LIHU‘E —The Kaua‘i High School Girls 4×100 Relay team has yet to perform at 100 percent. But despite that shortcoming, the team has been pretty close to attaining a state time. Friday night was no exception during the Kaua‘i Interscholastic
LIHU‘E —The Kaua‘i High School Girls 4×100 Relay team has yet to perform at 100 percent.
But despite that shortcoming, the team has been pretty close to attaining a state time. Friday night was no exception during the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation qualifying track and field meet, No. 3.
Kelsey Cadiente was the missing link in the foursome, and with Megan Wong taking the first spot, the Red Raider girls stopped the clock in first on a 52.78-second run, missing the state standard of 52.74 by a mere .04 seconds.
“We have yet to see this team at 100 percent,” said Kaua‘i coach Peter Riopta.
With the exclusion of the field events, Kaua‘i girls topped the third meet with 99 points followed by Kapa‘a at 86 points, Waimea with 71 points.
Waimea High School and Kaua‘i High School finished in a tie for the lead at 79.50 points without the field events being counted. Kapa‘a followed at 75 points.
“The next meet should be real interesting,” said Richard Matsumoto, Kaua‘i coach. “Coach Peter is going to challenge Kapa‘a coach Calvin Paleka for a weight men race in the Boys 4×100 Relay, loser buying pizza. You’ll have Waimea in the lead, but after that, it should be interesting.”
Waimea boys made a strong showing starting with the Boys 100 Meter Dash where the first and second-place finishes qualified for state on runs of 11.00 and 11.01, respectively.
Moses Fierro stumbled out of the start only to have Torrey Santiago capitalize on the run, the pace being enhanced by the inclusion of Malcolm Carter in the pack.
But on the top end, Fierro overtook Santiago at the line for the 11.00 finish, barely topping Santiago at 11.01.
Kaua‘i’s Kele Hanohano, pushing strong off the line, made the move in the final 10 feet to cross third over Carter, stopping the clock at 11.81, just a fraction of a second short of the 11.24 state standard. Carter stopped the clock at 11.84.
Fierro went on to capture the 200 Meter Dash on a first finish of 22.00, bettering the state standard of 23.04 for the event. Hanohano finished second in that event on a 24.32 run.
Santiago went on to acquire more state events, taking the Boys Triple Jump on a 43 feet, 5.75 inches, bettering the state standard of 42-02.25.
Carter took the Boys Long Jump on a leap of 21-00.5, bettering the state standard of 20-10.25, with Santiago finishing second in the event on a leap of 21 feet even, also a state jump.
Disaster struck in the Boys 110 Meter Hurdles when Kaua‘i’s Darren Acoba, clearly in the lead, suffered a cramp and stumbled over hurdles to finish in third at 20.52. Acoba had earlier qualified for the state in this event.
Waimea’s Nelson Acosta capitalized on the injury to stumble over the final hurdles for first at 17.44, followed by Charles Jarquio of Kapa‘a at 19.49.
“It looked like he (Acosta) cramped, too,” said Waimea’s Cassandra Owen who was watching the race between her Girls High Jump.
Matsumoto said the student-athletes keep striving for better times despite qualifying because the standards used to qualify will be evaluated about mid-point during the season.
“Some of those standards may change after the re-evaluation so the athletes need to keep improving,” Matsumoto said.
One of the interesting boys races took place in the Boys 4×100 Relay where Waimea’s “A” team continued to hone its skills, stopping Friday’s event on a 43.53 run, bettering the state standard of 45.14. Kaua‘i’s “A” team finished second at 46.26, but the crowd was piqued by the Kapa‘a weight men running the event to round out the field.
Kawehi Louis-Diamond, a Kaua‘i freshman, could be heard being encouraged by her mom, Marlo Louis-Medeiros, a KIF record holder, during the Girls 100 Hurdles where Louis-Diamond stopped the clock at 16.35, bettering the state standard of 17.14.
Kaua‘i’s Uila Langi put the shot at 33-09.00, falling short of the state mark of 33-09.25, although Riopta said Langi had already qualified earlier in the season.
Kapa‘a’s Rachel Hinkel walked off with three first finishes — the Girls 100 Meter Dash (13.45), the Girls 200 Meter Dash (28.54) and the Girls 300 Meter Hurdles (51.94) after rebounding from a third finish in the Girls 100 Meter Hurdles (17.94).
In the distance events, Kaua‘i’s Kendall Andersland picked up her fourth first finish of the season in the Girls 1500 Meter Run (5:48.52) and Waimea’s Natasha Abadilla topped the Girls 3000 Meter Run (16:04.92) and the Girls 800 Meter Run (2:38.37).
The KIF Qualifying Meet No. 4 is scheduled for Thursday starting at 4:30 p.m. at Vidinha Stadium. There is no admission charge to view the qualifying meets and the public is invited to cheer on the participants.
