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Punahou’s Sina Uluave and Damien’s Zada Tagovailoa have been trying to outdo each other in the discus for three years.
On Saturday at the Punahou Relays track meet, it was Uluave’s turn to shine.
Uluave won the discus with a toss of 119 feet, 0.5 inches, topping Tagovailoa’s 116-2.
“I’ve been throwing for three years and that whole time she has been my competitor,” Uluave said about Tagovailoa. “We push each other.”
Tagovailoa, however, still has Hawaii’s best girls discus throw of 2019 — 121-4.
Uluave also won Saturday’s shot put, with a personal record of 38-7, which is also Hawaii’s best for 2019 and it topped her 38-5 from earlier this season.
“I was focused on getting that PR,” Uluave said. “You practice and practice, but it’s not the same adrenaline rush as the meet. Right now, I’m focusing on making my release better in the discus and just getting stronger on the shot.”
Saint Louis’ Korvin Feagins, who has the top boys high jump mark this season at 6-7, was trying to get there again and beyond. Feagins topped the field with a leap of 6-3, but missed on all three tries trying to duplicate the 6-7.
“That second jump (at 6-7) was good and I almost made it, but my calf hit,” he said.
Feagins is on the cusp of getting to elite territory in state track. The Punahou Relays record is 6-10 and the state-meet record is 6-9.
“Gotta keep practicing and keep doing the technique well,” he added. “Gotta keep going to every single meet, so you can practice, practice, practice to get to the (ILH and state) championships.”
Three Punahou relay teams came up with the best 2019 times in Hawaii: Stevie Marvin, Grace Blanchette, Kaylie Klausing and Lexi Lowery in the girls 4×100-meter preliminaries (50.17 seconds) Friday; Kayla Almeida, Maiya Fujiwara, Allie Little and Kaila Ronquillo in the girls 4×400 (4:08.31); and David Rosen, Vincent Terrell, Chris Paige and Justin Pu‘u-Robinson in the boys 4×400 (3:24:34).
In the pole vault, two Waiakea boys put on a good show. Eric Cabanis Fernandez, a senior, wound up winning with a vault of 14-3, and teammate Deylan Okinaka, a junior, hit 13-9. Cabanis Fernandez, whose PR is 14-7, nearly made 14-9.
“I was almost there on my second attempt at 14-9,” said Cabanis Fernandez, who is behind Punahou’s J. Kai Yamafuji (15-1) for Hawaii’s best in 2019.
Yamafuji did not compete Saturday due to a sore shin.
“I didn’t get as much work in the preseason this year,” said Yamafuji, who owns Hawaii’s all-time (all levels) record of 16-0 that he set a year ago and is trying to break the state-meet mark of 15-3. “I went to states for diving and I’ve been doing some long jump and triple jump, so that has kind of taken me away from it. Now I know it’s super important to work harder (in the preseason). I haven’t been going as high as I wanted. I’m trying to get back into my good mental state.”
With a 22-6.25 in a long jump victory, Kamehameha’s Kawika Clemente surpassed his previous top 2019 Hawaii mark of 22-4.50.
Feagins and Crusaders teammates Roman Wilson, Keanu Wallace and Keola Yadao thought they set a meet record of 42.84 in the boys 4×100 relay in Friday’s preliminaries, but on Saturday, event officials found a timing error. The Saint Louis group of Wallace, Trenton Wailehua, Feagins and Yadao own the best time so far this season — 42.20.
Punahou’s Legend Matautia and Kennedy Freeman finished first and second in the boys discus. Matautia’s 148-10.5 is Hawaii’s third best in 2019 — behind Apakasi Felemi of Lahainaluna at 157-5.
“Me and Kennedy have been doing 150 and 160 in practice,” Matautia said. “If (Felemi) is throwing 157 and we can hit 160, we’ll be on top.”
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