Kahuku's Kai shows fancy footwork in soccer, track
By Kyle Sakamoto
Advertiser Staff Writer
Kahuku High senior Krisha Kai decided not to play basketball this spring because she wanted to focus on track and field.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
That didn't bode well for others competing in her events, because she was already one of the state's top track and field athletes.
The 100-meter hurdles was one of three events Kahuku's Krisha Kai won at the OIA Eastern Division championships at Kaiser High School on April 12. She also took first in the high jump and 100 dash.
Kai is the defending state champion in the high jump (5 feet, 1 inch) and 100-meter hurdles (15.53 seconds).
But as good as she is in track, it is another sport that will pay her way through college. Kai is a decorated soccer player who in mid-February signed a letter of intent to play for the University of Hawai'i.
Kai decided against playing basketball this season because she wanted to impress Rainbow soccer coach Pinsoom Tenzing with her track and field exploits.
"Since I'm playing soccer next year for UH, my dad told me Pinsoom was going to look out for me in track, so I decided to stick with track and see if I could excel better in it," said Kai, who made The Advertiser's all-state soccer team this past season.
Kai is the only senior on the Red Raiders' girls track team and has provided leadership for her nine teammates, according to coach Royal Weakley.
"She leads and everyone looks toward her to pull us along," he said.
Weakley said Kai is so dominant during practices he lets her work out with the boys. He said it benefits Kai "to have someone out in front of her."
At the O'ahu Interscholastic Association Eastern Division Championships at Kaiser earlier this month, Kai won the high jump (5-3), 100 dash (12.6) and 100 hurdles (15.9), and finished second in the discus (107-6.5) before getting her right foot heavily wrapped in ice.
She came back and ran anchor on the fourth-place 4x100 relay team (55 seconds), but sat out the triple jump because of the injury. Despite not competing in the triple jump final, Kai was awarded second with a distance of 33-1.5 in the trials.
Kai said she suffered the injury during the OIA soccer tournament in early February, and doctors and trainers still haven't determined what it is.
"One trainer said it's a high ankle sprain; another said it's a bruised joint," Kai said.
She's spent the past few weeks doing light jogging and lifting weights, according to Weakley.
At the Punahou Relays this past Thursday and Saturday, she only competed in the high jump and finished tied for third with a height of 4-9.
The OIA Championships are Thursday and Saturday at Mililani, but Kai and Weakley are focusing on the Island Movers State Championships, May 8 and 10 at the Kamehameha Schools' Kunuiakea Athletic Complex.
"She still will be trying to keep it easy (at the OIA Championships)," Weakley said. "At states she'll be full-go. It's her last chance and she'll be ready to go."
Weakley isn't worried Kai will strain herself at the OIA meet and jeopardize another strong showing at the state championships.
"She's smart with her body," he said. "She knows what she can do. She'll tell us how she feels. As far as overdoing it, she's wise enough to hold off."
Next year, Kai will join sister Natasha on the UH soccer team. The last time they played together was at Kahuku, when Krisha was a sophomore and Natasha a senior.
This past season, Kai led the OIA East with 15 goals.
"My parents are looking forward to it as well, seeing their daughters play together again," Kai said.
Notes: Krisha Kai was OIA East honorable mention in basketball during her junior year. ... Last November, she helped lead Kahuku to the state volleyball championship.
