HONOLULU — The setback had nothing on the comeback for Hawaii sprinter Alyssa Mae Antolin.

When she tore her left ACL on the soccer field her senior year at Maui High, Antolin faced an uncertain journey to becoming a competitive college athlete. It turned out that a year of recovery wasn’t enough; the COVID-19 pandemic forced her to wait even longer.

But the third-year sophomore put it all together this season, capped with an all-around performance that helped the Rainbow Wahine earn their best finish ever at the Big West championships — second — at UC Davis on May 14.

Antolin posted a personal best in the 200-meter dash (23.79 seconds), was second in the 100 meters (11.81), ran the third leg on the second-place 4x100 team (46.98), and capped it off by running anchor on the victorious 4x400 team that ran the second-fastest time in program history (3:45.24).

Afterward, she was named the Big West Co-Track Athlete of the Year, a first for a Wahine. Long Beach State’s Ryley Fick was the co-recipient for LBSU, which won the team title.

“I think this year really showed that I wanted it and that anything could happen — even though you have obstacles, you can get through it,” Antolin told Spectrum News on Tuesday. “And my mindset was always the comeback is always greater than the setback.”

Meanwhile, two of her teammates, freshman Lilian Turban and sophomore Hallee Layman, are competing in the NCAA West Prelims on Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark. Turban, from Estonia, is competing in the high jump after posting a personal best of 5 feet, 10.5 inches. Layman, of Raymond, Wash., is competing in the discus after posting a personal best of 171 feet, 4 inches at the Big West championships.

Antolin missed out on regional qualifying in the 200, her signature event, by a hair. It represented steady progression from her first year with UH of 2021, when she took bronze in the 200 at the Big West championships. That followed a transfer from Northern Colorado, where she participated in just a couple of indoor events after completing about nine months of physical therapy to begin her college career.

She never actually had a spring outdoor track season at UNC because of the pandemic shutdowns in 2020. Between that, the cold weather, her continued recovery from her surgery and general homesickness; she decided to transfer home.

The Kihei native, who won the 200 her junior year at Maui High in spring 2018 then got hurt that December, had doubts that she’d ever be able to post competitive times as a college athlete.

For one thing, she had to tweak her stance in the starting blocks for her races because her surgically repaired left knee was sensitive and couldn’t rest on the ground. So, she had to reverse it, placing her right foot in the back block and that knee on the ground. For a sprinter accustomed to routine, that was no small thing.

She actually recorded successive personal bests in the 200 at the Big West championships, first in qualifying, then in the real deal. She now has two of the three fastest 200-meter times in school history and also sits in the top five in the 100.

“I never knew I could run this fast, not in three years. It’s exciting to see,” she said.

Since rejoining the Big West in track and field in 2012, UH had not been a contender until this year. It finished at or near the bottom from 2016 to 2019. Coach Tim Boyce, who was hired to lead track in 2017, saw his team improve to a tie for sixth in 2021.

A third-place showing in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor championships in January helped people take notice of what was happening.

The unprecedented second-place showing in the spring represented the real improvement. Antolin helped bring it home by running anchor in place of an ill teammate in the 4x400 to cap the meet. She knew it was a good run for the team when she was hurting head to toe crossing the finish line.

“We were like, ‘wow, we made history.’ That was so crazy. So surreal,” Antolin said of the overall finish.

Her conference award came as a shock.

“I’m a small island girl. I didn’t think I’m up there. It’s D-I. But I’m very blessed to be named co-athlete and I couldn’t have done it without my coaches, my teammates, my support back at home," Antolin said. "But I’m finally glad that my hard work has been paying off. The journey’s not over; there’s more to improve.”

Wahine named to the Big West all-conference team with top-three finishes at the Big West championships were:

Antolin: 1^st in 200M, 1^st in 4x400, 2^nd in 100M, 2^nd in 4x100

Kristen LaCosse: 1^st in 4x400, 2^nd in 4x100, 3^rd in 400M hurdles

Amy Warrington: 1^st in 4x400, 2^nd in 4x100

Tierra Sydnor: 1^st in 4x400, 3^rd in long jump

Layman: 1^st in discus

Turban: 2^nd in high jump

Kiyah Bast: 3^rd in javelin

Sammie Gordon: 1^st in 4x400

Ashley Babkirk: 2^nd in 4x100

Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.