HONOLULU — Welcome back, track.
The final Hawaii High School Athletic Association state championship event of the spring was also one of the most anticipated coming off of two years of nixed meets due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hundreds of spectators packed the stands of Kamehameha’s renovated Kunuiakea Stadium to see the spectacle renewed and they were rewarded with a clear conditions and some stellar performances.
Kamehameha’s multi-event standout Tatum Moku got Saturday started with a new state meet record in the girls pole vault as part of a triple-gold day, and Punahou finished the night by hoisting boys and girls team titles to pick up where the Buffanblu left off in 2019.
That was no small feat, said Punahou boys coach Todd Iacovelli. For the program with by far the most historic state success, its athletes this year were on an even playing field with almost everyone else in a significant sense: unfamiliarity.
“A lot of times we’re relying on state meet experience at these, where we know we have kids who’ve been here before. And we didn’t have that this year,” Iacovelli said. “There just haven’t been state meets. And so we really were so pleased and impressed everyone on the team was able to come together and step up, in a very unfamiliar experience for really everybody. They earned it. They stayed poised and gave their best effort when it mattered.”
Punahou scored 73 points on the boys side to distance itself from runner-up Saint Louis (49) and third-place Kapolei (38.5). It was the fifth straight boys title for Punahou going back to 2017 and the 37th in 63 years of state competition.
Iacovelli credited Buffanblu football quarterback John-Keawe Sagapolutele with steadying the team’s nerves early by winning the shot put (51 feet, 11.5 inches) and discus (153-02), and Kainoa Ronquilio for rallying the sprinters with a victory in the 400 meters (50 seconds even).
The Punahou girls, led by veteran coach Duncan Macdonald, were even more dominant in racking up 105 points to runner-up Mililani’s 57 and third-place Iolani’s 40. It was Punahou’s third straight girls title and 38th in 54 state meets.
Junior Kylie Moniz, one of the many first-time state participants, won the girls 300 meter hurdles (47.57 seconds), edging teammate Nala Stojadinovic, and ran the third leg on the Buffanblu’s gold medal 4x400 meter relay squad (4:04.22) with Hannah Miura, Natalie Kaku and Xevani Salanoa.
“There were a lot of nerves. It was really scary,” Moniz said. “I had no expectations. But I think after everything happened it just really felt real.”
Moku, a junior, had a special day for host Kamehameha. It began with a personal-best outing in the long jump, 18 feet, to win that event.
A couple hours later, she bested her personal best in the vault, 12-7, with a 12-10, and thought she might have more to give. A loud cheer went up when she set the new state mark at 13-1, besting the record of 13 feet set by Baldwin’s Amber Kozaki in 2013.
To top it off, she entered the girls 100 meter hurdles a few minutes later and won that with a 15.18.
Moku had experienced a similar turnaround at the ILH championships the week before.
“I feel like this was just 10 times crazier than ever because I PR’d and had the long jump, so I was all hyped from that,” Moku said. “I think it’s just a crazy experience and something I’ll never forget.”
She comes from a family of track stars. Moku’s brother Tanner, a Washington State football player, is the state meet record holder for the boys 300 meter hurdles in 2019. Her older sister, Madison, runs track at Cal State Fullerton.
Her father, Sam Moku, is a veteran track coach and was on the microphone announcing results Saturday.
“My dad has provided me with so many opportunities to become better, taking me to camps, personally training and everything,” Tatum Moku said. “A lot of preseason training, definitely made a huge difference. He’s basically my role model, my coach, my dad and he’s everything to me. I really love him.”
Another multi-event winner was Kapolei senior Jordan McQueen, who won the boys long jump at 21 feet, 8.5 inches, then the triple jump at 44-9.75. To boot, he ran the second leg on Kapolei’s victorious 4x400 team (3:24.73).
McQueen only started practicing triple jumping two weeks ago, he said.
“Ever since about (age) 10, I was able to really adapt and perform, and I guess it came in handy for triple jump,” he said. “It definitely was a challenge to get the form down. I still don’t have it. But it was close enough to where I could perform and win this.”
A special moment occurred when Maui High senior Jared Cantere finished off a winning performance in the 800 meters with a 1:59.92. The fall season’s boys state cross country champion was clearly in considerable pain as he grimaced to the finish. Somehow, he wore a smile at the same time.
His Achilles was already hurting before the race, he said, and the pain intensified for the second and final lap around the track.
Afterward, he was hobbling and his right heel was wrapped in ice; the smile remained.
“It’s a thrill because it brings me back to cross country, where I had that (finishing kick) in the final stretch,” Cantere said. Today I was able to do it."
When the pandemic hit, he dedicated himself to following training regimens from top professional runners and Olympic athletes with his final high school season in mind as the payoff. He entered a couple of half-marathons, winning one and finishing runner-up in another.
The solo work worked.
“Passing through the finish line, I’m (thinking I’m) bringing home a medal for Maui High, possibly a new school record," he said. "But right now all I could feel was relief. I feel proud and I’m really thankful.”
He hugged his fellow competitors afterward and again on the medal podium.
“Anybody I compete with, I always cheer them on, no matter what team, no matter where they came from. What place they (finished),” Cantere said. “I always tell them congratulations, good job, you did your best, and the best is always the best.”
There was an entertaining duel in the boys 1500 and 3000 meter runs, as Mid-Pacific Institute's Parker Wagnild won the 1500 in 4:08.29 over runner-up Connor Malinger of Hawaii Baptist Academy (4:10.13). Malinger returned the favor in the 3000 with a 9:06.24, his first win against Wagnild (9:18.80) all season.
The two clearly had respect for each other with an embrace they shared after the 1500.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.