Kau’s Strand-Nicolaisen wins 100 hurdles, long and triple jumps at Keaau meet

KEAAU – Pouring rain and a bone chilling wind didn’t prevent Kau’s Marley Strand-Nicolaisen from winning the first event of the day as the Trojan stood at the starting line of the 100 meter hurdles.

“During my warm ups a strong wind would kick up and I would have to start all over again,” Strand-Nicolaisen said.  “It was difficult to get myself into the right frame space and get this race over with.”

Strand-Nicolaisen along with her competitors couldn’t escape being drenched and then had to fight against the chill while jumping up and down to stay warm.

“I really wanted to win the 100 hurdles because I was second last week,” Strand-Nicolaisen said.  “I want to come back and win today and focus my concentration on winning the triple jump.”

Big Island Interscholastic Federation East Side track and field schools were at Keaau on Saturday while the West Side were running on the Hawaii Preparatory campus.

Strand-Nicolaisen became a triple event winner as she claimed victories in the long and triple jumps.

“My favorite event is the triple,” she said after leaping 34-9.75.  “I’m hoping to go beyond 35 feet during the season in the triple and I’m feeling a lot better on my long as I am improving on my last year’s mark.”

Across the field the pole vaulters were experiencing a few rain delays but it didn’t infringe on the outcome for the two BIIF defending champions with Hilo’s Shina Chung winning the girls and Keaau’s Nelson Enos winning the boys.

“I’m not finishing and I need to work more on my technique,” Enos said of his 13 foot clearance.  “I think I can go pass 14 feet.”

Enos used a 14 foot pole and knew what it would take to eclipse the mental barrier while predicting things to come in this Saturday’s meet.

“I’ll be practicing hard during the week and when we’re in Kona I’ll clear 14 feet,” the confident Cougar senior said.  “I keep dropping my legs when I go over the bar and I need to work on that.”

Hilo’s Chung was also a little disgruntled with the 10 foot clearance as she strives to go 10-5.

“It just wasn’t in me today,” Chung said.  “I’m on a bigger pole than last year while I am making the transition from an 11-6 pole to a 12 foot pole.”

Chung is also hoping for bigger and better things on Saturday in Kona.

“I think I can go a lot higher with a bigger pole, but I’m okay with today,” Chung said.  “I try not to take meets for granted and I always try to do the best that I can.”

While Chung was trying to leap tall buildings fellow Viking teammate Mehana Sabado-Halpern, a freshman, was going against a senior from Waiakea in the 1500.

“I surprised myself today,” she said of her 5:10 victory over Kelsey Kobayashi.  “I wanted to hit 5:15 so I’m really happy with today’s results.”

Sabado-Halpern credited teammate Carmen Garson-Shumway with providing her the skills necessary to run the distance race.

“Carmen has been giving me a lot of tips and has really helped me gain more confidence,” she said.

The Viking freshman has also been exploring a variety of events as she’s been in the 100, 200, 400 and 800.

Waiakea’s Michael Morikawa was injured during the 110 hurdles when his knee clipped a hurdle, but didn’t lose a step when he also competed in the long and triple jumps and the 300 hurdles.

“I was dreading the 300 today,” Morikawa said.

With knee wrapped and traces of blood leaking through the bandage Morikawa didn’t lose a step when trailing Keaau’s Damien Packer into the final turn.

“My adrenaline kicked in so I didn’t feel the pain,” Morikawa said.  “When I caught up to Damien I discovered I could win when I realized that he was stuttering his steps.”

Packer was in Lane 3 and Morikawa in Lane 4 as the duo came racing to the finish.  Morikawa pulled out the victory and in the process managed a personal best time of 43.02.

Warrior teammate Ian McQuate also pulled out an upset when he won the 3000 meter race, breaking 10 minutes in the process.

Last week it was St. Joseph’s Andrew Langtry running away from the rest of the field to win comfortably, but on Saturday McQuate did the near improbable.

Langtry took the early lead with Hilo’s Steven Hunter hanging onto second for the first three laps in a seven and a half lap race.

“I was just trying to keep my pace and I had lost track of how many laps I had left,” McQuate said.  “I was a little confused, and I was never sure of myself.”

McQuate pulled up to Hunter and Langtry and then surged his way into the lead with less than 3 laps to go.

“Once I took the lead I did not want them to catch up to me so I began to speed up,” McQuate said.  “I thought I might have a chance to win the race and it became more about me never wanting them to catch up.”

The BIIF venue moves to Konawaena on Saturday with an all schools meet beginning at 9 am.

