The 2016 track and field season kicked off at Konawaena High School on Saturday with some top names from last year quickly setting themselves apart from the field.
Two of the biggest standouts of the day were Hawaii Preparatory Academy’s Emma Taylor and Kamehameha-Hawaii’s Tre Evans-Dumaran
Taylor as been as dominant as one can be in her sport over the last few years. The Hawaii Prep senior has five gold medals at States. Last year, she finished first in both the 100 and 300-meter hurdles. During her sophomore season, Taylor placed first in both hurdle events as well as the 100-meter dash.
On Saturday, Taylor continued her dominance of the BIIF field with two state leading times in the hurdle events and a first place performance in the 100.
Taylor cruised to victory in the 100-hurdles with a time of 15.15 seconds, with Kamehameha sophomore Saydee Aganus placing second at 15.88. In the 300-hurdles, the HPA standout blew away the field with a time of 46.09. Hilo’s Leilani Thompson finished second with a 49.67.
Taylor wrapped up her day with a 12.90 100-dash. She was followed by Hilo’s Ka’U Mossman at 13.39.
“My runs were a little rough today, “Taylor said, “but I have only been at practice for five days so I just wanted to get the first meet out of the way and do the best that I can.”
Taylor just wrapped up a state championship season with the Hawaii Prep soccer team, which is why she has had limited practice heading into the meet at Konawaena. The multi-sport athlete says there is a big difference between playing soccer and running for track.
“There is the big change of going from a team sport to more of an individual sport so you are a little more responsible for yourself,” Taylor said.
Taylor added that it is a lot different running when you are not bumping into other players.
While her expectations are high for the year, right now Taylor says she is just focusing on her times and getting them where she wants them to be for college.
“I am looking at Boston College as my top choice right now, and I’ll know in a couple of weeks where I am heading off to,” Taylor said. “I went to Boston over the summer for a visit and I love the city and the school, and I just love the coach. I am excited.”
While Taylor dominated the girls field, Evans-Dumaran led the boys field, though his races were much more competitive. The Kamehameha senior followed the same path as Taylor, winning both hurdles events and also the 100.
In the 110-hurdles, Evans-Dumaran out-paced Keaau’s Damion Scandrick 15.16 to 15.47. The gap in the 300-hurdles was even closer. The Warrior speedster won the race with a time of 43.52, while Hawaii Prep’s Michael Hanano placed second at 43.77.
Continuing a trend, Evans-Dumaran beat out Hawaii Prep’s Kyree Scott by a narrow margin in the 100. First place clocked in a time of 11.33, while second place finished in 11.48.
While he was able to gain three first place individual finishes, Evans-Dumaran felt like he could have done better, especially in his first race of the day, the 110-hurdles.
“I have been having a lot of problems in practice and that was probably one of my more shaky races because I was more focused on not falling,” Evans-Dumaran said. “It’s the first week and I am just trying to get all the jitters out of the way.”
Evans-Dumaran is coming off a heartbreaking 2015 season. He entered States with the third fastest time in the 110-hurdlers but fell down in the finals and was not able to medal. This year he is looking for redemption, but it won’t be easy.
“I had an injury from football and a lot of my offseason training went into rehabbing the area of the injury,’ Evans-Dumaran said.
He added that he needs surgery but is holding off until after the season.
Other top performers
Konawaena’s Austin Aukai had a solid showing in the jumping events at Konawaena. He finished first in the long jump (19 feet, 9 inches) and triple jump (39-00.75), while also placing second in a heated battle with Hawaii Prep’s Elijah Anakalea-Buckley in the high jump. Aukai cleared his first three high jumps on the first attempt before missing his three tries at 5-10. Anakalea-Buckley missed more jumps early on, but managed to clear the final height.
“I am really proud of Austin because he is talented and a really hard work,” Konawaena coach Patrick Bradley said. “He has a chance to really do something at States.”
The Wildcats were also dominated in the boys relay races. Konawaena finished first and second in the 4×100. The “A” squad finished in a time of 45.51, and the “B” squad ran 46.11. The Wildcats won the 4×400 with a 3:43.36.
Kamehameha’s Aganus picked up three wins in the opening meet to go along with her second place performance in the 100-hurdles. She placed first in the 200 with a time of 26.28, and then showing her versatility, she placed first in the girls long jump (17-04.50) and triple jump (32-01.75).
Hawaii Prep senior Kau’i Taylor, who won a gold medal at states in the high jump last year, picked up right where she left off with a first place finish at Konawaena by clearing 5-00. No other girl cleared higher than 4-06.
While Keaau’s Scandrick lost to Evans-Dumaran in the 110-hurdles, he made up for it with a pair of victories, winning the 200-dash (23.40) and 400-dash (53.26).
The pole vault was a battle of inches as Hawaii Prep’s Rowan Kotner and Waiakea’s Alana Pedersen-Kanaka both tied at clearing 9-06. Kotner won with fewer jumps.
Notable absences
Waiakea’s Louie Ondo did not compete in Saturday’s meet. When he returns he will make a noticeable difference to the top of the standings in the long distance races. Also missing were the Molina sisters for Konawaena, but Bradley said after Saturday’s meet that the two younger Molina’s, Celena and Cherilynn, will be coming out next week.
Also missing for the Wildcats was Cody Ranfranz, who’s average time would have placed first in the 3000-meter run on Saturday. He was taking the SAT.