BIIF Boys Track & Field All-Star Selections Announced

Jacob Edwards, Athlete of the Year in BIIF track & field

Athlete of the Year: Jacob Edwards (Ka’u)

Coach of the Year:  Kimo Weaver (Kamehameha)

First Team:

Ka’u – Jacob Edwards, 300 hurdles, triple jump

Hawaii Prep – Shane Brostek, shot put;

Kamehameha – Kanakalele Silva, 100 dash; Francis Blas III, 110 hurdles;

                Kaenen Akau, long jump; Isaac DeRego, pole vault                     

Keaau – Daniel Brooks, 800;

Kohala – Ethan Meikle & Kelson Kawai, high jump

Honokaa – Chayce Moniz, 1500 & 3000

Waiakea – Ka’imi Scott, 200 & 400

 Second team: Luca Walter (Kealakehe), Tyde Kunishiro (Hilo), Cameron Calistro (Hilo), Manta Dircks (Kamehameha), David Kekuewa (Kamehameha)

 Honorable mention: Richard Moylan (Christian Liberty), Jesse Huihui (Kea’au), Rocky Lominario (Kealakehe), Everett McKee (Kamehameha) Christian Lee (HawaiiPrep), Dylan Steele (Kealakehe), Casey Chai (Kamehameha), Jordan Decoito (Hilo), Juan Sepulveda (Kealakehe) Shawn Andrada (Kea’au) Tyler Tsubota (Hawaii Prep), Jackson Halford (Waiakea), Joshua Robinson (Honoka’a) Geoff Whitener (Kealakehe), Kevin Olsen (Kea’au), Damien Packer (Kea’au), Dylan Oakes (Hawaii Prep), Easten Tanimoto (Kamehameha), Rick Micheals (Hilo), Cliff Eriksson (Kea’au), George Twigg-Smith (Hawaii Prep), Robert Mockchew (Kealakehe), Kainoa Crum (Kamehameha), Ka’u Eggers (Kea’au)  Nelson Enos (Kea’au)  Greg Matias (Kea’au), Alika Kaopua (Ka’u), Travis Winters (Waiakea), Hawk Hanoa (Kamehameha), Dathan Toribio (Kea’au), Jake Jordan (Kealakehe), Maunaku Palama-Danielson (Waiakea)

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HPA girls, KS-Hawaii boys win BIIF Track & Field Team Titles

KS-Hawaii scored 15 pts in the 110 hurdles with Blas, McKee & Tanimoto. Also pictured Hilo's Calistro, Keaau's Packer & HPA's Oakes

KEALAKEKUA – The Hawaii Preparatory Academy girls and Kamehameha boys are flying high after winning the Big Island Interscholastic Federation track & field team titles Saturday at Yates Field in Konawaena.

   HPA got a spectacular performance and 58 points from the “Queen of the Hurdles” Ku’uipo Nakoa.

Ku’uipo Nakoa

Nakoa, a state leader in the 100 and 300 hurdles, captured the BIIF individual crown in both events and also won the 100 and 200 dashes, along with the triple jump.  Nakoa’s long jump second place finish, by half an inch, during the first event of the day ignited the senior Ka Makani to a near perfect performance.

    Kamehameha’s Victoria Evans Bautista saved her best jump for last leaping 17’ 3.75” to set a new meet record in edging out Nakoa for the long jump crown.

     Moments later Nakoa responded by winning the 100 meter hurdles and in the process set a new meet record in a blistering time of 15.16 seconds.  Later in the day Nakoa won the 300 hurdles of 46 seconds flat also set a new championship meet record.

   “The 100 (dash) felt comfortable for me as I needed to play catch up,” Nakoa said.  “This season I learned that I needed to run for me and not for anyone else.  I always run for improvement and today I achieved what I had set my heart to do.”

   HPA also showcased another “Queen” in the hurdles, Lana Queen; running on the heels of Nakoa all season long Queen helped her team by placing second in the 100 hurdles and third in the 300.

   Ka Makani also gained points from middle distance runner Kela Vargas who finished fifth in the 800 and third in the 1500.