Advertisement

Large number of BIIF TRack & Field athletes make finals of HHSAA

After day one of the HHSAA track & field qualifiers held on Maui several Big Island Interscholastic Federation Athletes made it into today’s finals.  Below is the list of qualifiers going into the finals:

BOYS                 Shane Brostek, HPA, #1 shot, #3 discus

Mauna Palamama-Danielson, WHS, #5 shot, #7 discus              Kaenen Aukai Akua, Kamehameha, #3 long jump

Everett McKee, Kamehameha, #5 long jump, #7 110 Hurdles                   Michael Morikawa, WHS, #6, long jump

Travis Winters, WHS, #7 long jump, and FINISHED #3 high jump going 6-02

Jesse Huihui, Keaau, #8 100, #5 200

Jackson Halford, WHS, #6 1500, #7 800              Luca Walter, Kealakehe, #3 400

Chris Mosch, Honokaa, #8 3K                                     Andrew Langtry, St. Joseph, #12 3K

GIRLS

Emalia Galdeira, Kona, #1 long jump, #5 triple jump, #3 100 hurdles, #5 100, #6 200  McKenna Davidson, Kealakehe, #8 long jump

Marley Strand-Nicolaisen, Kau, #8 triple jump           Lana Queen, HPA, #6 100 hurdles, #4 300 hurdles

Zoe Sims, HPA, #4 1500, #2 400                                     Carmen Garson-Shumway, Hilo, #5 1500

Kristiana Van Pernis, HPA, #6 1500, #3 800               Kela Vargas, HPA, #9, 1500

Randi Estrada, Keaau, #7 400                                        Ua Ruedy, Kona, #3 300 hurdles

HPA girls seeded #2 in the 4×400 relay                    Kealakehe girls seeded #7 4×400 relay

Big Day for Big Man at Keaau – HPA’s Shane Brostek

 

Brostek leads BIIF in Shot – photo by Brad Ballesteros

One of the big men in prep track & field pulled out a David Copperfield trick and disappeared without leaving a trace.

Standing at 6 foot 3 inches and weighing in at 300 pounds, Hawaii Preparatory Academy’s Shane Brostek is an imposing giant in a field of big men that throw the shot and discus during the track and field season of the Big Island Interscholastic Federation.

This past Saturday, at the Keaau Track, Brostek once again led the league by doing what he does best; throwing inanimate objects the furthest across the field.

Better known for his football skills, Brostek has dominated the BIIF Big Men by launching the shot and discus further than anyone else on the island.

Brostek discus toss earlier in the season of 158-01 is nearly 17 feet further than his closest competitor and his shot of 53-04.25 is a foot further than anyone in the league.

But following his final event at the shot put ring on Saturday Brostek, who was visually upset with himself, picked up his gear and disappeared into the parking lot.

“Shane is a very serious competitor who has high standards and when he doesn’t perform up to that level he gets upset with himself and withdraws,” HPA head coach Pat Lau said of Brostek’s sudden disappearance.

Brostek, a junior, threw the shot 52 feet 10 inches on Saturday to win the meet by more than 8 feet over his closest competitor, but didn’t appear happy with his spin technique. 

photo by Brad Ballesteros

“Shane has a lot of talent and he sets his goals really high,” BIIF discus official Marvin Jones said.  “He has the potential to be the best in the state as he’s sitting on a gold mine.”

Back on the track it was Kealakehe’s Dylan Navarro showcasing his blazing sprint speed to take top honors in both the 100 and 200 meter dash.

“It’s been an exciting day for me today,” Navarro said.  “I had perfect block starts and I managed to keep my head down and arms pumping as I accelerated from start to finish.”

In the 100 Navarro got a push from Kamehameha’s Kaenen Aukai Akau as the Warrior grabbed the lead during the first 50 meters.

“I really wanted to win,” Navarro said of the 100 race.  “Aukai got a slight jump out of the blocks, but I think I just wanted it more.”

The 1500 displayed two of the finest distance runners in the BIIF with Honokaa’s Chris Mosch going against Waiakea’s Jackson Halford.

Mosch took the lead on a talented field, but Jackson hung onto his shadow keeping a full stride behind.  Coming out of the final turn Jackson turned on a kick and pulled up to Mosch shoulder as the Dragon began drifting further into Jackson’s lane.

Mosch ended up crossing the finish line a half stride ahead of Jackson, but was disqualified by race officials who claimed that Mosch impeded Jackson’s attempt to pass in the straight away.

“Chris helped me to set a P.R. (personal record) as this is the fastest I ever ran in my life,” Jackson said of his 4:17.20 performance.  “I didn’t know that I won until the officials took Chris on the side and DQ’d him.  He is the most talented runner I know on this island and he’s worked really hard to get where he is.”

Mosch was philosophical about his disqualification saying “It wasn’t my intent to impede, but I’m glad I learned this lesson now instead of two weeks from now during the BIIF championships.”

Mosch later ran the 3K and literally ran away from the field of 13 competitors, lapping some of them once and others twice during the seven and a half lap contest.

