High Schools
Punahou sweeps, Figueira stars in track, field
By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
WAILUKU, Maui — Punahou's girls finished strong to win their sixth straight state championship and Punahou's boys dominated to win their fifth title in six years last night at the Island Movers state track and field champions.
Sacred Hearts junior Kelly Figueira was the individual standout of the meet at the War Memorial Stadium.
She won the long jump (18 feet, 9 inches), the 100 meters (12.33) and anchored the winning 4x100 relay team (50.60).
She also finished second in the 200 meters and closed a large gap on the anchor leg of the 4x400 relay to help the Lancers take third.
Her long jump was the third longest state-winning mark in state meet history.
The record — the longest-standing girls state meet mark — is 19-2ý by Leilehua's Shari Fox in 1979. Figueira passed that mark with a 19-3¥ during the Punahou Relays last month.
"I really wanted to set a record in the long jump," she said. "I wanted to win the 200 really bad."
Figueira, who scored 22 of the team's 35 points to help Sacred Hearts finish third, said, "We need a few more people than four."
The Lancers had just enough runners for the two relays in which they scored 16 points.
Kahuku's Natasha Kai also stood out in the girls' meet.
She won both hurdle races, but was denied a triple by her younger sister, sophomore Krisha, in the triple jump.
Krisha's marks have been creeping closer to Natasha's all year, and she finally passed her with a hop, step and jump of 36 feet. Natasha triple jumped 35 feet.
Punahou's girls, who trailed Iolani most of the meet, amassed 47 points to pass Iolani, which finished with 39ý .
Punahou's boys scored 72 points, more than second-place Kamehameha (33) and Hilo (31ý) combined to win their 25th title overall.
Punahou junior Todd Iacovelli, who won the 1,500 and 3,000, said coach Louis Johnson, in his first year as head coach, "let it be known that everybody needed to be there.
"We fired on every cylinder."
Boys highlights
• 1,500, 3,000: Iacovelli passed Mililani's Andrew Kamikawa in the final 50 meters to win by 76/100ths. Iacovelli's time was 4:15.07.
Iacovelli, Kamikawa and Kamehameha runners had jockeyed for the lead throughout the last half of the race.
Iacovelli also won the 3,000 in 9:13.29.
Iacovelli's wins were his first two state championships.
"This was great," he said. "I would like to break four minutes and break nine minutes. I think nine minutes definitely is do-able."
• 4x100 relay: In another in a series of great finishes, Tyler Perkins of Kamehameha caught Punahou's B.J. Murakami in the last leg of the 4x100 relay and the photofinish camera ruled it a tie. Both teams' times were 44.33.
• 400 meters: Hilo's Jonathan Peralto and Andre Nacaxe of crosstown St. Joseph battled stride for stride over the final 40 meters before Peralto surged across the tape 4/100ths of a second ahead.
• 100, 200: St. Louis senior Daniel Inferrera won the 100 meters in 10.91 and the 200 in 22.15.
Girls highlights
• Kahuku's Natasha Kai: Kahuku senior Natasha Kai won the fifth and sixth state championships of her high school career and finished second in three other events.
Kai won the 300 low hurdles for the first time since she set the meet record as a freshman in 1998. Her time was 46.08, compared to her record 45.37.
She won the high hurdles and finished second in the high jump, long jump and triple jump.
Kai was beaten in the high jump by Baldwin's Zoie Sevilla, who had never cleared 5 feet before but won at 5-2. Kai high jumped 5 feet.
Kai had won the last two high jump championships, including a meet record 5 feet, 5 inches in 1999.
In the 300 low hurdles, Kai looked over her shoulder at the competition at the third to last hurdle and wobbled home in 46.08.
In the 100 highs, Kai crossed the finish line as most of the rest of the field was clearing the final hurdle.
• 800: Punahou sophomore Pippa Macdonald kept a family string alive, winning the sixth straight 800-meter championship. Her sister, Eri, now at the University of Oregon, won four straight before Pippa won last year.
Macdonald ignited over the last 160 meters to win in 2:23.00.
• 1,500, 3,000: St. Francis senior Annie Kawasaki passed Seabury Hall freshman Tia Ferguson at the start of the fourth lap.
Ferguson took the lead back with 250 meters to go; Kawasaki passed Ferguson with 40 meters left and they ran stride for stride to the final 10 meters when Kawasaki burst over the finish line to win by five meters. Kawasaki then collapsed on the track.
"They could have left me out there. I wasn't going to get up on my own," said Kawasaki, who was aided to her feet about two minutes later by several people.
"That was a real last-ditch effort. It took everything I had at the moment."
Ferguson came back two hours later to win the 3,000 run in 10:45.58.
• 200, 400: Iolani junior Lauran Dignam defended her championships in the 200 and 400 meters in times of 25.16 and 58.92.
STATE NOTES: Augie Dias, 79, was not the official starter for the first time in state meet history. He was replaced by Al Rowan, 74. Dias still officiates weekly but did not want to make the trip to Maui ... Donald Takaki, president of meet sponsor Island Movers, signed on to sponsor the championships again next year. ... The third annual Hawai'i Youth National track and field meet will be held on Maui July 7-8. For information, call Rudy Huber at 808-872-9799.