  The real surprise for HPA came from freshman Zoe Sims in the 400 dash when she ran the race of her life winning in 59.55 seconds.  “I’ve only run the 400 a couple of times this season, but I really enjoy this distance,” Sims said.

   “We decided to save her (Nakoa) for the individual events and pull her out of the relays,” HPA coach Pat Lau said.  “We needed her to carry us, points wise, in those events and she did extremely well.”

   Lau also had high praise for his coaches.  “We (coaches) make decisions together that are best for the team.  Everything is a group effort and this year was tough for us as our track is under construction,” he said.  “I also give a lot of credit to our AD (Steve Perry) who made sure we got what we needed to produce a good track program.”

   While Nakoa was tearing up the track with her blistering speed the Kamehameha boys were racking up points with their sprinters.

Kana Silva

Warrior Kanakalele Silva dominated the 100 and 200 meter dashes and provided the additional fire power to anchor the boys 4×100 relay team to victory.

   Silva was aided in the sprint department by teammates Kaenen Akau and Everett “Maka” McKee and Francis Blas III in scoring which propelled Kamehameha to the team title.

   Blas, in the 110 hurdles, took advantage of Kau’s Jacob Edwards false start during the preliminaries on Friday by winning the finals.

   Akau, along with fellow Warrior Manta Dircks added points in the jumps with Akau winning the long, 21’ 5.5” and Dircks taking second. Dircks returned later to the jumping pit, taking second in the triple.

   Discus thrower David Kekuewa placed second in the finals and scored additional points by finishing second in the shot put with teammate Hawk Hanoa taking third to round out the major scoring efforts for the Warrior boys.

  In the finals of the boy’s pole vault, held on Friday, Warriors Isaac DeRego and Max Shimamoto went one-two respectively to aid 18 points to the team count.

  Kamehameha coach, Kimo Weaver, was all smiles with his team’s title.  “Our boys had real team depth,” Weaver said.  “Our goal was to come into the championship meet and try to score points in all 16 events.”

   Weaver contributed a lot of the Warrior success to the confidence gained while participating on Oahu during the season.  “After going to Oahu the kids confidence level went really high,” he said.  “We believe our team can get into the top 10 in the state and our relay teams will be very competitive.”

  Last season it was Hilo winning the boys team title with Kamehameha edging out HPA by two points for the girls crown.  This season Ka Makani runners and jumpers left little doubt on reclaiming the BIIF crown beating runner up Kamehameha girls by more than 40 points.

   “Every year people expect HPA to win team championships,” Coach Lau said.  “Those expectations make us work harder and is the reason why we have such a good program.”

   A total of eight BIIF championship records were set, according to track official, Bob Martin. 

“We had two records broken during Friday’s preliminaries and six more broken during Saturday’s finals,” Martin said.  “This was the most records set during a championship meet this past decade.”

BIIF Royality Returns to the Track

King of the Hurdles, Jacob Edwards

   The reigning King and Queen of prep track and field will step onto the all-weather oval this weekend when the Big Island Interscholastic Federation holds their season openers at Kamehameha-Keaau and Konawaena.

   Kau’s Jacob Edwards and Hawaii Prep’s Ku’uipo Nakoa return to the track for their senior season as the 2009 male and female athletes of the year, respectively.

   Last year Edwards won individual honors during the BIIF championships in the 110 and 300 meter hurdles and the triple jump while placing second in the long jump and fourth in the 200-meter dash to single handedly score 42 points for the Trojans.

   Edwards went on to win the Hawaii High School Athletic Association state championships in the 110 and 300-meter hurdles and placed fifth in the triple jump.  For his efforts Edwards was selected as the Gatorade boy’s track and field athlete of the year for the State of Hawaii.

   “I plan on coming out like a rocket again this year,” Edwards said of the upcoming season. “I’ve conditioned during the off season by running cross-country and I spent a lot of time strength training so I’m excited about starting the season.”

   Despite not having a track to practice on at Kau, Edwards has managed to excel at just about everything he has entered.  This season Kau’s long jump pit is under construction and Trojan coach Bob Martin drove Edwards to Kamehameha one day during Spring Break to practice at the Warriors field.

