Few girls on the Big Island have ever been able to a run as fast or jump as high as Chenoa Frederick, but for all of her high-flying success, the Kamehameha senior does manage to keep herself grounded.
“One phrase that I feel always works for me goes like this: ‘Mahalo i na mea a pau,’” Frederick wrote in an email to the Tribune-Herald, “which translates to, ‘Be thankful for ALL blessings, be it good or bad.”
Taking life as it comes, her latest appreciation came this week when she was honored as the Gatorade Hawaii Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive year. The HHSAA didn’t recognize meet MVPs after the state championships May 4 on Maui, so Frederick simply had to wait six-plus weeks to get her due.
Gatorade honored her not just for her four gold medals, but also a 3.05 grade-point average and “exemplary character demonstrated on and off the track,” a release said.
“I am proud of my performance in all three elements of my development, though they can all be improved upon,” said Frederick, who serves as a peer mentor at her school.
She had an off-and-on BIIF junior season as she rehabilitated from a disc injury, though she claimed four gold medals and a silver at the BIIF championships. As sparkling of a performance as it was, it fell short of her 6-for-6 gold medal spectacle in 2018.
“I was challenged physically, mentally, and emotionally beyond anything I’ve previously experienced, such as a long-term injury, pressure from demanding expectations, and the loss of my (grandmother),” Frederick wrote. “Coping with and overcoming obstacles has been possible with the endless support of family, friends and coaching staff.”
Feeling fresh and rejuvenated a week after the BIIFs finals, Frederick became the league’s most decorated girls athlete at the state meet, surpassing Hawaii Prep’s Emma Taylor, who was honored by Gatorade in 2016. Frederick outscored all but two of the 30 girls teams all by herself, repeating as the champion in 100-meter dash (12.56 seconds) and long jump (18 feet, 2.75 seconds), winning her third consecutive triple jump (38-7), while also winning her first high jump (5-1) competition to push her career gold total to eight.
As a senior, Frederick plans to drop soccer and try to go 6 for 6 at the state championships.
“Chenoa has God-given talent, but she’s also mentally tough,” Kamehameha coach Manly Kanoa said. “She has a fierce competitive drive — she knows when it’s game time, and she just hates to lose.”
As part of Gatorade’s “Play it Forward,” Frederick can award $1,000 grant to a youth organization of choosing. Last year, she gifted it to Special Olympics Hawaii.
“This year, I’m hoping to bestow the grant upon a local organization that has played a role in shaping me into the person I am today,” she said, “in hopes of allowing other children to receive the same athletic attention that I’ve been blessed with.”
