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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted at 9:46 p.m., Saturday, May 13, 2006

Punahou girls take third straight state track and field title

By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer

After battling the flu for a week, Punahou junior Samantha Cabreros woke up Saturday finally feeling good. It paid off.

Cabreros broke her own triple jump record at the Island Movers/HHSAA Track & Field State Championships last night at Kamehameha's Kunuiakea Athletic Stadium.

"I'm on a high right now, it feels cool," she said. "I woke up this morning and I was like, "Whoa, this is weird. I feel good."

She jumped 38 feet, 6.5 inches, breaking her mark of 38-3.5 set last year. She set the record on her third and final jump of the evening, after faulting on her first and hitting 37 feet on her second jump.

"I thought it was a bad jump," said Cabreros of her record jump. "I was really shocked."

Cabreros also won the long jump, helping Punahou capture the team title for the third year in a row. Punahou scored 82.33 points, to Baldwin's 78, followed by 36.33 points by Kaua'i.

"I'm relieved," Punahou coach Duncan Macdonald said. "I was counting points all weekend, and thought, 'It's going to be a close one.' "

Punahou scored in nine of 16 events, including first-place finishes by Anna Hildebrand in the pole vault and its 4x400-meter relay team.

It was a close race in the team standings until the final event of the night, with Punahou taking a 2-1/3 point lead entering the 4x400-meter relay. The Buffanblu's relay team, consisting of Alexa Untermann, Stephanie Ratte, Kim Culver and Marisa Schoen, won in 4:05.69.

"We knew it was really close, and we were all pumped up," said Schoen, who also finished second in the 800. "Some of us were disappointed with our individual races."

Macdonald also pointed to top-six finishes, which score team points, by Chelsea Oda, who was fifth in the 1,500, and Piper Marshall, who was fourth in the 800.

"Like it's been in the previous years, even if we don't necessarily win all the events, it's everyone giving their best," Schoen said.

Cabreros won the long jump with an 18-foot jump, which she set in Friday's trials.

"I really wanted to hit 18 again," said Cabreros, who jumped 17-11 last night. "Every time I went up, I was like '18 feet, 18 feet.' "

Hildebrand earned some redemption after being disqualified from last year's state meet for listening to an iPod on the field.

She vaulted 10-6, edging Baldwin's Kaimana Rebolledo, who also jumped 10-6, but Hildebrand hit the mark with fewer vaults.

"Last year I felt really confident so it was a huge disappointment not to get to vault," said Hildebrand, who hopes to walk on to Southern California's track and field team. "I wasn't really thinking about it. I'm sure it was in the back of my mind, but it wasn't really a big thing.

"I was just concentrating on keeping good form. I wasn't paying attention to heights."

Baldwin kept the team race close with first-place finishes by June Ann Lusk in the 100 hurdles (15.57) and Brittany Feiteira in the 100 (13.34), runner-up finishes by Nete Tolutau in the discus (133-8) and shot put (38-4.75), and Rebolledo's pole vault.

"It felt really good," Feiteira said of her 100 title. "I'm usually the second leg for the 4x100, so I'm used to running against the wind. It was a tough race."

Baldwin also won the 4x100-meter relay. Feiteira ran the second leg in Baldwin's winning 4x100-meter relay, catching a few runners ahead of her.

"I was concentrating on keeping (the 4x100 title) at Baldwin for the third straight year," she said.

Word of Life senior Careena Onosai defended her title in both throwing events. She won the discus for the third straight year with a throw of 150-3 and the shot put for the second year in a row with a 39-0.25 toss.

"Today I felt rested and fresh so I was happy," said Onosai, who began the day seeded first in the discus but second in the shotput, saying balancing basketball and track took a toll on her legs. "My dad said to have fun and I did."

Onosai recently signed a full ride scholarship at UCLA, and yesterday competed in just her fourth meet this season after missing several meets due to a stress fracture in her back.

"It was really tough at practice, because I had been out for a month and a half," Onosai said. "I was rusty and my footwork was all over the place."

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2457.

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