The Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation’s first qualifying track and field meet was cut short yesterday because of the weather, but not before two athletes made state-qualifying showings in field events. Kaua‘i High School’s Pono Mathews posted a 20-foot, 2-inch long jump
The Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation’s first qualifying track and field meet was cut short yesterday because of the weather, but not before two athletes made state-qualifying showings in field events.
Kaua‘i High School’s Pono Mathews posted a 20-foot, 2-inch long jump on his first try. This was Mathews first attempt participating in the event. Mathews said he wanted to try something different and attributed his successful first jump to “a lot of working out.”
A Kapa‘a High School discus specialist Loke Manaku also qualified with one of her throws.
Only the hurdling and the 100-meter dashes went off, before Kapa‘a’s coach Ron Velasco called the meet.
But even though the schools didn’t have the opportunity to show off the athletes, the coaches seem confident in what they can do.
Waimea High School distance coach Rodney Martin commented on his runners.
“We’ve got a pretty strong distance team,” Martin said. “We’ve got quite a bit of the runners from the KIF Championship cross country team out, so we should be good.”
Waimea also has its fair share of newcomers.
“We’ve got a lot of young girls coming up,” he said. “We’ve got a freshman, Natasha Abadilla, and sophomore Caralyn Broyles should be tough.”
Kaua‘i High returns quite a few of athletes who medaled in last year’s state tournament. They return Chelsea Smith-Wishard, Savannah Rollins, Tiffany Ikeda-Simao and Jamilee Jimenez.
“They are the real core, and they’re all back,” said Kaua‘i head coach Richard Matsumoto.
The rest of the athletes will have to wait until next Friday to qualify for states.
Rodrigues hits the mound
Koloa-native Mark Rodrigues is expected to pitch in today’s baseball game between the University of Hawai‘i Rainbow Warriors and the 12th-ranked Wichita State Shockers. This is the second of a three-game series.
Rodrigues had the best start of his career this past week at UC Santa Barbara, allowing one run on just three hits in a complete-game victory. He faced just one batter over the minumum in the game while throwing 82 pitches.
The senior is now a perfect 4-0 on the year with a 1.45 ERA in 24.2 innings.
SportsRadio AM1420 will broadcast all the game with Don Robbs calling the action.
