Tom wins pole vault but still wants to settle it with Baldwin teammate

At least one state championship won’t be settled until the summer.

Baldwin’s Kainoa Tom won the boys pole vault at the Island Movers State Track and Field Championships at Kamehameha on Friday night.

Tom flew 14 feet, but so did three other guys. Tristan Emmons of ‘Iolani and Quinn Cassidy of Punahou had more misses at lower heights, leaving only a pair of Bears vaulting for the title.

Tom and event favorite Dusty Flores were set to break the tie but Flores fell on the pole after failing to clear 14-3 and had to concede the gold medal to his teammate. His back was still hurting as the trials wound up.

Flores is a senior and Tom is a junior, and they will certainly be getting together once they are both healthy to determine the real champion.

"I want to, I am going to try," Flores said. "We have to see who the winner is without any injuries happening."

Tom concurred, but he might need awhile as well. Tom missed a mark and fell on his head on the side of the pit on his first warmup jump. His coach, Linden Wada, said Tom was dazed and confused and in tears three jumps after that but he refused to back out.

"I guess it was the adrenalin," Tom said. "When I hit it really hurt but all I was thinking was that I want to get up and do some more jumps, suck it up and just vault."

Tom had never been over 14 feet before and still felt the pain every time he cruised down the runway.

"Being state champ is really good but I really wanted to vault off," Tom said. "When summer time comes, it is on."

Baldwin left the trials with the valuable points for the pole vault, so the two-time defending champs are on their way to No. 3, but it’s too early to call them champs.

On the girls side, Seabury Hall might have already sewn it up.

The tiny Spartans got 10 points for the only other state champion on Friday when sophomore Amy Ozee was declared the high jump champion after the four girls who were left could not clear 5-4. Gabrielle Fukumoto of Mililani, Veronica Hutchins of Castle and Kamehameha’s Cassidy Apo all cleared 5-2 but Ozee did it in fewer attempts to win the gold. Truth be told, she would have been fine if they all shared the gold if there weren’t team points on the line.

"They all did amazing," Ozee said. "I was more excited about the 10 points than winning; we really want to win it because everybody has worked so hard this year."

The Spartans lost to Punahou by one point last year and will need every point to beat the five-time defending state champs this time.

They have five expected golds coming in individual events with Dakota Grossman expected to win her fourth straight in the 3,000 and another in the 1,500 and Alyssa Bettendorf doped to win the long jump, 100 and 200. The problem is that Grossman didn’t win either event in Friday’s trials and Bettendorf only qualified first in the 100 meters. They did win the 4×400 relay together.

"I felt good, all you have to do is qualify," Grossman said. "We are going to have to win everything to have a chance so we didn’t want to burn it all up tonight. I kind of like the pressure, it gives you a goal to work toward."

Pearl City’s Diamond Briscoe qualified first in the 200 and 400 meters, and Kamehameha’s Dylan Kane was tops in the boys 100 and 200. Kamehameha-Maui’s Kauanoe Vanderpoel was tops in the shot up and discus.