   “I’ve set a lot of goals for myself in my senior season,” Edwards said while practicing at Kamehameha.  “Once the season gets underway we’ll see what happens.”

Queen of the Jumps, Ku’uipo Nakoa

Nakoa won the 200 dash, long and triple jumps and placed second in the 100-meter dash and scored 38 individual points and helped HPA finish first in the 1,600 relay and second in the 400 relay. 

   At the state championships Nakoa won the long jump, but it was a bitter sweet victory as she injured herself on the final jump and never totally recovered to do her remaining events.

  “I was leading the long jump after my second try and my coach told me not to do a third jump, but I did anyway and that’s when I injured myself,” Nakoa said.  “I went on to finish third in the triple and sixth in the 100.”

  This year Nakoa comes in with a different attitude and the confidence that she can go further than in the past.

  “In the past I’ve only really been focused on BIIF’s,” she said.  “This year I want to place my focus on how far I can go at states.   I plan on blocking everything out and concentrate on jumps while focusing on running the 400.”

  Currently HPA is putting in a new all weather track which won’t be completed until the fall so Ka Makani athletes are training on makeshift areas and making do with what they have.

  “My sprint coach, Brad Lau, is really helping me out as we’re looking for different places to do our workouts which have included running in the pastures and at the beach on the sand,” Nakoa said.

   Waiakea’s Kaimi Scott returns for Waiakea as the defending 200 and 400-meter champion and looks to improve on his times this year.

   “I’m focusing more on my form which will help me get faster,” he said.  “The 200 is my strength, but I like running the 400 as well.”

   The Waiakea boys are the two time BIFF 1600 relay champions and look to defend their title with a strong returning sprint core with the return of Owen Cooper, Travis Winters and Jacob St. George. 

  Last year three BIIF freshmen won individual titles with Keaau’s Randi Estrada winning the girls 400-meters and later took third place at the state championships.  Hilo’s Shina Chung won the BIIF pole vault title and HPA’s Shane Brostek won the boys shot event.

   Hilo High is the defending boy’s team champion winning last season by more than 60 points with Viking coach Bill McMahon winning his 18^th team title (boys and girls combined) during his 19 years at the helm.

   “I got some numbers this year, but most of the team is real green,” McMahon said.  “We’re just going to have to see what happens as the season progresses.”

   The Kamehameha girl’s team beat out a tough HPA squad to claim the title and another showdown between the two schools looks to be brewing once again this year.

   “We are trying to keep the ball rolling,” Kamehameha coach Kimo Weaver said.  “Our team goals are to better our times/marks each week, be in contention for the league title and improve on our number of state qualifiers.”

   The Warrior girls will again face stiff opposition from a large and talented HPA squad for this year’s team title.

   “We are stocked with good freshman distance runners, most from the BIIF girl’s champion cross-country team,” HPA coach Pat Lau said.  “We have roughly 85 athletes on the track team and 61 are girls.”

   Other top returning BIIF track & field athletes to watch this season are:

Hilo:  Cameron Calistro, hurdles, Shalila De Bourmont, distance.

Honokaa: Tialana Greenwell, Athena Oldfather, Chris Mosch, and Joshua Robinson distance.

HPA: Hanna Scully, sprints, Kela Vargas, distance, Sydney Budde, pole vault, Lana Queen, hurdles & jumps, Mindy Campbell, high jump and Tyler Tsubota, distance.

Kamehameha: ‘Io Heaukulani, sprints & high jump; Kaopuanani Sutton, throws; Bronte Kaneakua, sprints; Natasha Ah Chong; Hiilani Evans-Bautista jumps; Corin Kim, mid distance; Manta Dirks jumps, and Kaenan Akau, sprints & jumps; Maka McKee hurdles.

Keaau: Daniel Brooks, mid distance, Jesse Huihui, sprints and jumps.

Kealakehe:  Walter Luca, mid distance.

Kohala:  Ethan Meikle, high jump.

Waiakea: Kaitlyn Chock mid distance and Erika Cushnie, high jump.

The BIIF Track & Field season kicks off on Saturday, March 27, with East/West meets at Kamehameha-Keaau and Konawaena starting at 9 am.

