 220-pound weight class. Last Friday, she went uncontested against Pac-Five for a forfeit win.

Saturdays and Wednesdays, she's on the softball field, swinging a mean aluminum bat. While opponents could pitch around her, fortunately for her the Warriors' lineup has other good hitters to protect her.

Sometimes, coaches give ultimatums if an athlete plays sports that run concurrently. Of course, both would be hard pressed to put her in that situation, so they've compromised. Fortunately, the state tournaments of the two sports are a month apart. The Warriors (6-3) are in third place, a game behind second-place 'Iolani (7-2) and two behind first-place Saint Francis (8-1). Only the top two ILH Division I teams qualify for the state tournament, set for the end of the month. Wrestling state finals are at the end of March.

GOOD BLOOD LINES

Nohara was raised in sports, playing softball since she was 8 years old. Wrestling soon followed. She comes from a family of athletes. Her father, David Nohara, wrestled at Moanalua High in the late 1980s. Hoku is named after her mother, Randolyn Manewa Nohara, who played volleyball for Pearl City High's perennial contending teams of the late 1980s.

"My dad wanted me to get involved in wrestling to enhance me in my softball and to continue my conditioning for softball," Hoku said.

While wrestling was a way to stay in condition for softball, she would discover she needed something to enhance her wrestling skills. The 5-foot-6 Nohara needed to counter the leverage of taller opponents on the mat. That's when her father introduced her to weight training. And she trained in a most unlikely place: Keneke's, a restaurant in Waimanalo with a room with weights.

"It's like a dungeon," said David Nohara. "It's a small room, no air conditioning. You sweat."

PUMPED UP

Little did the Noharas know that the weight training would lead yet to another sport for Hoku to prevail. She didn't just get stronger to help her for wrestling and softball. She turned into one of the strongest females in the world. Since 2003, she has attained 13 world records in bench pressing and dead lifting. In September, she bench pressed an astonishing 352 pounds to set the record for the 16 to 19 age group of the 198-plus pound weight class. In 2004, she had a deadlift of 407 pounds for a women's open (no age restriction) record.

"All my dad said was, "OK, we're going weightlifting for wrestling,' and the next thing you know I'm on the Mainland entering some world competition, just setting records," Hoku said.

But it is softball that's taking her to college, where she wants to study physical therapy or athletic training. She signed a letter of intent to play at Hawai'i-Hilo. Even though she sent letters to Mainland schools, her heart was set on playing close to home.

"I wanted to stay in the islands, but get off O'ahu," she said. "That's a good thing. I just wanted to stay in Hawai'i. I don't really like the Mainland."

Before Saturday's 4-0 win against Punahou in which she had an RBI single, Nohara was batting .417 with two home runs, two doubles, a triple and nine RBIs in eight games for the Warriors. She plays third base, a position that requires cat-like reflexes that she displays. Although her strength gives her incredible bat speed, she doesn't pull everything pitched to her.

"She hits to all fields," Warriors softball coach Ty Sing Chow said.

'REAL BIG HEART'

Last season, Nohara's playing time was limited as she recovered from a left knee injury in which she tore the anterior, posterior and medial collateral ligaments. It happened at judo practice a day before the state judo tournament her sophomore year; she was the defending state champion in her weight class. The injury limited her to designated hitter.

Still, she was able to win her third state wrestling title, keeping her dream of wanting to be a four-time state champion alive. Hoku and 'Iolani's Carla Watase are striving to join Moanalua's Caylene Valdez (2000 to 2003), the first girls' four-time state champion.

"I know it's going to be hard, but I'm going to do everything to win it, conditioning, running, weightlifting," Nohara said. "That was my goal before I even started high school, to take four times state champs."

There is no doubting her heart. Nohara did not do well on an entrance exam to get into Kamehameha for seventh grade, her father said. Because she had attended 'Anuenue, a Hawaiian immersion language school from kindergarten to sixth grade, her English was not up to par with her Hawaiian. So while she attended Niu Valley Intermediate, her father got her some computer programs to aid her in English. She was accepted into Kamehameha by her freshman year.

"She has a real big heart and refuses to fail at anything she starts," her father said.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.