Edwards is King of the Hurdles

     The Big Island Interscholastic Federation was well represented at the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Track & Field Championships held Saturday in Keaau.

     BIIF runners, jumpers and throwers made their way into the finals to compete on equal footing with the state’s best.

    Kau’s Jacob Edwards had a banner day pocketing two gold medals in his signature events, the 110 and 300 meter hurdles.

    Edwards, just a junior, posted the best times in the state throughout the year and proved his mettle by displaying picture perfect form in traversing the hurdles.  Last year Edwards came away with two silver medals in both hurdle events, but the Trojan, through hard work and determination, has placed himself as the hurdle King in Hawaii prep sports.

    “I thought I could have done better,” Edwards said after winning his second gold medal  “My starts need some work as I’m getting out too slow in the 110 and then I have to play catch up.”

   Edwards looked to be in trouble during the 110 with two hurdles to go Hilo’s Jacob Delacruz had a body length in front of the Trojan, but he managed to pull out the race with 20 meters to go clocking 14.93 to second place Delacruz at 15.26.

   The 300 hurdles turned into near BIIF finals with four of the eight qualifiers coming for the Big Island.  Hilo’s TJ Dela Cruz and Cameron Calistro were joined by Keaau’s Broc Bangloy with the best four times in the top five contestants.

   Edwards and Dela Cruz went one-two with Banloy and Calistro taking fourth and fifth respectively.  “I’ve been racing against these guys all season and we all work hard to make each other faster,” Edwards said.

   Edwards went on to take fifth place in the triple jump and scored a total of 22 points, the highest number of points ever scored by a boy’s team from Kau, according to Trojan coach, Bob Martin.

   Not to be outdone, Hawaii Preparatory Academy’s Ku’uipo Nakoa captured her gold in the long jump, outdistancing runner-up Zhane Santiago of Kahuku by more than one foot with her leap of 17-11.50.

   Nakoa, who had a total of one medal last year for her teams fourth place relay finish, turned entered and was instrumental in helping the Ka Makani advance in the 400 and 1600 meter relays.

   Kamehameha-Hawaii Victoria Hiilani joined Nakoa on the long jump medal platform capturing fifth place in just her sophomore season.

   Ka Makani Mindy Campbell won the girl’s high jump with a leap of 5-04 with Waiakea’s Cassie Morigaki taking fifth and HPA’s Erika Cushnie in sixth.

   Nakoa also captured third place in the triple jump with Kamehameha-Hawaii’s Cheray Brzezowski taking fifth.

   During the 100 meter dash it Hilo’s Corie Schattuaer, the BIIF champion, going head to head against Punahou’s Ashley Satterwhite.  Satterwhite won the event with Schattuaer taking fourth.

1. “I hurt my leg during the 100 and my coach (Pat Lau) told me to scratch the 200 and 1600 relay, but I couldn’t do that and let me teammates down,” Nakoa said.

   Nakoa went on to run in the 200 but reinjured her leg and was not to return for the final relay event.

   Schattuaer was back at it again later in the evening in the 200 dash with a fast time of 26.59 seconds and a third place finish.

   Keaau freshman Randi Estrada made a name for herself by making it into the finals of the girls 400 meter dash and maintained her composure to claim a third place medal.

   “I was shaking and nervous before the race, but once the starter said “set” I was over it,” Estrada said.

    “I was seeded fifth, but I was hoping to get third.  My coach (Vicky Chai-Guerpo) told me before the race that I had to start my kick early in order to get a better time,” Estrada said.

    Estrada was in seventh place going into the final 150 meters when she began her kick to the finish.  The strategy worked well as the Cougar freshman passed four runners in her final kick.

    Another surprise came from Honokaa’s Tialana Greenwell who ran her fastest 3000 clocking in at 10:48.36 to finish second overall.

    “I wasn’t expecting that time at all,” Greenwell said.  “I was hoping I could run 11 minutes flat and finish in the top three, but I surprised myself.”

    Greenwell used the 1500 meter run as a warm up during the trails to get rid of pre-race jitters and prior to the finals put her headphones on and listened to music in order to avoid the “big race nerves.”  “My coach knows that I always get nervous before a state meet and he wanted me to relax as much as possible,” she said.

   Another Dragon, Jake Shiraki, pulled out a fourth place finish in the boys 3000, while Hilo’s Mark Turner placed sixth.

    The girls 100 hurdles saw Kamehameha’s Aubrey Lea Shaw and HPA’s Kini Shuping make the medal stand by placing fifth and sixth respectively.  Shaw and Shuping was back on the track later in the evening for the 300 hurdles it was the Warrior redeeming herself for letting the BIIF championships slip through by taking a second place medal and edging out the BIIF champ, Kini Shuping of HPA who finished sixth.

    Kamehameha-Hawaii’s Jordan Lerma had the fastest 800 qualifying time going into the finals and managed to break the 2 minute barrier in the finals to claim third with Keaau’s Daniel Brooks taking fifth.

   In pole vault Hilo seniors Scott Hunter (2^nd) and David King (5) took home two state medals for the Big Island contingent.

  Viking sprinters Charles Clay and Chan Spikes represented the BIIF well with both making the 100 finals, with Clay (4^th) advancing into the 200 with Waiakea’s Ka’imi Scott (6^th).

     HHSAA host Keaau had both their boys 1600 relay team in the finals. The Cougars went with Mtume Msizkizi-Jackson, Jelani Young, Edward Dalton and Jelani Alcott as the foursome blazed to a person best time of 3:27.92 good enough for fifth place.

    BIIF athletes were only shut out of three of the 32 contested events (16 boys and 16 girl’s events) in which no one made it to the finals.  In girls pole vault a pair of freshmen ended in a tie for 13^th place, while boys high jump and discus saw the Big Island’s best in ties for 10^th place.

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