BIIF Track Honors Island’s Best

   The Big Island Interscholastic Federation recently released its 2009 Track & Field All-Star list naming Kau’s Jacob Edwards and Hawaii Prep’s Ku’uipo Nakoa Male/Female Athlete of the Year.

   Edwards, a slender six foot junior, won individual honors during the BIIF championships in the triple jump, 110 and 300 hurdles, and placed second in the long jump and fourth in the 200 meter dash to single-handedly score a whopping 42 points.

  Nakoa won the 200 meter dash, long and triple jumps and placed second in the 100 dash to amass 38 individual points and went on to help HPA finish first in the 1600 relay and second in the 400 relay.

   At the HHSAA track and field championships held in Keaau Edwards claimed titles in both the 110 and 300 hurdles while Nakoa won the state gold medal in the long jump.

   Also coming away with double wins in the BIIF championship were HPA’s Noelani Vargas who swept the 1500 meter run and later returned to win the 800.

   Waiakea’s Ka’imi Scott won the BIIF 400 dash and then captured the 200 dash to make it a double gold day for the Warrior junior.  

   A trio of freshman became BIIF champions as Keaau’s Randi Estrada won the girls 400 dash, then went on to the state championships to claim a third place medal.  Hilo’s Shina Chung claimed a BIIF title in pole vault and HPA’s Shane Brostek won the league title for the shot.

   Surprises came when Honokaa’s Tialana Greenwell could only muster a second place finish at the BIIF 3000 meter run, but turned things around by running her best at the state championships to win a second place medal and clock an incredible time of 10 minutes 48 seconds.

   In the boy’s hurdles no one in the state could catch the “King,” Jacob Edwards, but Hilo’s TJ Dela Cruz was not only the second best in the BIIF, for both the 110 and 300, he was also second best in the state.

   And when it came to the 300 hurdles it was the BIIF’s fifth seed, Keaau’s Broc Bangloy, and third seed, Hilo’s Cameron Calistro going fourth and fifth in the state respectively to give the BIIF boy’s four out of the state’s top five medals.

   Yet, another surprise, came from BIIF runner-up Jordan Lerma from Kamehameha who went onto break the 2 minute barrier in the 800 at the state meet to collect a third place medal with Keaau’s Daniel Brooks, the BIIF fourth seed, winning fifth at state.

   HPA’s Mindy Campbell finished the BIIF championships as the runner-up in the high jump to Waiakea’s Cassie Morigaki, but at the state championships Campbell leaped her personal best 5-04 to win the state title, while Morigaki claimed fifth.

   The BIIF All-Star team is based upon the athletes placing in a particular event during the BIIF championships.  Athletes who placed first were selected to the first team, those that placed second were second team selections and those that placed in any of the scoring positions, from third to sixth, were given an honorable mention.

   Hilo High won the boys BIIF team title by more than 60 points in a runaway victory for Coach Bill McMahon.  McMahon has accumulated the most team titles of an  active BIIF track & field  coach, winning his 18^th team title (boys and girls combined) over an illustrious 19 years with the Vikings.

   McMahon was selected by league coaches as the Coach of the Year a title he has won on numerous occasions.  “I don’t count those things,” McMahon said of winning Coach of the Year.  “What I count are the former athletes that I see on the street that bother to approach me and say “thanks coach”.

   “Alex Kane, Clarence Andrade and Norb Keolanue all gave me the same advice,” McMahon said, “surround yourself with good people.”

   Kamehameha girls came away with a narrow four point victory over HPA to claim the BIIF team title and for their efforts the entire Warrior coaching staff was named Coach of the Year.

   Kamehameha Schools coach, Troy Souza, was elated with his team’s success and in the sharing of the Coach of the Year award with the rest of his staff.

   “It is an honor to have our coaching staff named Coach of the Year,” Souza said.  “This is something that couldn’t be done without the effort and success of our students.”

   For the private school Warriors it was a season filled with emotion and hard work.  “As a school we had so many school records broken this year which goes to show how hard these students worked,” Coach Souza said.

   BIIF track & field coaches voted for boy’s and girl’s coach of the year and the results were released by the leagues “Games Committee.”

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.