Punahou's recent athletic prowess will make a national splash tomorrow, when Sports Illustrated's latest issue hits newsstands with an article featuring the Buffanblu program as the best out of more than 38,000 high schools across the nation.

Punahou administrators have deferred official comment on the ranking until Sports Illustrated issues its press release, but they acknowledged yesterday that the magazine sent a reporter and photographer to spend several days on campus three weeks ago.

Keith Amemiya, Hawai'i High School Athletic Association executive director, said he also was contacted by magazine researchers, who indicated that Punahou would be ranked No. 1.

"This is a tremendous honor for not only Punahou, but the rest of our high schools across the state as well," Amemiya said. "It reflects the high level of competition and excellent caliber of athletes we have in all of our schools and in all of our different sports."

In May 2005, Sports Illustrated published an 11-page spread ranking the 25 best high school athletic programs in America, with a centerpiece article on No. 1 Long Beach (Calif.) Poly. Punahou was ranked No. 4, with a five-sentence write-up.

The 2005 article explained that Sports Illustrated's criteria "emphasized all-around excellence during the last 10 years and included state titles won and college athletes produced."

Punahou has won 16 team state championships in this school year alone, including eight in the past two weeks. The Buffanblu won 13 team state championships in both 2005-2006 and 2006-2007.

Punahou athletic director Tom Holden said 12 of this year's seniors signed national letters of intent to play for NCAA Division I programs.

School president James K. Scott said he was asked why there are no championship banners in the the school's Hemmeter Fieldhouse, and he explained the absence is intentional.

"That's not the goal, to win state championships," Scott said. "Our goal is to develop human potential, and we try to do that through the depth and breadth of opportunities we offer, whether it's the arts, symphony, glass blowing, the choir ... There are a lot of things where the students do as well as they can, and a state championship is just one outcome of that."

Scott and Holden credited the Buffanblu's athletic success to many factors, including enrollment, early education, strong coaching staffs, tradition and administrative and parental support.

"We're a big school ... so with that many kids and the number of teams we have, we should do well," Holden said. "We had 65 kids try out for intermediate volleyball. Sometimes, if a good athlete doesn't make a team in one sport, they'll try another sport and do well. We have a lot of stories like that."

Punahou offers 114 teams at three levels — varsity, JV and intermediate — from football to sailing, and 1,075 out of 1,720 high school students, or 62.5 percent, play at least one sport, according to director of communications Laurel Bowers Hussain.

Holden added that the school's P.E. program starts in kindergarten, where kids are introduced to sports such as tennis. Punahou has won 41 team state championships (out of 51) since 1958 in boys tennis and 35 (out of 50) in girls tennis since 1959.

Scott said Punahou has a virtual "farm system" with its intermediate programs, some of which offer two teams in a single sport.

"We also have the top rung of coaches," Holden said.

Punahou, and the Interscholastic League of Honolulu in general, have often faced allegations of recruiting athletes. But the ILH has specific rules against recruiting and Scott and Holden said the school awards scholarships based almost exclusively on financial need.

"We have a solid base of athletes, and most of the kids are homegrown (from the elementary school)," Holden said.

As an example, Holden said eight of the nine starters on the Buffanblu's five-time state championship baseball team entered Punahou in the seventh grade or earlier, including two who started in kindergarten and another who entered in the fourth grade.

Holden said Punahou's environment and tradition help attract students to the school without active recruiting.

"I remember when I first came to this campus from Ohio 23 years ago, I was immediately drawn to it," Holden said. "I thought, 'What a comfortable place to learn and play sports.' After being here for just half an hour, I wanted to be a part of it."

The school's athletic history dates from the early 1900s and includes Hawai'i sports legends such as Buster Crabbe, Charlie Ane, Al Harrington, Norm Chow and Charlie Wedemeyer. Even presidential candidate Barack Obama played basketball for the Buffanblu in the late 1970s.

But Amemiya said the recognition from Sports Illustrated is largely the result of what athletes and teams from other Hawai'i high schools have achieved in recent years, as well as the success and tradition of Punahou.

"The timing coincides with the fact that many of our teams and recent graduates have reached unprecedented heights," Amemiya said. "For example, Saint Louis and Kahuku being nationally ranked in football, Kamehameha and 'Iolani being ranked in volleyball, Castle graduate Bryan Clay being an Olympic decathlon silver medalist, Kamehameha grad Brian Ching and Kahuku's Natasha Kai being on the national soccer teams, 'Iolani's Derrick Low projected as an NBA draft prospect, Baldwin's Kurt Suzuki and St. Anthony's Shane Victorino playing Major League Baseball, Waimea's Jordon Dizon being drafted in the second round of last month's NFL draft ...

"And although Punahou has won its share of state championships, they have been pushed and defeated by several other private and public schools, including this past weekend. These schools have helped raise the bar in terms of athletic excellence, and I know Punahou agrees that the No. 1 ranking is an honor that must be shared with all of our schools statewide."

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2456. Read his blog on prep sports at www.preptalk.honadvblogs.com.