Vaimaona throws a party at Kaiser

It was prom night for a lot of high schoolers on Saturday, but that didn’t stop the OIA East track and field championships at Kaiser Stadium.

Especially for Patria Vaimaona, Kailua’s multi-sport standout. The 5-foot-9 junior won the shot put with a distance of 35 feet, 5 inches. Then, in typical fashion, she overcame three scratches to fling the discus 122 feet, 8 inches — a personal record that was good for second place.

Farrington’s Ashley Kamau had the top discuss toss, 1 inch farther than Vaimaona. Kamau also took second in the shot put.

For Vaimaona, overcoming adversity has become her M.O. As a sophomore, she hurt her right shoulder while playing varsity basketball, and the injury got worse during the track and field season. After surgery last September, nobody was certain that she’d return in time for basketball and the throwing events.

"It was about 60 percent during basketball season. Now it’s about 85," she said. "I pushed myself. My doctor and therapist said I’d be back after track. They’re surprised. It was a lot of work. I’m the type of person who can’t stand not playing sports. It was kind of boring, so I kept pushing myself."

Vaimaona exudes a quiet confidence, but inside, she wasn’t all that calm on Saturday.

"It was nerve-wracking," she said. "I wish I’d pushed harder. I have a lot of work to do with discus, a lot of work with my technique. Right now, I’m all power."

At this point, she has excellent grades (3.6 grade-point average last quarter) and is hoping she can compete in basketball or track and field — or both — in college.

It was a strangely quiet night at Kaiser thanks to four proms across town. Some athletes did their work and were just as swift leaving the premises to make their dates happy. Others didn’t even bother coming to the meet, resulting in a lot of scratches.

Farrington was well represented, particularly with the discus and shot put. While Kamau, who had already qualified for states, did her part, younger sister Brittany set a junior varsity record in the discus. The freshman had a toss of more than 118 feet, assistant coach Aaron Kamau said.

The coach would know: Ashley and Brittany are his daughters, and son Benjamin was first in the discus on Saturday with a toss of 117-plus feet.

The siblings’ older sister, Mary, will be on the UH track and field team next season.

For Kamau, the longtime coach, this is basically the sweet spot of his coaching career. Though he takes equal pride in the success of his other throwers — Louis Matagi and Farao Maileo were first and second in the boys shot put — having three children excel in the sport at the same time is unique.

"I treat them all equal," he said of the Governors. "A lot of them have been watching track at Farrington since they were young."

Head coach Darren Weaver has enjoyed the tradition of throwers on campus for decades.

"We’re happy we have Aaron," he said. "I was there as a 7-year-old kid when Farrington hosted track meets. We have a good tradition in the shot and disc. We’re also trying to build interest in the running events. We’re loaded with JV runners now."

Coach Kamau is enjoying the moment too much to think too far into the future, when the last of his keiki will be done with the shot put and discus at the prep level. But when that time comes, he’s already got a plan.

"Then I can retire after about 30 years of coaching football and track and field at Farrington," he said. "And I can follow my children."