There will be no braving the Mainland alone for Kevin or Kathleen Cadiente.
Instead, the brother/sister combination will do it together. The pair departed Wednesday for Hershey, PA, and the Hershey’s Track & Field Youth Program. The annual event brings together the top young athletes in the nation for three days of competition.
Kevin, 14, will compete in the 200-meter dash. Kathleen, 10, will be giving her all in the standing long jump.
“It’s a really special situation to have a brother/sister pair competing at this high of a level,” said the pair’s chaperone, Jerry Refamonte, a County of Kaua’i Parks and Recreation employee. “It’s incredible.”
The numbers related to the track meet are also incredible. The Hershey’s meet has been in existence since 1975, and has since become the largest youth sporting event of its kind. Over 400,000 kids from 3,000 communities across the country will participate this year.
And Kaua’i will boast two of them – the first time the Garden Island has sent more than one athlete in a single year.
Last year, 12-year-old Jonathan Rellin represented Kaua’i. He competed in the standing long jump.
“Our island doesn’t send a kid every year,” Refamonte said. “To be sending two from the same family is phenomenal.”
To get to the Hershey’s meet, the Cadientes had to stand out at the state meet held on Oahu in July. The time or distance they posted in their respective event had to be among the top five in the Pacific Southwest region – comprised of California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawai’i.
Kevin ran the 200 in 25.44 seconds. Kathleen leaped 6’8″.
“Both marks are really something when you consider their ages,” Refamonte said. “They just went over to the state meet and blew people away. They couldn’t believe that these two kids from Kaua’i were performing so well.”
Both kids won multiple events at the state competition. And neither one’s athletic talent is confined to track.
Kevin is a standout in both basketball and football. Kathleen excels at soccer and will be giving basketball a try this year.
“They’re both so humble,” Refamonte said. “You’d never guess that they were such talented athletes.
“It’s an honor to be taking them to Pennsylvania.”
While there, the kids will be treated to a tour of Hershey’s chocolate factory and a day at Hershey Park, an amusement facility. The trip is all-expenses paid.
