KEAAU — By its very nature, the lengthy eight-meet BIIF track and field regular season provides time for competitors to take a break. Because in the end, nothing really counts until the league championships.
So even if athletes are not going up against the best in their event, prime point scorers can emerge, and one of Saturday’s big winners in that department was Leilani Thompson. Knowing full well who she wasn’t going up against, the Hilo High senior was intent and ultimately pleased to have made the third meet of the season count.
When her fifth and final event, the girls 1,600 relay, was done, she cooled down, helped a teammate up off the infield grass and walked to go cheer on the Vikings’ boys team.
“I was just glad I was able to do it all,” she said.
Thompson would have left with five victories and three personal-bests, if not for a fall on the last hurdle of the 300, which relegated her to second, two one-hundredths of a second behind Chloe Gan of Ka’u.
“I’m not going to dwell on that,” she said. “It happens sometimes.”
Thompson was encouraged by her win in the 100 hurdles (15.78 seconds), even though her time — a top-10 effort in the state this season — didn’t measure up to that of the standards set by Hawaii Prep’s Emma Taylor or Kamehameha’s Saydee Aganus, who each sat out the meet. It was the thought of their impending absences that had spurred her on in practice all week.
“I figured it was my turn to shine, but I was pressured without them,” she said. “It made me feel a lot better that I didn’t need them to push me.
“You run with people who are faster than you and it makes you faster. I was happy I could do it without them.”
Thompson also racked up a victory in her first try in the long jump and was unchallenged in reaching 15 feet, 08.75 inches, good enough for 10th-best in the state this season.
Thompson was also a part of two relay wins, and in the 1,600, the Vikings ran a BIIF-best this season, 4:29.57.
“I’m really looking forward to getting better in the long jump and seeing if my highest can compete,” Thompson said. “The relays motivate me the most. I feel like you don’t want to let your teammates down.”
Count Konawaena coach Patrick Bradley as one who wishes the relays counted for more points than other events, especially as he prepares to go up against a formidable Waiakea team trying to defend its title. Bradley watched Austin Ewing anchor the Wildcats to wins in the 400 and 1,600. In the latter, Konawaena’s 3:37.03 was the lowest time recorded on the island this season.
“That’s what I go for,” Bradley said. “The relay is the thing.
“On the mainland, the relay are double the points. It drives me crazy.”
It’s news anytime Warriors distance runner Louie Ondo gets competition, and the Wildcats’ Lawrence Barrett provided as much in finishing second in the 800.
“He gave Louie a scare,” Bradley said.
Waiakea boasts a roster of 88 athletes, including “50-something boys,” according to coach Moku Pita.
A new face and potential big point-scorer is Michael Scott, who ran a 2016 BIIF-best 51.98 in winning the 400.
“I watched him run soccer, and I asked him to run track,” Pita said.
Scott ultimately will have to go up against defending champion Hauoli Akau of Konawaena in the 400, but Pita feels he has depth on his side.
“My whole thing is to get four or five kids into that first heat, the fastest one,” Pita said. “The times are in, and we’re running each event and we should have four to five in that first heat.”
The Waiakea girls posted a better team total than they have in any meet in the past two years, boosted by a strong showing in the pole vault in which the Warriors had seven athletes put up points. Jaymie Salangsang led the way, clearing 10 feet, a league high this season.
Other 2016 BIIF-bests were recorded by
• Ondo (800, 2:02.50; 3,000, 9:16.99);
• Hilo’s David Pakele (discus, 146-8; shot put, 49-7.25);
• Kamehameha’s Tre Evans-Dumaran (110 hurdles, 14.94); no surprise that the senior won the 300 hurdles as well;
• Waiakea Saya Yabe (3,000, 11:26.47), who also claimed the 1,500;
• Kealakehe Nicole Cristobal (triple jump, 34-3.5). She also won the 100;
• Kealakehe’s Nika Paogofie-Buyten (discus, 111-0.25);
• Konawaena’s Leina Ann Takizawa. In the 400, she set the school record in 1:00.94.
