Pearl City's Joshua Fial, center, won the 110-meter hurdles in 15.29 yesterday at Mililani High School.
Kamehameha, Punahou
capture titles
Jeremy Kamaka‘ala helps the Warriors
win the boys crown with a victory
in the 3,000 meters
As Jeremy Kamaka'ala circled the Mililani High School track eight times, the Kamehameha coaches asked each other if they'd ever seen a high school meet where the winning team didn't capture a single event.
None had, but it became a moot point as Kamaka'ala won the 3,000 meters, leading the Warriors to their third HHSAA/Island Movers Track and Field Championships team victory since 2000 and 10th overall.
Kamaka'ala went into the final 400 meters a few steps behind 1,500-meters winner Mykah Norville of Hoala. The Kamehameha junior began his sprint with about 300 meters left and won the race going away.
"I didn't have a plan. Coach just said go when you think you can," he said. "I just said a prayer, and just hoped I had enough left."
He had enough energy left after his 9-minute, 16.45-second performance to leap in the air and pump his fist.
"You don't get disqualified for jumping at the end, do you?" Kamaka'ala asked.
Kamehameha coach Sam Moku said he wasn't worried about Kamaka'ala starting his sprint too early. Neither was distance coach Steve Jenness.
"He ran a 63-second last lap. We were happy he had a lot left and he was fresh," Jenness said.
Kamehameha's 4x400 relay team finished second to Kahuku to ice the victory. The Warriors finished with 70 points. Punahou had 62 and third-place Kahuku scored 47.
"We lost the battle, but we won the war," said Moku, after the Warriors failed to win their signature event to close the state meet for the first time in three years.
The Warriors went into the meet as the favorites to win, but Punahou hung tough.
Punahou led with 54 points to Kamehameha's 52 after Peter Deptula won the 800 meters with a time of 1:57.49.
Word of Life's Brashton Satele won the discus with a throw of 184 feet, 7 inches.
"We tried to make up for it in other areas," Johnson said. "(Kamehameha) was solid in so many areas. They performed well in the throws and the horizontal jumps devastated us. They had a good team."
The Waimea 4x100 relay team of Thomas Batis, Kenny Estes, Eric Oroc and Troy Yamase set a meet record with 42.78. They beat the mark of 42.98 turned in by St. Anthony in 2003.
"This is kind of surprising because we lost one of our best from last year's team, Jordon Dizon," said Batis, who replaced Dizon on the quartet that also won last year.
"Yeah, but we got the perfect replacement," anchorman Yamase said.
Oroc said familiarity with the rubberized track (there are none on Kauai) from Thursday's trials helped.
"We came early today and got our footing right," Oroc said.
It was a good day overall for Garden Isle sprinters, as Joseph Locey of Kapaa repeated in the 200 meters. He ran 21.90, 1/100th of a second off his meet record time of last year.
"It was a rough year for me," Locey said. "I had a bad hamstring most the season."
Brashton Satele from Word of Life successfully defended his championship in the discus with a non-record throw of 184 feet, 7 inches set in Thursday's trials.
Kamehameha's Kamuela Kapanui (third) and Kepa Gaison (fourth) got the Warriors off to a good start in the team standings with eight points.
Then Kamehameha's Anthony Taylor took second in a close long jump with a leap of 21-10 on his final attempt. Mililani's Jonovan Santos won the event with a 22- 1/4 effort.
Punahou's Donovan Lim got his team back into contention by repeating his high jump championship of a year ago. He had fewer misses than Radford's Jeremy Hayes at 6-5, but neither could clear the bar at 6-7.
Charles Fasi of Iolani won the pole vault, clearing 14 feet. He was among the favorites in last year's state meet, but the event was canceled because of bad weather.
Along with Satele in the discus, Hawaii Prep's Daniel Teo-Nesheim was aiming for a record in the shot. He didn't get it, but he won the event with a 58-foot throw.
Farrington's Joshua Villoria won the 100 in 11.09.
The Buffanblu go unchallenged for
their 28th girls state title, outscoring
Baldwin by 20.3
On the heels of disappointment, the Punahou girls team roared back with victory at the HHSAA/Island Movers State Track and Field Championships last night at Mililani High School.
The Buffanblu won their 28th girls state crown, but it was not without difficulty, controversy and, ultimately, excellence. The Buffanblu amassed 80.3 points, finishing far ahead of Baldwin (60) and Kealakehe (36).
