MILILANI — Courtney Senas and the Mililani High School track and field team are hoping for a quick victory by the Trojans' softball squad in tomorrow's O'ahu Interscholastic Association quarterfinals.

That might allow Senas, a 2007 Advertiser All-State first-team shortstop and the reigning OIA Western Division champ in the long jump and triple jump, just enough time to change clothes and run a few hundred yards down the Mililani campus to John Kauinana Stadium, where the OIA track and field championship trials will be going on at the same time.

"She'll miss the long jump, but the triple jump usually doesn't start till late so if the softball game ends early, she may come down," said Trojans jump coach Jonovan Santos. "I talked to her, and she really wants to jump."

Senas, a sophomore, has handled the balancing act surprisingly well so far.

She will help Mililani (11-1) defend its league title in softball starting with tomorrow's 3:30 p.m. quarterfinal against the winner of today's first-round game between Roosevelt (7-5) and Waipahu (4-8).

The West champ Trojans, ranked No. 1 in The Advertiser's statewide Top 10 poll of coaches and media, have a first-round bye.

Senas leads all Mililani regulars with a .462 batting average, .532 slugging percentage, seven doubles and 18 runs batted in. She's also tied for the team lead with two triples, has one home run and six walks.

"As a sophomore, she's had higher expectations," Trojans softball coach Rose Antonio said. "She's having a good season."

The issue of juggling both sports arose last summer, when the softball season was moved from the winter to the spring for the first time in Hawai'i.

When the sports started practices in late January, Senas tried to devote quality time to both.

"Right after school I would go down to the track and practice jumping for one hour, then go to softball practice," Senas said. "But I would be kind of tired when I got to softball, because we run a lot in softball. So the track coaches just said to come down when I can."

Often, Senas' "practice time" in track and field is limited to the minutes between jumps during the meet. She will jump, Santos and fellow jump coach Art Katahara will point out mistakes and offer instruction, then Senas will do mental reps and make the adjustments on the next jump.

"She just has a natural ability, and she remembers everything," Santos said. "She's there mentally."

Senas' West championship marks of 17 feet even in the long jump and 34 feet, 8 inches in the triple jump rank among the state's best so far. In the OIA's Yamamoto Invitational on March 25, she won the long jump and triple jump and even finished second in the 100-meter dash by 1/10 of a second, posting a time of 13 seconds flat.

As little practice time as Senas invests in track and field, once she is in the jump pit, she said her focus shifts totally from softball.

"I get hyped up by jumping," Senas said. "When I see somebody else have a good jump, I'm like, 'Ho, I gotta beat that person.' "

Santos, whose girlfriend, Ciera Senas, is Courtney's older sister, said that competitive spirit carries over into everything she does.

"She always wants to compete, she always wants to win," said Santos, a former football, basketball and track and field standout for Mililani. "Even with me, she'll want to throw the football or play basketball. She's always been like that."

Senas comes from a family of athletes, with softball being the strongest tie. Ciera plays for Hawai'i Pacific University, and another older sister, Chasity, plays for Chaminade. Cousin Charity Senas is taking a break from playing for UH-Hilo. Older sister Chanelle Senas also plays for Mililani.

Ciera Senas also was a track standout at Mililani, but softball clearly has top priority in their family.

"Their whole family is softball, so I told Courtney, 'Stick to softball; track is for fun,' " Santos said. "I told her to practice track if she has time, but don't hurt yourself."

On April 10, Senas went 2 for 4 with two doubles in a victory over Pearl City, then did the quick swap of softball cleats for track spikes and competed in the OIA West Championship trials.

"I just hurried up and changed, and went down to the track," Senas said. "I still go all out (in track). It's a second chance at being happy, a second shot at doing good. If I have a bad game in softball, I try to redeem myself by making good jumps."

Senas hasn't had to do much redeeming of bad softball games.

Last week, she went 2 for 4 with three RBIs and scored twice in a victory over Kapolei that clinched the West Division crown. On defense, she covers spacious ground at shortstop and can make almost any throw, combining with sophomore All-State second baseman Kristi Oshiro to form perhaps Hawai'i's premier middle infield.

The softball and state track and field championships are scheduled for the same week (May 14 through 17), and Senas has qualified for the track trials regardless of what happens tomorrow. Her participation, though, will depend on the Trojans' game time in the softball quarterfinals, should they make it that far.

The logistics also might be more complicated, since the softball state tournament will be at UH's Rainbow Wahine Stadium and the track and field championships are at Mililani.

But nobody is counting out Senas just yet.

"She has a lot of energy," Antonio said. "She's just a gifted athlete."

EXTRA LAPS: Mililani will be short-handed for Saturday's OIA track and field finals due to the school's Senior Prom that night ... Kapolei and Leilehua have swapped seeds in the OIA softball tournament, after Leilehua forfeited a regular season victory to Pearl City due to an ineligible player. Kapolei is now the West's No. 3 seed, and Leilehua is No. 4.