Baldwin’s Rey Cadiz has high-stepped his way to the top and seeks to make history

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM

Baldwin senior Rey Cadiz, warming up before a meet at Moanalua High School on Saturday, will go for his third consecutive state title in the 110 hurdles this year. He also is the defending champion in the 300 hurdles.

Rey Cadiz sat looking white as a ghost, awaiting his first attempt at running the hurdles at the state meet three years ago.

“Yeah,” Cadiz said after his teammates noticed and asked him if he was nervous.

A bit later, right before the start of the race, comfort came from behind a fence.

“I was the only boy freshman on the team and I saw this person just making weird, funny faces at me from the top of a fence,” he said. “It was a teammate and it totally made me laugh and I kind of realized that this was just a race like any other race.”

Two years later, Cadiz’s 110-meter hurdles performance at the state meet was a lot more than just another race. That’s when he broke the state-meet record in 14.20 seconds.

Now a senior at Baldwin, Cadiz is prepping for another try at that record as well as going for a third straight state championship in that event and a second title in the 300 hurdles.

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“I want to make history with my friends,” he said. “I want to break that 110 record.”

Friends in an individual event?

That question gets to the very core of what Baldwin track is all about and the essence of why Cadiz is out there in the first place.

“At first, I didn’t like running, but then the competition and friendship built between people brought me farther into it,” Cadiz said.

Bears coach Gary Sanches continued on that theme.

“We always preach team, not individuals,” Sanches said. “He knows his role on the team. No prima donnas. Everybody’s alike, and he’s done a good job for us.”

Talent-wise, Sanches puts Cadiz at around the same level as another state champion Valley Isle hurdler, Maui’s Dana Navarro-Arias, who broke the state-meet record in the 300 (38.10) in 1999.

Cadiz credits two friends, including Bears teammate Tyler Adachi, with getting him into the sport.

“We were running laps around the play yard and they said I looked fast and should come out for the middle school track team,” he said. “I used to run cross country in middle school, but I didn’t like distance. I like sprinting.”

Cadiz also is part of Baldwin’s 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams, but it’s not known if he will compete in those events at states. He can also do the long jump and triple jump, if needed.

“I want to focus on the hurdles,” he offered.

According to Sanches, Cadiz had some fun by taking part in the long jump at the Yamamoto meet two weekends ago.

“For the heck of it, we put him in there,” the coach said. “He did 20 feet, 8 inches with no practice. One jump. So we said, ‘OK we got the points. That’s enough.’ ”

As a sophomore, Cadiz played on the JV football team as a wide receiver, defensive end and special teams man.

“I miss the memories I made, but I like track better,” he said. “In football, there’s broken bones and sprained ankles. I’m too skinny for that.”

Still, it’s not hard to picture the 6-foot-1, 166-pound Cadiz as a speed rusher who can nimbly leap piles of downed linemen on his way to the quarterback.

But hurdles spaced out on the track don’t bite back.

“We knew he had talent,” Sanches said. “It was a matter of bringing him along slowly. He’s a hard worker and he’s true to his training. Very strong in the weight room. For that kind of transition from being OK to good, you gotta get in the weight room. I don’t care what sport it is. He’s paid his dues. Now, it’s about keeping him healthy and making sure he’s on the right track. My brother is a teacher in grade school and he said Rey back then would be doing push-ups, pull-ups, flipping on the bars. He could have been a 14- to 15-foot pole vaulter, but we channeled him into the hurdles.”

One of the Bears’ dilemmas is they have four hurdlers good enough for states (May 3-4 at War Memorial Stadium in Wailuku) but are limited to bringing only three.

“We have some other good ones (Adachi, Bishop Wickes, Evan Reed) and some promising freshmen who we hope will fill the gap when Rey leaves,” Sanches said.

Cadiz appreciates the Baldwin coaching staff’s ability to give life tips to the athletes.

“If we’re down or the team loses morale, they’ve been there and they know what we’re going through and they connect with us on a general basis,” he said. “They are wise.”

Only Punahou’s Dan Ciacci — from 1973 through ’75 — has won the state 110 hurdles three times. Ka’u’s Jacob Edwards — in 2009 and ’10 — was the last to repeat in the 300 hurdles. If Cadiz clutches both titles this year, he’ll tie the record of five hurdling golds set by Kamehameha’s Joe Kahiapo (1969 through ’71). Ciacci, Edwards and Kamehameha’s David Maeva (1985 and ’86) have four.

REY CADIZ

>> School: Baldwin

>> Sport: Track and field

>> Grade: Senior

>> Height: 6 feet 1

>> Weight: 166 pounds

>> Accomplishments: State-meet record holder in 110 hurdles (14.20 seconds), 2017 and 2018 state champion in 110 hurdles; 2018 state champion in 300 hurdles.