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.”

Advertisement

BIIF All League Girl’s for Track & Field

BIIF All-League Girls Track and Field 2009                      

Athlete of the Year: Ku’uipo Nakoa JR Hawaii Prep

Coach of the Year: Kamehameha Coaches

Event	1st Team	2nd Team
110 Hurdles	Aubrey Lea Shaw SR Kamehameha	Cheray Brzezowski SR Kamehameha
100m	Corie Schattauer SR Hilo	Ku’uipo Nakoa JR Hawaii Prep
1500m	Noelani Vargas SR Hawaii Prep	Tialana Greenwell SO Honoka’a
400m	Randi Estrada FR Keaau	Bronte Kaneakua JR Kamehameha
300m Hurdles	Kini Shuping SR Hawaii Prep	Aubrey Lea Shaw SR Kamehameha
800m	Noelani Vargas SR Hawaii Prep	Kaitlyn Chock JR Waiakea
200m	Ku’uipo Nakoa JR Hawaii Prep	Corie Schattuaer SR Hilo
3000m	Athena Oldfather JR Honoka’a	Tialana Greenwell SO Honokaa
High Jump	Cassie Morigaki SR Waiakea	(Tie) Mindy Campbell JR Hawaii PrepErika Cushnie JR Hawaii Prep
Pole Vault	Chung FR Hilo	Sydney Budde FR Hawaii Prep
Long Jump	Ku’uipo Nakoa  JR Hawaii Prep	Cheray Brzezowski SR Kamehameha
Triple Jump	Ku’uipo Nakoa JR Hawaii Prep	Cheray Brzezowski SR Kamehameha
Discus Throw	Kaopuanani Sutton JR Kamehameha	Ariel Moniz SR Hilo
Shot Put	Brianna Vargas-Hafoka  JR Kamehameha	Julia Naumes SR Kohala

Honorable MentionChristian Liberty:

Hawaii Prep: Tatiana Marti, Lana Queen, Kela Vargas, Hana Scully

Hilo: Linda Sunia, Alyssa Hoshide, Shalila De Bourmont

Honoka’a: Kim Kishimoto

Kea’au: Ariana Graham, Amy Eriksson, Azmera Hammouri, Kathleen Van Cleave

Kealakehe: Rachael Bianchi, Kaila Voss

Kohala: Mary Josephine Osorio

Konawaena: Anuhea Wall, Anjelica Sanderson, Kaua Wall

Kamehameha: Lilinoe Heaukulani, Lyan Apilado, Jessica Marote, Victoria Evans-Bautista, Natasha Ah Chong, Kaitlyn Yamamoto, Kekelaokalaui Bennett, Corin Kim

Ku O Ka La: Lorena Shire

Waiakea: Alyssa Buyuan, Kelsie Kobayashi,

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.

BIIF Runners Set to Leave Mark at HHSAA Championships

Kau’s Jacob Edwards leads the state in 110 & 300 hurdles

      Runners, jumpers and throwers from around the state are flocking to the Big Island for the Hawaii High School Athletic Association track & field championships to be held at Keaau on Friday and Saturday.

    The Punahou boys and Kamehameha-Oahu girls are the defending state champions and are loaded with talent in what should be a well contested meet in Keaau.

   Several Big Island Interscholastic Federation athletes will be in the mix to compete for individual state titles.

    Leading the way is Hawaii Preparatory Academy’s Ku’uipo Nakoa who is the BIIF Female Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

    Nakoa is ranked No.1 in the state long jump with a leap of 17 feet 9 inches, more than seven inches further than any other girl in the state has jumped.

   The Ka Makani junior is also ranked third in the triple jump, 36’ 10.25”, third in the 400 meter dash, 59.57 seconds, third in the 200 dash, 26.03 seconds and third in the 100 dash with a hand time of 12.5 seconds.

   “I think my best chance of winning a gold medal would be in the long jump, but who knows,” Nakoa said.  “We’ll all be pushing each other and we’ll all have our adrenaline pumping, so anything can happen.”

   “I’d really, really like to win the 100 and I’d like to do my best in that event as well,” Nakoa said.

   Hilo’s Cory Schattuaer, the BIIF champion in the 100 dash, is ranked second in that event, 12.70, behind state leader Punahou’s Ashley Satterwhite of Punahou who has clocked 12.53.

   A pair of BIIF girls is ranked in the 300 hurdles, with Kamehameha-Hawaii’s Aubrey Lea Shaw listed as third, 47.61, and HPA’s Kini Shuping, who won the BIIF title, fourth at 47.48.  Shuping is also fourth in the state in the triple jump with a leap of 35-05.5.

