Seabury’s Dakota Grossman and Kiana Smith headed to Kamehameha Invite

Two of the best runners in the State headed to Kamehameha Invitational on Saturday.

Seabury’s Dakota Grossman, the defending state champion, and teammate Kiana Smith, the top freshman in the state, will be running at the Warrior Invite.

(Pictured are Heather Grossman on left with Daughter Dakota)

Some results from the Maui Interscholastic League, held this past Saturday:

OLINDA – Rocky Balala and Dakota Grossman both improved to 2-0 on the season with wins at Maui Interscholastic League cross-country meet No. 2 on Saturday at Seabury Hall.

Grossman, the defending state and MIL champion, won the girls race in a time of 18 minutes, 47 seconds, beating out Spartans teammate Kiana Smith (20:22).

Kiana Smith

Gracie Peck (21:06) finished third, Justine Malek (21:29) was fourth and Dylan Ross (22:10) was fifth as Seabury Hall posted 15 points. Baldwin placed second with 43 points.

Balala, last season’s MIL boys champion, finished in a time of 17:32 as Maui High swept the top three spots and won the team competition with 27 points, seven better than Seabury Hall.

Angelito Cuaresma (17:40) placed second and Nicola Perez-Garreaud (17:43) third.

The Lahainaluna Invitational is Sept. 17 at Kapalua.

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BIIF Boy’s Track & Field All-Star List

BIIF All-League Boys Track and Field 2009

Athlete of the Year: Jacob Edwards JR Ka’u

Coach of the Year: Bill McMahon, Hilo

 

Event	1st Team	2nd Team
110 Hurdles	Jacob Edwards JR Ka’u	Thomas Delacruz SR Hilo
100m	Chan Spikes JR Hilo	Charles Clay SR Hilo
1500m	Mark Turner SR Hilo	Jake Shiraki SR Honoka’a
400m	Kaimi Scott JR Waiakea	Jordan Lerma SR Kamehameha
300m Hurdles	Jacob Edwards JR Ka’u	Thomas Delacruz SR Hilo
800m	Dakota Smith SR Konawaena	Jordan Lerma SR Kamehameha
200m	Kaimi Scott JR Waiakea	Charles Clay SR Hilo
3000m	Eli Hart SR Hawaii Prep	Mark Turner SR Hilo
High Jump	Sam Unger SR Konawaena	Mtume Msizkizi-Jackson SR Kea’au
Pole Vault	Scott Hunter SR Hilo	(Tie) Caleb Friel SR Kamehameha,David King SR Hilo
Long Jump	Mtume Msizkizi-Jackson SR Kea’au	Jacob Edwards JR Ka’u
Triple Jump	Jacob Edwards JR Ka’u	Mtume Msizkizi-Jackson SR Kea’au
Discus Throw	Jordon Loeffler SR Hilo	Elliot Kastner SR Hawaii Prep
Shot Put	Shane Brostek FR Hawaii Prep	Jordon Loeffler SR Hilo

Honorable Mention

 Waiakea:  Travis Winters

Christian Liberty: Jeremy Grotenhuis, Justin Pang

Hawaii Prep: George Twigg-Smith, Tyler Tsubota

Hilo: Billy Ray, Leo Campbell, Bronson Kahaleua, Alan Tilanus, James Yoshimoto, Cameron Calistro

Honoka’a: Ian Laird, Chris Mosch

Kea’au: Jesse Huihui, Edward Dalton, Broc Bangloy, Daniel Brooks, Patrick Understeller, Jelani Alcott, Jelani Young

Kealakehe: Remington Noguchi, Jake Jordan, Luca Walter

Kohala: Ethan Meikle, Conn Wallman

Konawaena: Austin Denike, Ricky Pekala

Kamehameha: Kainoa Crum, Manta Dircks, Isaac DeRego, Pon

BIIF runners rank high in State

Kona's Kaua Wall #4 in state 400

Waiakea’s Ka’imi Scott #3 in state 400

Smith, Wall and Scott made long strides this past Saturday at a Big Island Interscholastic Federation track & field meet at Konawaena.

    Kona’s Dakota Smith established himself as the number one 800 meter runner by powering his way to a close victory over Kamehameha’s Jordan Lerma.

   Smith came into the final heat of the boy’s 800 meter run as the clear favorite and quickly jumped out to a fast start running the opening lap in 56 seconds.

   “My target was to hit a 57 or 58 second first lap and I went out a little too fast,” Smith said after winning the event.

   Lerma was determined to stay with Smith, but faded back 10 meters at one point during the race with the rest of the field more than 30 meters behind Lerma after the opening lap.

   “I began to hear someone coming up on me with 250 meters to go,” Smith said.  That someone was Lerma who began to make his move on the back straightaway to close the gap.