Samantha Cabreros was part of a scintillating team effort, setting a record in the triple jump. The 5-foot-5 sophomore topped her own personal best by more than 2 feet, soaring to 38 feet, 3 1/2 inches on her final try. The previous mark was held by Punahou's Sarah Yap (37-834), set in 1998.
"I did 35s on my first two, but before my third try, I dropped to second place," she said. Then came the jump of her life.
"I just hoped it was good and I didn't foul. I just knew there was pressure because Anna got DQ'd," Cabreros said, referring to pole vaulter Anna Hildebrand, who got tuned out, so to speak, for wearing an iPod during warm-ups.
In addition to Cabreros, teammates Talitha Liu (36-9) and Kari Chong (34-4 1/2) helped the Buffanblu sweep the top three places. That helped Punahou break away from Baldwin in the point standings by a significant margin.
Punahou's Claire Schiff topped Kamehameha's Charina Summer in the pole vault after clearing 10 feet on her first attempt.
Weems had posted a personal best in the 100 during Thursday's trials, but was second behind Baldwin's June-Ann Lusk. The Baldwin sophomore had set a meet record in the event (12.25) in the trials. Yesterday, with Lusk reeling after getting disqualified in the 100 hurdles for touching the line prior to the start, Weems won handily in the sprint.
"I can't wait until this is over. Then I can eat hardcore," Weems said midway through the meet. She's been on a self-imposed, week-long, salad-only diet.
"Chicken Caesar from Safeway," she said.
Hawaii Baptist's Lauren Ho swept the 800 (2:16.54), 1,500 (4:44.93) and 3,000 (10:35.67) events, as expected.
"I was really nervous," the junior said. "There are all kinds of expectations. Everyone expects that I won even though I haven't won yet.
"But it encourages me to know that they're updated on track."
Word of Life junior Careena Onosai was a two-time winner, taking the discus and shot put by narrow margins over Aiea's Konae Purcell. She threw the discus 130 feet, 8 inches to Purcell's 129-10.
"I was real nervous. The pressure, I was trying to block it," Onosai said.
Purcell, who will play volleyball at Northern Idaho next season, actually had the longer throw in trials.
"She's just a real awesome thrower, gosh darn it," Purcell said of Onosai.
Ka'u's history of standout girls continued with Sarah Nicolaisen's performance. She won the 300 hurdles (45.98) and 100 hurdles (16.09).
HBA's Lauren Ho won the 800 meters, 1,500 meters and 3,000 meters yesterday at Mililani High School.
"Oh, my God," she whispered several times while cooling down. "When they stopped it for the false start, I thought it was me. I said, 'Please God, don't let it be me.' It happened to me at BIIFs," she said.
Because of the false start and ensuing short delay, Nicolaisen noticed an untied lace on her left shoe and tucked it in just in time.
"I was lucky," she said.
The day got off to a disappointing start for the Buffanblu when Hildebrand was disqualified in the pole vault before the event even began. When warmups concluded, the junior sat in the infield listening to Motley Crue's "Dr. Feelgood" on her iPod.
A moment later, she was out of the event for violating a rule regarding electronic devices in the infield.
Claire Schiff, a senior who had been runner-up to Hildebrand all season long, cleared 10 feet to win the event.
"It was my own teammate, so it was hard to concentrate. I kept running things through my mind, like the steps I have to do," Schiff said. "The wind was shifty, but you can wait to catch a tailwind."
Hildebrand, who cleared 10-6 in the trials, was distraught, but happy for her teammate.
"My teammates did good. Claire won," she said.
Gordon Scruton of the protest committee was sympathetic to a point.
"It's a plain rule. These are the things we remind the coaches of from the beginning of the season," the longtime official said. "In the book, it says no electronic devices (on the infield). I didn't see it. It was directed to me by a coach."
On page 76 of the rulebook, electronic devices are in the points of emphasis.
For Hildebrand, it was of little consolation. She was the top seed last year, but finished eighth. This time, as the top seed, she didn't even get to vault.
"I was so pumped up for today. I did 10-6 at the ILH (meet)," she said of her league record.
Interestingly, she wore the iPod during warmups for her final three ILH meets without being disqualified. Punahou's pole vaulters wear red shirts that read "Can you reframe that?" -- a reference to photographic development.
"It means take a negative thing and turn it into a positive," Hildebrand said.
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