“I wanted to go out fast in the 3000, but the 1500 must have taken something out of me because I didn’t go out as fast as I would have liked.” Mosch said.

None the less, Mosch easily won in a time of 9:35.40 beating his closest competitor by more than 200 meters.

Halford also returned to run in the 800 and came away with a second place finish to Kealakehe’s Luca Walter.  Walter clocked in at 2:02.47 and Halford followed a second behind.

“Jackson (Halford) pushed me as he was on it today,” Walter said.  “I wasn’t at my best as I didn’t feel right and wasn’t able to shift gears coming out of the turn.  I heard footsteps and I got worried.”

Marley and Kristina – Big Dog photo

Another Warrior, Michael Morikawa, came away with another triple jump victory by leaping over 40 feet.

All season long the public school Warrior has been quietly leading the league in the triple as the sophomore feels like he is getting the technique down.

“I started doing the running triple in fifth grade,” Morikawa said.  “I’ve always liked that event and I’m going to hit a 41 in the triple one day so that I can rank higher in the state.  I must continue to work on my technique.”

Also getting the triple down to near perfection is a pair of Kau teammates in Kristina Padrigo and Marley Strand-Nicolaisen.

Padrigo was a workhorse for the Trojans taking second in the 100, third in the 200, first in the long and third in the triple jumps.

“This was just my second time trying the triple jump,” Padrigo said.  “My favorite race is the 100 dash and I like having Marley as she motivates me and teaches me a lot.”

Strand-Nicolaisen went first in the triple and fifth in the long.

“My main event is the triple jump as it comes naturally to me,” Stand-Nicolaisen said.  “Kristina pushes me as we do a lot of different things together including playing volleyball.”

The BIIF track and field venue moves to the HPA campus on Saturday with field events beginning at 9 am and running events at 10.

Related link:  https://waynejoseph.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/hpas-shane-brostek-win-2-gold-medals-at-hhsaa-track-field-championships/

Kau’s Strand-Nicolaisen & Waiakea’s Morikawa lead BIIF Triple Jump

Strand-Nicolaisen triple jump

                                                    

Girls Triple Jump
BIIFQualify: B    24-00                                                      
HHSAA Auto: A 34-05.75                                                       

HHSAA Cons: C    32-04           

1 Marley Strand-Nicolaisen  SO Ka'u                           33-08.00C  10  
2 Kaila Voss                JR Kealakehe                      32-01.00B   8  
3 Kristina Padrigo          SO Ka'u                           31-04.75B   6  
4 Lana Queen                SR Hawaii Prep                    31-01.25B   4  
5 Pamela Lynn               SR Hawaii Prep                    31-00.00B   2  
6 Ua Ruedy                  SO Konawaena                      30-02.50B   1  
 
Boys Triple Jump
BIIFQualify: B    34-00                                                      
HHSAA Auto: A    43-03                                                       
HHSAA Cons: C 40-05.50                                                       

1 Michael Morikawa          SO Waiakea                        40-02.25B  10  
2 Everett McKee             SR Kamehameha HI                  39-07.00B   8  
3 Nelson Enos               JR Keaau                          37-08.00B   6  
4 Rihei Grothmann           FR Kamehameha HI                 J37-08.00B   4  
5 Johnny Chow               SR Keaau                          37-03.00B   2  
6 Robert Harrington         JR Keaau                          36-11.00B   1  

 

BIIF Long Jump Results from Kona – McKee – Kaopua on top

Kau’s Alika Kaopua

Boys Long Jump  BIIFQualify: B    17-00      HHSAA Auto: A 21-00.25     HHSAA Cons:   C1910.50                                                      

   1 Everett McKee             SR Kamehameha HI                  19-11.25C  10  

  2 Alika Kaopua              JR Ka’u                           19-04.25B   8  

  3 George Twigg-Smith        SR Hawaii Prep                    18-08.50B   6  

  4 Kyle Katase               SR Hawaii Prep                    18-03.75B   4  

  5 Johnny Chow               SR Keaau                          18-02.25B   2  

  6 Christopher Hu            FR Waiakea                        17-08.00B   1  

Girls Long Jump  BIIFQualify: B    13-00          HHSAA Auto: A 16-05.50             HHSAA Cons: C    15-04                                                       

 1 Emalia Galdeira           JR Konawaena                      15-08.00C  10  
 2 Kristina Padrigo          SO Ka'u                           14-10.75B   8  
  3 Marley Strand-Nicolaisen  SO Ka'u                           14-07.00B   6  
  4 Shani Cosma               SO Keaau                          14-04.25B   4  
  5 Talea Lischetski          JR Kealakehe                      14-02.50B   2  
  6 Britney Paahana           JR Konawaena                      14-02.25B   1