honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Sunday, April 25, 2004

Pearl City boys, Mililani girls victorious

 •  Track & Field - OIA East: Kahuku boys, Kalaheo girls take titles
 •  Baseball: Kaiser rallies past Kalaheo to stay unbeaten in East
 •  Basketball: Unbeaten Punahou thumps Mid-Pacific
 •  OIA West results

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

KARI TANIMOTO

Pearl City High School senior Kari Tanimoto broke her own meet record in the 1,500-meter run, while the Pearl City boys and Mililani girls won team titles at last night's O'ahu Interscholastic Association Western Division Championships at Mililani.

Tanimoto ran the 1,500 in 5 minutes, 8.5 seconds, breaking the mark of 5:10.16 she set two years ago after transferring from Punahou. Tanimoto also won the 800 in 2:28.4 and the 3,000 in 11:29.8.

"I did a lot better than I thought," Tanimoto said. "I did not expect the 1,500 (record) at all, because I was ranked third coming in. My times were really slow this year. In the 800, I had to push because (Radford's) Savannah Frank was right behind me (at 2:36.5). In the 3,000, I was kind of tired already so I was just cruising."

Tanimoto also ran the second leg of the Chargers' 4X400 team that finished second to Mililani.

By that time, however, Mililani already had built an insurmountable lead in the team standings.

The Trojans scored 158 points. Pearl City was second with 100 and Waialua third with 50. Mililani also won last year's division crown, but with several more standouts who have since graduated.

"We lost Jen Loo, Lianne Tom and, of course, Chun Mei (Nickles)," Trojans coach Dane Matsunaga said. "But we have four captains — Mei Li Nickles, Charity Senas, Kristin Halbert and Deanne Soon — and they carried us through."

Nickles won the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, the long jump (16 feet, 10 inches) and the triple jump (36-3ý).

The Pearl City boys were led by Nathaniel Nasca, who tied an 18-year-old record in the 100 by running a hand-timed 10.7. That tied the 1986 mark set by Larry Khan-Smith, a former football standout at Campbell and the University of Hawai'i.

Nasca also won the 110 hurdles in 15.35 and the 200 in 22.7.

"He's a state-caliber sprinter," Chargers coach Donaldo Hopper said. "We had four or five boys who scored key points for us today."

Pearl City scored 125 points. Mililani was second with 107 and Kapolei third with 55.

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2456.