From backup goalkeeper to state champion.
Emma Taylor spent her freshman year at Hawaii Preparatory Academy playing an unfamiliar position on the soccer team. She joined the track team after soccer season, taking up hurdling at a friend’s suggestion. On the track, her speed and explosiveness propelled her ahead in all of her athletic pursuits.
Taylor won her first state title in track as a freshman and has added more state medals every year since. She won the 100-meter hurdles as a freshman and won the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles as a sophomore and junior.
EMMA TAYLOR’S POWER OF 3s
>> Steps that Taylor takes between each hurdle. “It’s how fast you can push those three,” Taylor said.
>> Years she’s won state titles in track and soccer. In all, she has five titles from track and three from soccer.
>> Taylor, Kau’i Taylor and Ula Brostek all scored points for HPA at last year’s state track meet, combining for 38 points and the runner-up trophy. Kau’i won the high jump and Brostek was second in the shot put. HPA won its only state title in 1995. “There’s only three of us that scored, is that a possibility?” Taylor said.
>> NCAA Division III schools first reached out to Taylor, but her sights were set on competing in Division I. She signs her Letter of Intent with Boston College on Wednesday at HPA. “I wanted to go to the East Coast. I just wanted to get away from everything I knew and start something totally new,” Taylor said.
The senior also is a member of HPA’s past three Division II state soccer championship teams, moving onto the field as a forward rather than remaining in the goal. Taylor, who has the state’s top times in both hurdling events this year, could increase her medal collection in May’s state track and field championships.
“She’s going to go down as the most decorated HPA athlete at the state level,” HPA soccer coach and athletic director Steve Perry said.
The Boston College-bound hurdler also has played volleyball and run cross country at HPA. She was a reserve on the volleyball team’s past two state tournament appearances.
State title surprises
Track coach Pat Lau knew Taylor would do well in the sprints. The state title in the 100, with a winning time of 15.22 seconds, took everyone by surprise. She was the only freshman to win at the state meet in 2013.
“We were surprised because of the amount of talent out there,” Lau said.
Added Taylor: “I thought I could do something with this and take me into my future in high school years and into college,” Taylor said. “Once I won, I was like, ‘Oh wow, I can do this successfully.’”
Taylor recently watched a video of that meet and still can’t believe she won. The subsequent years have been anything but a surprise. In track, she’s performed consistently at the hurdles. The speed from track helped usher her onto the field as a forward for the soccer team.
As a freshman, her coaches noticed her athleticism. But in soccer, there wasn’t really a spot for her on the varsity squad.
“We hung onto her as a backup keeper,” Perry said. “She never played goalie. We just saw her athleticism and thought somehow we got to hang onto her.”
“My soccer career took off once my running career did, just with the speed,” Taylor said.
While she didn’t grow up playing soccer, Taylor’s speed drew the attention of defenders, opening opportunities for her teammates on the field. She also scored two goals as a sophomore at the state tournament, the first of three successive state title runs.
“It’s so fun, I love my soccer team,” Taylor said. “It’s a different feel being on a team. We have a team in track, but it’s so much more of an individual sport. I loved playing soccer, it’s my most fun times in high school. Just to go through that three years in a row with my team was amazing.”
Supporting cast
Taylor has enjoyed and shared her athletic accomplishments with cousin and HPA senior Kau‘i Taylor. The cousins have been teammates on the soccer and volleyball teams. Kau‘i, the defending state high jump champion, will play soccer at Baylor next season. The cousins and Ula Brostek (shot put) combined to score 38 points at last year’s state track meet, enough to take home the runner-up trophy.
“We’re a big support factor for both of us,” Emma explained. “We really depend on each other for when someone doesn’t do so well or when one of us loses at something. It’s going to be really hard with the separation next year with her in Texas and me in Boston. It’s really important that we’re spending this last season together.”
For most of her senior year, Taylor devoted her energy to college applications, sports and schoolwork, which includes two AP classes. She wanted to attend an East Coast school and experience an environment different from Hawaii and California, where she’s also lived. Taylor signs her Letter of Intent with Boston College on Wednesday.
“I loved it,” Taylor said of her visit to Boston. “It wasn’t as big as New York or Los Angeles. It’s not huge and sprawling. It’s confined and I’m super excited for snow and freezing weather. I’m excited for a big change.”
