Absence of team forces elite runner to watch from the stands by Lanaly Cabalo – THE GARDEN ISLAND Kula School freshman Pierce Murphy was one of the fastest long-distance runners in the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation. In his first year running
Absence of team forces elite runner to watch from the stands
by Lanaly Cabalo – THE GARDEN ISLAND
Kula School freshman Pierce Murphy was one of the fastest long-distance runners in the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation.
In his first year running competitively for his school, he placed second at the KIF cross country championships with a time of 16:23 and was the league’s highest finisher at the state competition.
Murphy, 14, looked forward to representing his school again, only this time, to run distance races for Kula’s track and field team. He’d been training on his own, running around Kalihiwai Ridge to keep in shape.
The problem is, as Murphy and his family found out last week, Kula doesn’t have a track team. So Friday, as the Kaua‘i, Waimea, Kapa‘a and Island School teams hit the track to kick off the season, Murphy had to watch from the stands.
“I didn’t know when it was and my cross country coach didn’t know when it was,” Murphy said about the track season.
Murphy and his parents had been waiting for an announcement so that Murphy could sign up and be a part of the team, but found out that the track season was to begin last Friday when they saw an article in the newspaper.
After seeing that, his parents called to school to find out what the deal was and whether or not Murphy could still run.
“I was bummed that I couldn’t run for the school,” he said. “I wanted to run for my team so I can run with other schools and see how they are.”
The Murphys found out that Kula had not declared track and field as one of its sports they would like to participate in.
“I would love to run against Pierce in the 1,500 (meter run),” said the KIF defending champion in that race, Jared Coleman-Stark of Waimea. “I would love to see what it would be like.”
Basil Scott, one of Waimea’s track coaches and family friend of the Murphys, said that competition among Kaua‘i’s runners also suffers with the absense of Murphy.
“I just thought it was a shame,” Scott said. “The whole level of competition suffers because the good runners race head-to-head and we lose that without the competition. I don’t care if he beats our guys or our guys beat these guys, we support the best kids.”
According to KIF sanctions, at the end of the summer, every school must declare to the league the sports in which they would like to participate, in order for the league to compile its master competition calendar.
Newly appointed Kula principal Dan Harrington informed TGI that, “as a small school with limited financial resources to hire coaches, hold meets… and also a limited liability to field teams, we need to select which KIF sports we want to compete in each year.”
For Kula, its participation in sports varies every year.
If a school files to compete in a particular sport but cannot fill a team, the school is barred from competing for two years.
Harrington noted that last year, student surveys were conducted to get a feel for how many students were interested in sports and which teams they would be able to fill.
Kula’s athletic director Suzanne Messinger has filed an appeal with the KIF to ratify the situation and is waiting for the board meeting to see if the appeal will be accepted.
There is no application for an appeal, but the appeal must be brought to the attention of the KIF board, which consists of the principals of the three public schools.
Phone calls to Messinger were not immediately returned.
During that meeting, any issues regarding athletics may be addressed.
“We were planning on doing good and going to states,” said Shawn Murphy, Murphy’s father. “We’re still on tilts about the whole thing.”
However, Murphy’s parents are working on getting him invited to two of the county meets he may be able to compete in: The Mayor’s Invitational mid-March and the Rotary Meet scheduled for April 4.
“We’re working on it,” Shawn said. “We just have to wait and see if Pierce can run. We’re kind of in the dark, like is this even possible? Can he run? Can he even be invited to the other meets?”
He added that since this is Murphy’s first year of high school eligibility, they’re not sure what the process of having a track team established entails.
“We’re kind of asking them to do something out of the ordinary to let Pierce run,” he said. “But I understand where Kula is coming from.”
The Murphys have a meeting with Harrington and Mes-singer today to get updates on the situation.
“We’re just hoping for the best for Pierce,” Shawn said. “We want Pierce to run and we want him to go to Kula. I hope it’s not a situation where we have to choose one or the other.”
Murphy’s mother, Doreen, said she hopes that he will be able to compete for the school before the season is over and that the fight to get a track team for Kula is not over.
In the meantime, Murphy and his family will still attend to track meets every Friday.
“We’re still going to go down to the track meet and cheer (the other runners) on,” Shawn said.
The next track meet is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Friday at Vidinha Stadium.
