Track and Field State Championships on Maui
by Al Linsky
The total number of airline tickets was 43. A bunch of coaches, a larger bunch of Iolani athletes, and your intrepid sports photographer met at the Hawaiian Airlines terminal. Due to some great planning, (thank you Earl and Grant), we boarded with as little hassle as you can have traveling by air these days.
Athletes that qualified and made the trip were Chase Weber (discus and shot put), Olivia Fatongia (discus and shot put), Reid Furukawa (long jump), Ili Wong (long jump, triple jump, high jump, hurdles), Risa Kaawa (long jump, triple jump, relay), Rachel Won (long jump, relay and hurdles), Emily Shiraki (pole vault) and Colby Takeda (pole vault).
Also, Josh Schretenthaler (pole vault), Taylor Wong (hurdles, relay), Presley Pawn (100, 200, relays), Darcy Shindo (100, 200, relays), Maile Scarpino (800 and 1500), Katie Pellitteri (1500 and 3000), Tyler Mulloy (1500 and 3000), Kon Weber (1500 and 3000), Kris Sumida (relay), Tyler Hee (200, 400 and relay), Taylor Chock (400 and relay), Amelia Linsky (800), Kevin Barr (800), Trevor Leong (3000), Maggie Cannell (hurdles), Katherine Cannell (alternate for hurdles and relays), Allyssa Simbahon (relays), Junpei Uchida (relay), Derek Fainberg (relay), Jenna Wong (3000), David Saito (relays) and Rebecca Kagami (manager).
Please let me know if I forgot anyone!
There were quite a few PR's set and superb competition in every event. In the end, the superior depth of our friends up the road meant victory for Punahou in both the girls' and boys' divisions.
This year the drama was taken away early on the girls' side when it was discovered that June Ann Lusk was injured. It was thought that Baldwin had an opportunity to dethrone the Buffanblu this year, but without June Ann it wasn't going to happen.
Even on the boys' side, when one of the Buffanblu's top athletes went down with a hamstring injury, they still had enough to pull out the victory.
Our girls placed 7th with 27 points while the boys were 11th with 16 points.
