Published November 4, 2025
By JUNE EMERSON
After more than a decade of hard work on and off the green, senior Megan Ikemiya has verbally committed to playing Division II golf at Hawaii Pacific University.
“We are excited to be adding Ikemiya to our roster,” HPU’s head golf coach Edward Kageyama said recently. “She has everything we are looking for including a solid golf game, athletic ability and, most importantly, she is a great student in the classroom. We feel she is a perfect fit for our program.”
Senior Megan Ikemiya is looking forward to playing golf at Hawaii Pacific University and majoring in Business. Courtesy of MEGAN IKEMIYA
The college commit was introduced to the sport by her father and picked up the golf club at 5 years old. By 6, she was competing in youth tournaments and what started as a childhood activity began to turn into a persisting passion.
“When we had the ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ projects in school, I always chose golf,” the senior says.
Ikemiya trains with a personal coach in San Jose where she represents The Golf Garage, an indoor practice studio that allows players to collect data on their swings. They use a system of radar and camera tracking that measures each aspect of the swing in real time, allowing instructors to give immediate feedback for improvement.
“Her discipline and work ethic have helped lower her nine hole scoring average from 41 last year to 37 this year,” explains personal coach Matt Soza. “Her hard work also earned her a personal best score of 71 in competition.”
Though golf is typically an individual sport, high school golf showed Ikemiya a different side. Playing golf in high school is a unique environment because the team must form relationships and be able to rely on each other. As the number one player on the team, she has helped lead the CHS girls golf team through four competitive seasons.
“It’s been exciting to see Ikemiya elevate her game to the collegiate level,” CHS golf coach Ross Kroeker says. “She put in countless hours practicing and playing in addition to her tournament schedule. I’m really proud of her.”
The path to college was not always easy. As the first in her family to be recruited for sports, she had to navigate the process largely on her own.
Megan Ikemiya swinging from hole three at Mauna Kea golf course on the Big Island. Courtesy of MEGAN IKEMIYA
By junior year, Ikemiya narrowed her search to Division II schools that offered the best balance between academics and athletics for her. She began emailing schools, sometimes 20 to 30 a day trying to get noticed.
“Emails were definitely the hardest part,” she explains. “It was discouraging not getting responses, and I started to wonder if I even wanted to keep going.”
Eventually, her persistence paid off. She got into contact with HPU’s coaching staff, exchanged emails and statistics, and was invited on a Zoom call where she was offered a spot on the team. The summer before senior year she visited the campus, met the team and instantly felt it was right. She verbally committed shortly after.
The AP and honors student plans to major in Business at HPU, balancing academics and athletics. And while she is headed more than 2,000 miles away for college, she is bringing a lifetime of lessons learned on the green.
