They knew they wouldn’t be the front-runners for the relays, but they wanted to run them anyway. “I’m nervous,” said Kapa‘a High School shot putter Malia Likio before checking in for the girls 4×100 Meter Relay. Likio along with her
They knew they wouldn’t be the front-runners for the relays, but they wanted to run them anyway.
“I’m nervous,” said Kapa‘a High School shot putter Malia Likio before checking in for the girls 4×100 Meter Relay.
Likio along with her fellow shot putters weren’t sprinters, but they ran against the likes of Kaua‘i High School’s runners Jamilee Jimenez and Tiffany Ikeda-Simao, who happens to be one of the fastest girls in the state. They ran it and had a blast doing it.
“That was so much fun. We want to do that again,” Likio said once the race was finished.
They finished third with a time, out of three, with a time of 1:12.62, behind first-place finishers, Kaua‘i who won with a time of 51.16. Waimea was second with a 54.53.
But that wasn’t the end of it for the Warrior shot put team. The boys shot put squad came out for the final race of the day, the 4×400 Meter Relay.
As the big boys crossed the field to the starting line, they joked with the other runners.
“Don’t beat us too hard,” said second-leg David Mendes. “Give us a chance.”
“Let’s do this. We’re ready,” said third-leg Simeone Langi.
The gun went off and everyone began to cheer. Because there were six boys teams in the race and one girls relay team, they all ran together. Kapa‘a’s shot putters didn’t want to lose to Waimea High School’s girls.
It almost happened though when Waimea’s second-leg was ahead of Mendes.
Langi caught up with her and the boys finished before the girls.
Trying to catch his breath, how was the race for Langi?
“Tiring,” he said. “But that was great.”
They lost that race to one of Kaua‘i High School’s teams and Waimea, who both ran a time of 3:53.33 to tie for first place. Kapa‘a’s other team came third with a time of 4:01.40.
In other events, Lokelani Manaku took the girls discus event with a throw of 100 feet, 8 inches. Waimea’s Natasha Werner took second with 88 feet, while her teammate Kayla Werner threw 74 feet 10 inches.
In the girls 100 Meter Hurdles, Waimea’s Cayla Kitabayashi narrowly won with a 17.76. Teammate Sunni Acosta was right behind her with a 17.78. Kaua‘i’s Stacy Terry took third with 20.10.
For the boys hurdles, Kapa‘a’s Joseph Velasco won with a 16.48. Waimea’s Chris Newcomb came in second with 16.88. Kapa‘a’s Nick Mortell took third with 19.07.
Ikeda-Simao was almost dethroned yesterday in the 100 Meter Dash when her teammate Kathleen Cadiente ran a 12.8. Ikeda-Simao, the fastest 100-runner, was in a different heat. But when officials posted the time, it was Ikeda-Simao who took it with a time of 12.76. Waimea’s Kitabayashi was third with 13.41. Ikeda-Simao would also win the 200 Meter Dash with a time of 27.28.
For the boys 100 Meter Dash, Kaua‘i’s Drake Apao posted a time of 11.16 while Waimea’s Layne Fernandez ran 11.39. Bailon Batalion took third with 11.43.
In the boys long jump, Waimea’s Aaron Vea won the long jump over their usual top jumper Batalion. Vea jumped 19 feet, 9 inches, to Batalion’s 19 feet 6 inches. Batalion would go on to take the triple jump with a 40 feet 9-inch jump.
Reigning state 1500 Meter Run champion Chelsea Smith-Wishard was absent from the race yesterday. But she ran and won the 3000 Meter Run with a time of 11:07.51.
For more track results, see tomorrow’s Scoreboard.
