LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation track and field student athletes broke into the state No. 1 rankings at the qualifying track meet, Thursday at Vidinha Stadium. Despite the bone-chilling brisk winds blowing in the 15-20 knot range out of the
LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation track and field student athletes broke into the state No. 1 rankings at the qualifying track meet, Thursday at Vidinha Stadium.
Despite the bone-chilling brisk winds blowing in the 15-20 knot range out of the east-northeast, the Kaua‘i High School Girls 4×100 Relay team zipped to a 50.98 run, easily making the state auto qualifying standard of 51.94, but shattering the No. 1 ranking of 51.49 set by ‘Iolani School on the Hawai‘i Milesplit website.
The performance of the girls helped the Kaua‘i High School wahine garner 102 points in the qualifying meet for overall honors, followed by Waimea High School (66 points), Island School (55 points) and Kapa‘a High School (43 points).
Kaua‘i runner Darren Acoba sliced through the 110 Meter Hurdles on a 15.28 run, handily getting past the state auto time standard of 15.74. His run also zipped him past Daniel Wagner of Mid-Pacific Institute, the current holder of the state No. 1 ranking on the Hawai‘i Milesplit website.
Acoba also earned a state consideration time in the 300 Hurdles with his 42.89 run (43.24 consideration) and fell .12 seconds short of a consideration in his first-place finish in the Boys 200 Meter Dash (23.66), leading the Kaua‘i boys to a solid first with 124 points. Kapa‘a followed with 77 points with Island School (44 points) in third place and Waimea High School (30 points) rounding out the field.
Peter Riopta, of the Kaua‘i coaching team, said unofficially, Kapa‘a’s Marshall Adkinson also made the Hawai‘i Milesplit No. 1 rating in the 2011 Outdoor Rankings in the Boys Discus where he ended with a toss of 158 feet, 6 inches, gaining five inches over the current holder, Shane Brostek of Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy who nailed 158 feet, one inch.
Reanna Javinar, holding the No. 3 leg of the Girls 4×100 Relay team, also came just one-quarter of an inch shy of making the Hawai‘i Milesplit rankings in her Triple Long Jump of 34 feet, 2.25 inches. The current holder is Zhane Santiago of Kahuku High School who leaped 34 feet, 2.5 inches.
Kelsey Cadiente of Kaua‘i High School qualified for the Girls 100 Meter Dash on a 12.95 sprint, surpassing the auto standard of 12.94, and also pocketed a consideration run in the Girls 200 Meter Dash on a 27.17 run.
Island School’s Joy Claypoole, showing her mettle during the KIF cross country season, came from behind to take teammate Lauren Spears in the final 200 meters and log a first finish of 5:24.07 in the Girls 1500 Meter Run, edging out the consideration standard of 5:24.24.
Spears, a first-place finisher in the Girls 800 Meter Run (2:41.53), crossed the line in the 1500 Meter event at 5:26.04.
Kawehi Louis-Diamond, holding the No. 2 leg of the Girls 4×100 Relay team, continued to work on her hurdles, finishing first in the Girls 100 Meter event with a state auto time of 15.82 (state auto 16.64), and a consideration run of 49.43 in the Girls 300 Meter event (state auto 49.14).
Rachael Hinkel of Kapa‘a was one of the big stories of the night, coming from behind to take Waimea’s Jayme Jacinto for second place in both the Girls 100 Meter Hurdles and the Girls 300 Meter event.
Hinkel finished with a 16.57 to Jacinto’s 16.98 in the Girls 100 event, both girls beating the consideration standard of 17.44. In the Girls 300 event, Hinkel stopped the clocks at 49.53 over Jacinto’s 51.00, both girls getting past the consideration standard of 51.24.
Darren Taylor of Kapa‘a earned a consideration run with his first-place finish in the Boys 100 Meter Dash, stopping the clock at 11:43, just 0.01 better than the state consideration standard.
Pierce Murphy of Island School pocketed two first finishes, one in the 800 Meter (2:01.93, auto 2:04.14) and in the 1500 Meter (4:07.15, auto 4:19.64) runs.
Joshua Herr of Kaua‘i earned a consideration time (10:08.24) with his first finish of 9:58.21 in the Boys 3000 Meter Run.
The public is invited to view the track and field competition between the KIF student athletes, Thursday starting at 4:30 p.m. at the Vidinha Stadium.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
