LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i thrower Kayla Werner celebrated her birthday with a season-best throw of the discus during the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation qualifying track meet Thursday at Vidinha Stadium. “It would be nice if she could get a state distance on
LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i thrower Kayla Werner celebrated her birthday with a season-best throw of the discus during the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation qualifying track meet Thursday at Vidinha Stadium.
“It would be nice if she could get a state distance on her birthday,” said one of the fans lining the fenceline separating the discus arena from the track and stands.
Werner tossed the discus for 95 feet, 8 inches, for her best throw of the season after opening with an 89-7 toss.
“It’s my season-best, but still short of states,” Werner said. “But it’s all right because I have the shot put, and that’s my better sport.”
Similarly, Safiya Ismael, an exchange student from Israel staying with host family Ken and Terry Sakai, pitched the discus for an opening throw of 60-3, one of her best throws of the season, considering this was the first time she’s experienced a field event.
As league officials made the calls for running events, scratches took their toll, leaving Pierce Murphy of Island School to have to wait until the finals before attempting to break the KIF record in the boys 800-meter run.
“He was set to break it tonight,” said Kaua‘i coach Richard Matsumoto.
In the April 24 meet, Murphy topped the 800 race with a 2:06.62 time, barely getting in on the state consideration of 2:06.84. But the record for the event set by Clay Glover of Waimea High School in 1995 sits at 2:06.1, temptingly close to Murphy’s capabilities.
As the scratches took their toll, it became evident there would be no running events Thursday. Instead, finals in the boys and girls long jump and the boys and girls discus events were settled, with official results to be released following Friday’s events.
Waimea long-jumper Torrey Santiago, finishing fourth on an 18-4 1/2 jump last week, came back and leaped to 21-3 1/2, his best leap in the seeding jumps and an automatic berth in the main event (20-10 1/4).
Kathleen Cadiente of Kaua‘i High, working the jump pit throughout the season, fouled on her first jump, but recovered for a leap of 16-9, an automatic state berth (15-11 3/4).
But the attention was at the discus arena, where Kaua‘i High School thrower Kyle Wong extracted gasps of awe with his top throw of 135-11 during the seeding round.
“He’s been getting better with every event,” said Ross Shimabukuro, the Kaua‘i High School athletic director. “He should do well.”
Wong’s seeding toss earned him top seed during the finals, and he lived up to that billing, throwing for 137 on his opening toss, and bolstering that distance with the spin for a toss of 139-8. He was followed by teammate Austin Wright, whose best toss marked at 124-10 for second place.
Despite the crowd-pleasing throws, Wong’s best toss of 139-8 is a state consideration distance (143-9 auto).
The KIF finals take place at Vidinha Stadium starting at 4 p.m. today.
Jon Kobayashi, athletic director for Waimea High School, reminds the public that admission will be charged for the KIF finals today.
Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com
