By WAYNE JOSEPH
By WAYNE JOSEPH
Tribune-Herald correspondent
KEAAU — Keaau track and field coach Vicky Chai-Guerpo was at a loss for words Saturday night.
And for good reason — the Cougars had just brought their school its first Big Island Interscholastic Federation team championship.
The Konawaena girls won their first track title, but it was the Keaau boys, led by experienced sprinters Jesse Huihui, Damien Packer and Alexander Engdahl along with Cliff Eriksson on jumps and hurdles, who had the biggest reason to celebrate.
“This was a team effort,” a tearful Chai-Guerpo said. “I’m so proud of them and they did it for themselves, their parents and for their school.”
Packer and Eriksson got things started by going 1-2 in the 110 hurdles to give the Cougars a lead they would never relinquish.
“It feels very exciting and I’m just glad to have had the opportunity,” Packer said of his 110 victory on his home track. “I think I can do better at states if I remain determined and focused.”
Raskassa Johnson helped Keaau post a state-best 43.10 seconds in winning the 400-meter relay, while Engdahl and Eriksson finished 1-3 in the 300 hurdles. Eriksson prevailed in the high jump.
“It feels awesome to win,” Engdahl said. “This year, I think I can do good at states and I will try my best.”
The title capped an emotional journey for Chai-Guerpo, who’s been coaching at Keaau since 2000 and hopes the triumph will spur Cougars in all sports.
“Everyone in this school will know that it is possible,” Chai-Guerpo said. “I’ve been coaching for a while and this has been a long time in coming.”
Keaau entered the BIIF in the 1998-99 school year. The Cougars previously won a league title in boys basketball, but it was vacated because of the use of an ineligible player.
“Our first BIIF title in any sport in school history,” Keaau athletic director Iris McGuire said. “This title means a lot to our school.”
Keaau scored a comfortable victory over runner-up Kealakehe, which had a pair of athletes win two events: Avery Hardie-Jordan (100, 200 sprints) and Luca Walter (400, 800).
The Lady Wildcats, meanwhile, relied on Ua Ruedy and Lia Galdeira to account for 84 of their team’s 106 points.
Galdeira won five titles — 100 dash, 100 hurdles, high jump, long jump and triple jump — but it was a few unexpected points that helped the Wildcats hold off Hawaii Preparatory Academy by 11 points.
Freshman Shayli Nakamoto came up big with fourth-place finish in the 3,000.
“I just wanted to keep my team in first place,” Nakamoto said. “I feel really important.”
Her contributions helped the Wildcats keep the lead and Ruedy’s surprise victory in the 200 — an event the favored Galdeira had been disqualified in a day earlier — sealed the victory.
Ruedy won her signature event, the 300 hurdles, and finished second in the 100 dash and third in the 100 hurdles.
“I never thought I could win the 200,” Ruedy said. “It is a big win for me and our team.”
Kuulei Karratti-Saole, who won gold in the 100 at states in 2003, is in her fourth year at the helm of the Wildcats’ track program.
The upset of the day may have come in the girls 1,500, where Hilo’s Carmen Garson-Shumway navigated HPA’s pack and won a sprint to the finish to beat the defending state champion, HPA’s Zoe Sims.
Garson-Shumway (4:53.36), Sims (4:54.63) and HPA’s Kristiana Van Pernis (4:55.23) all beat the meet record.
“I didn’t want to get boxed in so I moved out with 300 to go,” Garson-Shumway said. “I didn’t expect to win. We are all friends, and this is not about winning; it’s about the experience.”
She was quick to praise freshman teammate Mehana Sabado-Halpern.
“Mehana helps to push me and she is a real nice running partner,” said Garson-Shumway, who also won the 3,000.
Sims earned a measure of revenge in the 800, setting a meet record and edging out Garson-Shumway.
In pole vault, senior Sydney Budde reached 8 feet, 6 inches to win her first crown. Kealakehe sophomore Kristi Lovell was second.
“That’s insane that I made it this far,” Budde said. “I’ve been second in my previous three years.”
The meet’s other double gold winner came as little surprise: HPA’s Shane Brostek won discus and shot put and will look to defend his crowns at the Hawaii High School Athletic Association championships back at Keaau High next Saturday. The trials are Friday.