   With 50 meters to go Lerma had pulled up with Smith as the two boys sprinted their way to the finish.  In the final 10 meters Smith pulled a stride ahead of the determined Warrior to win in 1:59.81 with Lerma clocking in at 2:00.15.

    Smith’s time propelled him into the state’s number one ranking with Lerma now being ranked third in the state.  Keaau’s Daniel Brooks did not race on Saturday, but hold down the state’s number four position for the 800.

    “I don’t really care about the ranking,” Smith said after it was announced that he was #1 in the state.  “It’s just paper and it doesn’t mean much.  I will mean more if I can win the state meet.”

    “I felt good at this meet,” Smith said.  “This was probably the first time this season that I ran without having a blister, or feeling sick, or having some other kind of problem.”

   “I heard about that kid (Lerma) before, from cross-country, but I never expected him to be up there with me.  Running on my home turf made a difference as I like this track as I practice on it all the time,” Smith said.

   Smith believes that by the end of the season he’ll be able to get under 1:59.  “My coaches, Lopaka (Robert May) and Ken (Foreman) have raised the bar for me and I give them a lot of the credit.”

   For Lerma it was a big surprise to run 2 minutes flat in the 800.  “I’ve never run that fast before as my goal coming in was to just get under 2:06 (his personal best),” he said.

   “I just stayed focused during the race and I tried to stay with him (Smith) up to the 600 meter mark.  I was hoping I could outkick him with 200 to go, Lerma said.”

     With confidence in hand Lerma now expressed his desire to get under 1:59.  “I’m going to try for a 1:58 and I believe that Dakota is a good guy to run against.  I’ll focus on the 800 as I have the speed of a sprinter and the experience of a long distance runner,” Lerma said.

    In the girls 400 meter dash it was Kona’s Kaua Wall and Keaau’s freshman sensation, Randi Estrada wowing the crowd.

   Wall blazed through the one lap race in the BIIF fastest time this season clocking in at 61.25 seconds, which ranks her number five in the state, with Estrada taking second in 61.55 seconds and a number 7 state ranking.

   Longtime Kona coach, Ken Foreman, said of his 400 meter runner “Kaua doesn’t have a lot of speed, but she has a lot of guts.  She is probably one of the nicest and easiest kids to coach and one of the reasons that I continue to coach.”

   Wall was equally complimentary of her coach saying, “Coach Ken has been pushing me hard in practice and I just wanted to do it for him.”  

   The Wildcat hit the halfway point right on her target goal of 29 seconds and was pleased with her effort.  “I’m trying extra hard this year and during the race I just dug deep and pushed hard,” she said.  “I know with hard work I’ll be able to get under 60 seconds this season.”

   Better known for her soccer skills where she captured the BIIF’s MVP award, Wall will be attending college at Hawaii Pacific University on a partial athletic scholarship.  “I’m hoping to convert from a midfielder to a forward at HPU as I want to be attacking,” she said. 

   Another 400 meter runner, Waiakea’s Ka’imi Scott, established himself as the top BIIF runner in that event this season.

   Scott used the 100 meter dash earlier in the morning as a warm up, then went out and opened his 400 with a 24 second 200 split to win the event in 51.60 seconds.

   “I was actually trying to go 26 seconds at the halfway mark, so I went out too fast,” Scott said.  “I know I need to pace myself better in the beginning and push really hard at the end.”

   Scott’s 400 time raised his state ranking to #3 in that event, but the junior Warrior isn’t satisfied with where he is at.  “I’d like to get under 50 seconds.  I like running at the Kona track because the surface is hard and it has longer straight-aways,” he said.

    Scott anchored his team during the 4×400 relay which won the event and raised Waiakea’s state relay ranking to #5.  Hilo didn’t run a 1600 relay on Saturday, but continues to hold down the state’s #3 ranking.

     Other BIIF runners ranked in the state top five are:

BOY’s

Hilo  Bronson Kahaleua, #2, 200; Thomas Delacruz, #2 300 hurdles, #3, 110 hurdles; Mark Turner, #3, 3000; David King, #1 pole vault, Scott Hunter, #4 pole vault, Jordan Loeffler, #5 shot put.

Kamehameha’s Caleb Friel, #3 pole vault.

Kau’s Jacob Edwards, #1 for 110 & 300 hurdles, #3, triple jump.

GIRL’s

HPA’s Ku’uipo Nakoa #1 triple jump, #2, 100 meters and long jump, #4, 200; Ka Makani 4×400 relay #3.

Kamehameha’s Aubrey Lea Shaw, #2, 300 hurdles.

Kohala’s Julia Naumes, #4 shot put

Honokaa’s Tialana Greenwell, #5, 3000.

HPA’s Mindy Campbell & Waiakea’s Cassie Morigaki are in a three way tie for first in high jump