The Waiakea High pole vault squad is gearing up for the upcoming track and field season, and is looking to become even more dominant than last year.
Head coach Sherman Viernes brought four of his vaulters to the 2023 Hawaii High School Athletic Association (HHSAA) state championship, and just took them on another trip to the National Pole Vault Summit in January in Reno, Nev.
“We did really, really good,” Viernes said. “The kids had fun even though it was cold up there. They all PR’d.”
The Warriors have been training for this season for four months now, and are just over two weeks from their first showing — the March 9 BIIF track meet at Kamehameha Schools – Hawai‘i.
Analissa Paressa was Waiakea’s most prominent pole vaulter last season, as she cleared a height of 11’6 to set a new BIIF championship meet record and place first — then placed second at the state championship behind KS-Kapalama senior Tatum Moku the following week on Maui.
Now in her final year of high school, she is setting her aspirations and expectations even higher than before.
“I think mentally, I feel a lot stronger than last year,” Paressa said. “I have more goals and expectations for this year.
“I hope this doesn’t sound not humble, but my goal this year is to break every stadium record on the island.”
For coach Viernes, the key to Paressa’s success will be staying healthy — something that’s not always easy in pole vaulting, a sport that has a 26% injury rate among high schoolers each season — a similar rate to those of wrestling and football.
“I cannot say anything for sure,” Viernes said, “but she’s really healthy, she just got a new pole from her parents — and, potential-wise, I think she can do really well as long as she’s healthy.”
The Warriors have been putting in plenty of work to stay healthy, including frequent weightlifting and conditioning.
One of Waiakea’s boys also won a gold medal at BIIFs last year, Shelbey Cabais-Fernandez, who cleared 13’6 — a foot and a half higher than the runner-up. He went on to place No. 5 at the state championship.
“This year, (Cabais-Fernadez) got stronger, he got faster,” Viernes said, “he got more knowledge on the vault — all of them got more knowledge on the vault. I don’t wanna make any predictions, but he’s doing really well. Like I always say, as long as he stays healthy.”
Cabais-Fernandez also has big goals for his senior season, and big shoes to fill. His objective is to break the PR of his older brother, Eric Cabais, who tied the BIIF championship record in 2019 — notching a 15’3 jump.
“I just need to train every day, and train harder than the other day,” Shelbey Cabais-Fernandez said, “just get better.”
Ausity Urubio won silver for Waiakea at BIIFs last year, and is also entering her senior season. At the 2023 states, she cleared 9’2 to place No. 11.
“It was something new because it was my first time going to states, it was very interesting, she said. “It was different meeting a lot more people there, because there’s not a lot on the Big Island.”
This year, she’s looking to make another run at states.
Also among Waiakea’s seniors are boys Tallen Soi and Bryant Ballo, who won bronze at BIIFs last year.
The squad also gained two newbies — sophomore Liley Jacinto and freshman Aurora Bockrath.
Jacinto took part in track last year as a sprinter, but was drawn to vaulting. She’s hoping to make BIIFs at the end of this season.
“I just thought it looked really cool,” she said. “Since I have experience with gymnastics, sprinting and jumping — I thought it would be cool to try out something like this.”
For Bockrath, pole vaulting has been a long-time aspiration.
“It’s a really nice group of people, and they’re supportive,” Bockrath said. “The training is hard, but in a good way. It really helps me get better at a quick pace. I used to watch (the pole vault team) when I was younger. I was like ‘I wanna be like them one day.’”
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COACH VIERNES
Years ago, Viernes didn’t expect to be the head of the isle’s top pole vault team.
He was just a dad, whose daughter was on Hilo High’s track team — and one day, he decided to help out her coach.
“When my daughter first started, I used to just wait at the practices,” Viernes said. “This guy — Tony Harris, he was a coach from Oregon — asked me if she was my daughter. He asked if she wanted to pole vault and I said ‘whatever.’
“After (a few days) he asked me if I could help. I say ‘I don’t know nothing about the pole vault.’ He said ‘I’ll teach you, just help me with the standards and set up the bar. So I helped, and after a few months he had to go back to Oregon.
“He said ‘this is your program now.’ I said ‘I don’t know how to do this.’ Then after two weeks, my daughter came back and said ‘dad, you have to help. We really wanna pole vault.’ So I went out, and I read books — did the (Russian Olympic gold medalist Sergey) Bubka style, read his books and from there it just took off.”
Viernes helmed the Hilo pole vault team for years — and just before he was about to retire from coaching, he got an offer to take control of the Waiakea program. He’s been there ever since — and on top of mentoring many BIIF medalists, he has been a role model for his athletes.
“Other than coaching us in pole vault, (Viernes) also coaches us in life after high school,” Soi said. “Things like how to make it as a person, because it’s a lot harder after high school.”