KAILUA-KONA — Thousands gathered this past weekend at Waverider Stadium to watch some of the best athletes in the state at the 2025 Island Movers/HHSAA Track and Field State Championships.
The meet marked the first track and field state tournament to be held in West Hawaii, as the event was hosted by Kea‘au High School in previous years.
Across the two-day event, two Big Island Interscholastic Federation (BIIF) athletes placed first overall in their respective individual events — Konawaena senior Elias Malapit in the boys discus throw on Friday and teammate Violet Schaut’s win the girls 100-meter dash on Saturday.
Malapit launched his maximum throw of 51.56 meters (169-02) to secure the win, but admitted he was nervous after scratching his first two attempts.
“I tried my best to stay calm, because if I didn’t, then things could have gone worse,” Malapit told West Hawaii Today. “So I tried my best to stay relaxed and get my heart rate down.”
Malapit soon responded in a big way, pointing to the execution in his form as a catalyst in the win.
“I was bringing my left arm more violently than I used to, and was able to get a violent finish,” he explained. “It’s usually OK if I start slow from the first spin, but that last violent turn is what really helped me.”
Malapit also placed seventh overall in the shot put, reaching a maximum throw of 15.06 meters (49-05.00). The senior won 13 individual events between discus and shot put across the 2025 season.
While ending his high school career on a high note, Malapit had no shortage of people to thank for helping him reach this point.
“Thank you to my Uncle John for taking me to practice every day,” he said. “My auntie, my mom….just everybody.”
Schaut raced her 100-meter win in 12.22 seconds, becoming an individual state champion for the first time. She also placed second in the 200-meter (25.97s) and third in the 400 (57.97s). Schaut was also part of the winning 4×100-meter relay team of Jazmin Fillmore, Dasha Kala and Kaella Masters, who raced a venue-record 48.88 seconds.
Individually, Schaut won 23 races this season.
The sophomore Fillmore placed second overall in the girls 300-meter hurdles (45.29s) and the 100-meter hurdles in a personal-best 15.10 seconds. The time was the third-fastest in the state.
Fillmore additionally placed sixth in the long jump with a maximum leap of 4.98 meters (16-04.25).
Schaut and Fillmore’s heroics over the weekend helped propel the Wildcats to the girls team title, in which they accumulated 51 total points. The next-best finisher was Kamehameha-Kapalama with 43 points.
The Kona boys were also the best BIIF finishers in the team standings, finishing 10th overall with 17 points. Moanalua won the boys title with 102.
Kamehameha-Hawaii sophomore Judah Kanoa placed third overall in the boys 110-meter hurdles, finishing in a personal-best 14.73 seconds. In 2025 alone, Kanoa won 17 hurdles races.
Hilo senior Kekaihulali Halpern had a great day at the track Saturday, reaching a personal-best time of 4:40.62 in her third-place finish in the girls 1500. Halpern also earned bronze in the 800-meter run, racing in 2:17.16. She closed her high school track career as one of the top long-distance runners on the Big Island and in the state.
But Halpern wasn’t the only Big Island long-distance phenom to place high. Kealakehe freshman Zadie Bolton and junior teammate Elisa Childers each placed in the top 10 in the girls 3,000-meter run — finishing in 10:36.38 and 10:43.55, respectively.
In the boys 400-meter run, Kealakehe junior Carl Trinidad placed fourth overall with a time of 50.65 seconds.
Hawaii Preparatory Academy also turned heads in the taxing girls 4×800-meter relay, as Naomi DeMille, Kate Schwarting, Wynter Radey-Morgan and Kirra Geesey raced in 9:50.92 to place second overall. Ka Makani’s finish time was also the fastest the school has ever raced the event in the state meet.
HPA senior Elaina Head closed her high school career strong, placing fifth in the girls high jump (5-03.00) and sixth in the triple jump (34-11.50).
Head finished high school with 73 total individual wins (high jump, triple jump, discus, long jump), including 23 wins this season alone. She’ll begin her collegiate track and field career this fall at Babson College.
KSH sophomore Isaiah Kanae placed sixth in the boys high jump with a leap of 1.80 meters (5-11.00). In the lengthy pole vault competition, Kanae’s teammates Taliya Nishida (10-00.00) and Rhacelyn Respicio (9-06.00) placed ninth and 10th in the event, respectively. In the boys field, KSH junior Kaimanamaikalani Bowman placed fourth overall with a maximum vault of 4.22 meters (13-10.00).
Konawaena junior Trenton Wong Yuen placed fifth in the boys long jump, leaping 6.39 meters (20-11.50). Wong Yuen capped off an impressive season after winning the long jump at the BIIF Championships on May 3.
Hilo freshman star Wai Krismunando rounded out the list of top BIIF finishers, as she placed seventh in the girls shot put Friday with a throw of 10.97 meters (35-11.75).
Perhaps the most impressive non-Big Island athlete was Moanalua junior James Millare, who broke a state meet record in his win in the boys 1,500-meter run (3:53.16) and venue records in his 3,000-meter (8:58.38) and 800-meter (1:53.83) wins.
Farrington’s Cassera Togia White broke a new venue record in the girls discus throw, launching 44.73 meters (146-09) — which was good enough for the 80th-best in the nation. Kamehameha-Maui’s Nohi Casco clinched the best vault in Hawaii in the boys pole vault, launching 4.67 meters (15-04.00) in his win. He broke a previous 28-year state record that was set by St. Anthony’s Bubba McLean.
To see the full list of results, visit Athletic Live’s website.
The paper would like to congratulate all participating schools on a great season!
Team results
Boys
1. Moanalua – 102
2. Baldwin – 53.5
3. St. Louis – 52
4. Campbell – 52
5. Punahou – 31
6. Iolani – 27
7. Kamehameha-Maui – 26
8. King Kekaulike – 24
9. Kapolei – 18
10. Konawaena – 17
T11. Radford – 16
T11. Mililani – 16
13. McKinley – 14
14 Kamehameha-Kapalama – 13
15. Kamehameha-Hawaii – 11.5
T16. Kahuku – 10
T16. Seabury Hall – 10
T18. Aiea – 7
T18. Maryknoll – 7
21. Nanakuli – 6
22. Kealakehe – 4
23. Maui – 3
T24. Farrington – 2
T24. Roosevelt – 2
T24. Hanalani – 2
T24. Kalani – 2
Girls
1. Konawaena – 51
2. Kamehameha-Kapalama – 43
3. Mid-Pacific – 41
4. Leilehua – 34
T5. Moanalua – 32
T5. Punahou – 32
7. Kahuku – 30
8. Campbell – 26
9. Iolani – 24
10. Seabury Hall – 22
T11. Farrington – 21
T11. Kapa‘a – 21
13. King Kekaulike – 20
14. Maryknoll – 16
15. Le Jardin – 14
T16. Hilo – 13
T16. HPA – 13
T16. Mililani – 13
19. Kalaheo – 11
T20. Kauai – 10
T20. Kamehameha-Maui – 10
22. St. Anthony – 8
23. Roosevelt – 5
T24. Kohala – 4
T24. Hawaii Baptist – 4
26. Kealakehe – 3
T27. Kalani – 2
T27. Sacred Hearts – 2
T27. Hanalani – 2
