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WAILUKU, Maui >> Chenoa Frederick is proud to be from Hilo, where it rains a lot. That may be part of the reason why she won four events at the Island Movers/HHSAA Track and Field State Championships that concluded Saturday at stormy War Memorial Stadium.
Kamehameha-Hawaii’s Frederick ran to victory in the 100-meter dash in 12.56 seconds and added gold medals in the high jump (5 feet, 1 inches) and triple jump (38-7) on Saturday. One day earlier, she conquered the long jump with a leap of 18-2.75.
“I absolutely love this weather,” said Frederick, a junior who is now a three-time state champion in the triple jump and a two-time winner in the long jump and 100. “I’m not going to lie, but shhh, don’t tell anybody that. But, I knew it was going to rain. That’s what the weather cast was saying. But it really rained and I was like, ‘Yes.’ I live in Hilo. This is what we train in. This is what we love to run in.”
It was upset city in the boys 110 and 300 hurdles, with Kamehameha’s Tanner Moku knocking off defending champion Rey Cadiz of Baldwin. Just one day after Cadiz set a state-meet record in the 110 at 14.19 in the trials, Moku ran a 14.54 to Cadiz’s 14.60 in the finals. Later, Moku added the 300 title in 38.72 after he had broken the state-meet mark in 38.07 at trials.
“I just had it in my mind … focus on my race,” said Moku, who set the ILH title meet record of 37.99 two weeks ago. “If I just focus on lane 5 and not on lane 4 or lane 6 or lane 2, just my race … . That was great. Never had someone push me like that the whole season. It was crazy, man.”
In the team competition, the Buffanblu boys won their third state crown in a row and 34th overall since 1959. Punahou’s girls repeated as state titlists and topped the charts for the 36th time since 1967.
Three athletes picked up two individual event wins each: Seabury Hall’s Chloe Gangnath (2:20.71 in the 800, and 4:46.65 in the 1,500), McKinley’s Narayana Schneider (4:04.40 in the 1500, and 9:07.13 in the 3000) and Campbell’s Leilani Leopard (15.42 in the 110 hurdles, and 45.72 in the 300 hurdles).
In the boys 100, Roman Wilson put on the burners, finishing in 10.68, just five-hundredths of a second slower than the state-meet record of 10.63.
Wilson also had his feet in the Crusaders’ winning 4×100 relay team (42.76) along with Keanu Wallace, Korvin Feagins (the high jump champ on Friday — 6-7) and Keola Yadao. That crew broke the state-meet mark in trials — 41.54.
There was high drama in the pole vault, where Waiakea’s Eric Cabais-Fernandez tied a state-meet record by clearing the bar at 15-3. He missed three attempts at 15-4, but was relieved to have beaten Punahou’s J. Kai Yamafuji.
“It was amazing,” Cabais-Fernandez said. “I never thought I could do that. I was just pushing as hard as I could to get to that level. It was so rewarding, coming down and seeing the bar.”
Another intense battle came in the boys 4×400 relay, where Radford’s Ethan Dean, Michael Edwards Clayton Edwards and Franklin Matthews (3:22.95) nipped Punahou’s squad (3:22.95) by two hundredths of a second.
The champion Buffanblu boys and girls squads had six individual or relay winners: Justin Pu’u-Robinson in the boys 400 (50.82), Vincent Terrell in the 200 (22.51), Kennedy Freeman in the discus (151-7 Friday), Kaila Ronquilio in the girls 400 (58.52), and the girls 4×100 (Stevie Marvin, Grace Blanchettte, Kaylie Klausing and Katie Weeshoff, 50.15) and 4×400 (Allie Little, Klausing, Maiya Fujiwara and Ronquilio, 4:01.66) relay teams.