KEAAU – Even taking into account all of her interactions in Kamehameha class rooms, it had to be the most unfair question Chenoa Frederick faced all week.
Frederick had just added four more BIIF track and field gold medals to her collection, but was she disappointed in herself because she couldn’t make if five?
“I’m grateful, but not satisfied,” the Warriors junior said Saturday night as she walked gingerly around the infield at Paiea Stadium.
“I am not happy with my performance, but I don’t blame it on my will,” she said. “I really wanted to win, just mentally I would say I wasn’t all the way here. I was kind of distracted with my own issues, and I kind of convinced myself that I wasn’t capable, but really if I had a stronger mindset I would have been capable, I think. “
Heavy is the head that wears the crown.
And heavier is the one that’s been dealing with a disk injury in her back and physical therapy and has missed practice time and missed meets.
Asked what stuck out the most about this one, Frederick said, “The pain, but then again that’s been every meet.”
The decision not to compete in the 400-meter run already meant Frederick wasn’t going to be able to match a scintillating sophomore performance that saw her go 6 for 6 in golds at BIIFs last season, so she only claimed four this time around after settling for silver in the 200.
Frederick tipped her cap to Hawaii Prep’s Isabella Police and her hard work, but, “at the same time, I’m nowhere near top condition.”
Talk about unfair.
Frederick will be expected to be a rock star again at the HHSAA championships this week on Maui, and there’s no rest for the weary. On Monday, she participating in Kamehameha’s annual junior triathlon on campus.
Being the 2018 Gatorade Hawaii girls track and field athlete of the year won’t get her out of it.
It counts for a grade.
“I’m a decent swimmer, but I wouldn’t want to compete in it,” Frederick said. “I’ve been a pretty good biker.”
And, injuries and all, she can really run and jump.
Frederick’s distances in claiming the long jump and triple were ho-hum by her lofty standards but still plenty good enough to win.
After repeating as long jump champ Friday, she won her third consecutive crown in the triple Saturday, blowing off half of her attempts after leaping 38 feet, 4 inches. Her personal record is the 41-0 she reached last season, one of the top efforts in the nation by a sophomore.
“I’m hurt, I have what I need to win, I’m going to save myself,” she said.
After repeating as champion in the 100 but before starting the triple jump competition, Frederick found time for her newest endeavor, the high jump.
The event helped keep her day fresh.
Relying solely on athleticism, she cleared 5-1, a PR and an inch shy of the stadium record.
“I still haven’t had time to practice,” she said. “I’ve gotten better with my run-up and that’s about it. The technique is still kind of thrown out the window and hope that I can pull myself through.”
Frederick heads to states looking to defend her titles in the long jump and triple jump — she’s the top seed in both — as well as the 100, where she’ll enter Friday’s trials with the second-fastest time in the state. She’s also seeded second in the 200, and will take a wait-and-see approach in the high jump.
“That all depends on if I’m able to recover,” she said.
Police action
The sophomore’s 200 title was no fluke.
Police won Friday’s qualifier and used the fourth lane to her advantage in the final, racing to a PR of 26.09 that ranks third in the state this season behind Frederick (26.00) and Mililani’s Mackenzie Reed (25.82).
“It went through my head that I have three sayings: explode off the blocks, hit the turn and hold it,” Police said. “I knew going into it that I was in Lane 4, so I could see (Chenoa) in front of me, so I pretty much strategically made it so I would have enough energy to hold her off and beat her at the end.”
To top it off, she anchored Ka Makani’s 4×400 relay team — underclassmen Marieke Renz, Regan Riley and Jordan Perry ran the first three legs — to gold in 4:10.50, a top-two time in the state.
In the 100, Police ran her best race of the season, pocketing silver, her goal.
“Honestly, last year at states I didn’t qualify for the final day in any of my events,” Police said. “My first goal is to qualify for the Saturday meet and just keep my races consistent and not focus on what everyone else is doing.”
