LIHU‘E — Island School distance runner Pierce Murphy broke three KIF records in each of the events he ran in, and the Waimea High School Girls 4×400 Relay team broke a record during the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation track and field
LIHU‘E — Island School distance runner Pierce Murphy broke three KIF records in each of the events he ran in, and the Waimea High School Girls 4×400 Relay team broke a record during the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation track and field finals, Friday night at Vidinha Stadium.
Despite the record-breaking individual performances, the Kaua‘i High School girls collected 188 points to take the KIF championships over Waimea High School that ended with 175 points. Kapa‘a and Island School followed with 89 and 8 points, respectively.
Moises Fiero did more than qualify for a state berth in the Boys 200 Meter Dash. Fiero was the anchor runner for the Waimea Boys 4×400 Relay team and overtook a lead eked out by Kapa‘a’s Joseph Velasco, a top finisher in the Boys 300 Intermediate Hurdles, in third leg of the race.
That Fiero finish for Waimea was the difference in the boys standings as the Menehune collected 151 points to Kapa‘a’s 144.50 points for first and second place, respectively. Kaua‘i High School finished third at 135 points and Island School rounded out the field with 30.50 points.
The record-breaking Waimea Girls 4×400 Relay team topped Kapa‘a on a 4:22.39 performance under near-ideal running conditions of cool temperatures and almost no wind at Vidinha Stadium. That run fell short of an automatic state berth, but bettered the consideration standard of 4:36.34 and the existing KIF record of 4:23.9 set in 2005 by the Kaua‘i team of A. Johnston, K. Shim, C. Smith Wishard and S. Rollins.
Murphy was the story of the meet as people waited for his runs to take place. In his opening run, the 800 Meter, Murphy stopped the clock at 2:05.31, falling short of a state auto berth but bettering the consideration standard of 2:06.84 and the KIF record of 2:06.1 set by Waimea’s Clay Glover in 1995.
As the meet neared its end, Glover’s dad approached the stadium.
“I’m going to see if I can find that boy to shake his hand,” Glover said.
Murphy continued to awe spectators in the Boys 1500 Meter Run where he put in a 4:11.51 run for a state berth (5:13.24 auto) and broke the KIF record of 4:28.7 set by Island School runner Mario Rosa in 2004.
In the Boys 3000 Meter Run, Murphy tripped the clock on a 9:42.14 run, making the state auto standard of 9:42.24 and bettering the KIF record of 10:01.07 set in 2006 by Waimea’s Scott Martin.
