WAIMEA — Konawaena track and field coach Patrick Bradley looked and sounded like a man who had just discovered new math.
“I’m in disbelief,” said Bradley, minutes after the Wildcats’ boys 1,600-meter relay team easily separated from Waiakea at Saturday’s BIIF track and field meet to win in a blistering 3 minutes, 35.26 seconds, one of the top times in the state this season.
“Usually, we’re wire to wire with Waiakea, and today we didn’t have our best two guys on it,” said Bradley, who was missing his usual anchor, Austin Ewing.
But two plus two still equals four, and it all added up for Konawaena thanks in large part to Lawrence Barrett and Hauoli Akau, who distanced the Wildcats from the pack in the second and third legs.
Akau is the defending BIIF champion in the 400, though he was running the distance for the first time this season, but the real surprise was Barrett, a long-distance runner who earlier won the 800.
“Lawrence was flying,” Akau said. “He’s a distance runner. He’s crazy.”
The final race of the meet capped a stellar day for the Wildcats. Regular season meets are essentially glorified practices ahead of the league championships, but Bradley was encouraged his squad outpointed defending champion Waiakea.
Kamakana Ching reached 5 feet, 10 inches in the high jump, tying the BIIF-high this season.
In addition to the relay, Akau has his eyes on three individual golds.
“It’s a realistic goal,” he said.
A double winner last season (400 and triple jump), he swept both jumps again Saturday. He wasn’t happy with his triple (40-05.75) but his 20.04.25 in the long jump was a BIIF-best this season.
Akau hasn’t entered the 400 this season, but he showed more than capable during the relay.
“I was kind of tired, but I just put it in my head that I could do this,” Akau said. “We want to show where Konawaena is from.”
While Bradley’s day ended with shock, minutes earlier Kealakehe coach Duke Hartfield gave a fist pump after watching Nicole Cristobal sail right over her intended distance of 35 feet in the triple jump, landing at 36-01.25.
“I was really surprised,” she said.
The Waveriders junior has taken a steady approach in her marquee event this season in hopes of eventually bettering her runner-up state finish from last year, but her third and final jump was far and away the best on the island this season.
“She’s not there yet, but this was a great breakthrough performance for her,” Hartfield said on a picture-perfect day. “The weather cooperated.”
Cristobal also swept sprints (100, 12.91; 200, 27.04) that didn’t include Kamehameha sophomore Saydee Aganus, the top seed in each so far, and she was third in the high jump behind defending state champion Kaui Taylor of Hawaii Prep.
Taylor, in turn, fell short of Cristobal in the triple.
“We push each other,” Cristobal said. “I try to keep up with her in the high jump, and she does the same in the triple.”
The 100, with Cristobal, Aganus and HPA’s Emma Taylor, and jump-offs between Cristobal and Aganus, will be three events to watch at BIIFs.
“I just came in trying to better my times from last week, and I think I did really good,” Cristobal said. “Not really worried about the competition right now, just bettering myself.”
Hilo’ Lukas Kuipers also had a hand in three victories. He claimed both sprints, equaling the 11.17 run by Kamehameha’s Tre Evans-Dumaran earlier this year in the 100, and he anchored the Vikings’ 400 relay victory. He is also the top seed in the 200.