   The BIIF champions, Kamehameha girls, 4×100 team of Heidi Hall, Lilinoe Heaukulani, Bronte Kaneakua and Jessica Marote ranks fourth in the state at 51.08 seconds while the HPA girls 4×400 team of Nakoa, Shuping, Hana Scully and Noelani Vargas is ranked fifth at 4:13.61.

   Adding to the list of top BIIF girls are HPA’s Mindy Campbell and Waiakea’s Cassie Morigaki who are in a four way tie for high jump clearing five feet two inches early in the season.  Radford’s Kaeli Patton sits in first place at 5-4.

  “We are hobbling through some injuries, as Mindy, who jumped 5-2 in the first three meets sat out the last three weeks prior to the BIIF championships because of a foot injury,” HPA coach, Pat Lau said.

   “Ku’uipo (Nakoa) has been experiencing some pain somewhere, but she won’t tell me, it might be in her thigh or hip, but that won’t stop her from running at states,” Lau said. 

   HPA is taking ten girls to Keaau for the state championships and they are listed in 19 events and the two relays, which has Lau hopeful that his girls can advance into 14 events and two relays in the finals, on Saturday.

     “Our goal is to be in the top five.  If the gods are on our side and the planets are lined up right we could score 85 points, but realistically 48 to 55 points is a more real number,” Lau said. 

    “The way the different girl teams look 65 points will win it.  There are no dominating teams.  Punahou and Radford have the sprinters, Maui has a great middle and distance running, and Kahuku is good in field events,” Lau said.

    For the boys it is the BIIF’s most outstanding male athlete, Kau’s Jacob Edwards, has the best chance at bringing home two or three state individual titles.

1. The Trojan is also ranked fourth in the triple jump with his hop-skip-and jump of 45-06.5.

   “I like my chances in the 300 hurdles as there is more room for adjustment during the race,” Edwards said.  “I need to keep my head up, but I don’t want to put the cart before the horse and I must remain humble.”

    Edwards placed second in the state last year in both the 110 and 300 hurdles and was sixth in the triple jump.

   Close behind Edwards is a talented Thomas Delacruz of Hilo who ranks third in the state for the 110 at 14.97 and second in the 300 at 40.05.

   Hilo also brings to the track some of the best sprinters in the state with Charles Clay, No. 3, in the 100 dash at 11.09 and No. 3 in the 200 at 22.51.

   Teammate Bronson Kahaleua follows Clay in the 200 with the fourth fastest time in the state, 22.53, with Waiakea’s Ka’imi Scott fifth at 22.66.

   The Viking boys 4×100 relay team of Chan Spikes, Kahaleua, Clay and Karl Ancheta is ranked fourth in the state at 43.17 seconds.

   Konawaena’s Dakota Smith holds down the No. 2 state position in the 800 meter run, 1:59.81, with Kamehameha-Hawaii’s Jordan Lerma at No. 3, 2:00.15.  King Kekaulike’s Reid Hunter brings the fastest time in the 800 clocking 1:58.61 earlier in the season.

   In pole vault it is Hilo’s David King bringing his early season clearance of 15 feet as the No. 1 height in the state.  King has been hampered with some nagging injuries and was only able to clear 13 feet during the BIIF championships.  Teammate and defending BIIF champion in the pole vault, Scott Hunter, cleared 13-6 to win the event.

   Kamehameha’s Caleb Friel is ranked No. 3 in pole vault with his early season height of 14 feet.

   The Vikings should also score points in the shot with Jordan Loeffler ranked No. 5 at 52-05.5 toss.

   “Our boys and girls are just hoping to make second day appearances in all events,” Kamehameha-Hawaii coach, Troy Souza said.  “Our girls have a better shot at getting points and whatever points we get will be greatly welcomed.”

   The Warrior girls won the BIIF team title last week at Keaau and are hoping to carry their success into this week’s championship.  “The girls are really motivated and trying to carry any momentum into this week state track meet,” Souza said.

   The HHSAA track and field state championship begins this Friday at Keaau with the qualifying heats for each event.  On Saturday the championships conclude with event finals.

   General admission tickets are $7, students in grades K-12 are $5; students, and Senior Citizens are $5.  No outside food will be allowed within the stadium, no coolers, no tenting anywhere in the stands and parking will not be permitted at Keaau’s upper gym parking lot, that area is reserved for officials and workers, according to Keaau athletic director, Iris McGuire.