Just about everything lined up at the right time for Punahou, which won the ILH girls track and field championship on Saturday morning at Alexander Field.
The Buffanblu piled up 174 points to easily outpoint ‘Iolani (111) and Kamehameha (94). Maryknoll (29) followed, then Hanalani (25), Hawaii Baptist (20) and Sacred Hearts (20), Damien (18) and Mid-Pacific (5).
In addition to their winning relay teams, the Buffanblu scored big with individual titles. Hannah Miura, a junior, provided the early spark with gold in the 100- and 200-meter sprints. Senior Ally Little won the 400, junior Malia Dickhens won the 800 and Isabella Ford, a sophomore, took the 3,000 run.
“I’m very positive about the future,” longtime coach Duncan Macdonald said. “The season was a real trial and the girls handled it really well. I think in particular we have a huge number of ninth graders. We brought up a lot of them for this meet and they performed beautifully.
Three of Punahou’s gold medalists overcame injuries in time for the postseason.
Little also was part of the winning 4×400 relay team. It was only her second shot at the 400 in her senior year.
“My hamstring got sore in the beginning of the season, so I ran one 400 and that was it for ILH (regular season). I wanted to be careful and make sure I was ready for championships,” Little said.
Dickhens overcame a severe case of shin splints.
“She’s had a tough year. Last week was her first meet of the year. She had some stress reactions in her shins. She’s worked really hard. She’s also grew about 3 inches,” Macdonald said.
During her event, Dickhens had a comfortable lead early, but an official stopped the race. She had inadvertently crossed into another runner’s lane. In a different circumstance, it could have been a disqualification.
“I think normally it would be,” Macdonald said. “But they didn’t have cones and they didn’t give proper instructions.”
The race was restarted and Dickhens was in command start to finish.
Ford was focused and fresh. The 3,000 was her only event, and she outlasted two freshmen, ‘Iolani’s Jolie Nguyen and Kamehameha’s Madison Murata. Murata ran in all three distance events. Nguyen won the 1,500 earlier in the morning.
It was a peak moment for yet another Buffanblu runner who bounced back from adversity.
“I think Izzy was very patient. She also didn’t have a straightforward season. She got sick with a flu and was out for a week and a half. Couldn’t run a step for about 3 weeks,” Macdonald said.
The 4×100 relay squad of Rae Yoshioka, Miura, Xavani Salanoa and Adri Maroney posted a time of 50.66.
Punahou’s 4×400 crew of Miura, Salanoa, Yoshioka and Little won with a time of 4:13.91.
‘Iolani provided some of the day’s highlights. The freshman, Nguyen, rallied past frontrunner Murata on the final turn of the 1,500 run to capture the title. That pairs nicely with her ILH cross country win earlier this year. However, tennis is her first love. Her days as a two-sport athlete during spring season may be over.
“It feels good for my work to pay off, and I also had a good season, too,” she said.
‘Iolani junior Tate Garcia, a first-year track and field athlete who is primarily a swimmer, won the shot put with a distance of 95 feet, 11 inches.
