MIL Boys Track: Baldwin Rolls on With Kahoohanohano-Davis

Baldwin’s La’akea Kahoohanohano-Davis comes off the final hurdle and races to the finish line to beat Lahainaluna’s Kamal Golaube Saturday at Yamamoto Track & Field Facility. Photo by Rodney S. Yap.

By Rodney S. Yap

In two words: Instant classic.

Problem is, very few of the estimated 1,000 athletes and fans who were in attendance Saturday, would be able to describe the record-breaking feats of Baldwin High School’s La’akea Kahoohanohano-Davis more succinctly.

That’s because the accomplishments Maui Interscholastic League track and field fans witnessed Friday or at Saturday’s championship finals, were seemingly larger than life. High school boys have limitations, even the multi-talented ones we are blessed to see from this generation.

Kahoohanohano-Davis literally raised the bar on individual perfection, by maximizing his four-event, 40-point total, to include meet records for each gold medal.

Seeing was believing. It didn’t matter what the event was, the result was mind-boggling and gratifying at the same time.

Kahoohanohano-Davis clears the high jump bar at 6 feet, 8 inches. He eventually won the event with a new record height of 6-10. Photo by Rodney S. Yap.

Talk of his dominating performances coming into the league championships had reached epic proportions. And to his credit, the Baldwin senior all-star delivered on his potential and promise, adding two gold medals on Saturday to go with the two he earned at Friday’s trials.

* Four events — long jump, triple jump, high jump, 110 high hurdles — four victories.

* All record-breaking performances and all new personal bests.

* All carrying a No. 1 ranking in the 50th state, one surpassing a current state-meet record, and another ties a previous all-time best in Hawaii.

Thanks to Kahoohanohano-Davis, Baldwin doubled its number of MIL records in the boys division and now owns twice as much as the next school. His maximum 40-point total helped Baldwin roll up an MIL team record 225 points. Maui High was a distant second with 62.

Kihei Charter’s Justice Crozier held this lead to win the 400-meter dash Saturday against Seabury Hall’s Cole Christie and Baldwin’s Kainalu Marquez. Photo by Rodney S. Yap.

“I came out here just trying to do what I can do,” said the MIL Defensive Player of the Year, who’s love for football has him committed to attending a junior college next fall. “I wanted to make sure I kept my head on straight and did the best that I could.”

Turns out, Kahoohanohano-Davis’ best, elevated him to best-ever in the MIL.

The hurdler survived a scare from Lahainaluna’s Kamal Golaube midway through the race that caused him to knock down the last three hurdles with his lead leg. The breakthrough turned out to be Kahoohanohano-Davis’ ability to stay upright when Golaube pressed the action. In past meets, the Baldwin hurdler developed a penchant for falling late in the race.

“I was trying to remind myself to pick up my lead leg and not hit hurdles, and said, ‘La’a don’t give up this lead or fall.’ I was just trying to stay up and keep going.”

Kahoohanohano-Davis was time in 14.50 seconds, followed by Golaube’s 14.64. The winning time bettered the 14.60 Lahainaluna’s Emerson Liburd ran last year and helped pull third-place finisher Johnny DiMuro of Baldwin to run 15.53.

Minutes after the high hurdles, Kahoohanohano-Davis continued his assault on the boys high jump — his final event of the meet.

King Kekaulike’s Dalton Aganos sprints past Baldwin’s Kai Sears en route to the finish line of the boys 1500 Saturday. Photo by Rodney S. Yap.

He experienced two fouls, or misses, for only the second time all year, before establishing a new PR at 6 foot, 8 inches and then eventually tying the state’s all-time best high-jump mark of 6-10, set in 2013 by Mililani’s Khalil Stevens. The MIL meet record was 6-7 set in 2000 by Kaahumanu Hou’s Ryan Schmidt.

Kahoohanohano-Davis said he pushed the reset button after winning the hurdles, to help him refocus on clearing the high-jump bar.

“I was just trying not to get too excited, trying to calm down. Take my time. I was rushing it a little and had to tell myself to calm down, you have time on your side.”

“Well the kid is talented, there is no doubt about it,” said Baldwin’s long-time coach Gary Sanches. “There is only so much coaching you can do. Like sprinters, everybody has a certain style. So if something is not working, you may try a couple of different things, but you don’t want to be changing too many things, otherwise you’re going to disrupt their performance and they are going to start thinking. You don’t want them to think, you just want them to perform. Just get out there and do it, and that’s kind of the case with La’a.”

Kahoohanohano-Davis shattered the meet records in the long and the triple jump at Friday’s trials.

Turns out, his long-jump mark of 24-8.5 surpasses the state meet’s wind-aided mark of 24-6.5 set in 1998 by Castle’s Bryan Clay, the former Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon. The new triple-jump mark of 48-6.5, falls just shy of the state meet’s wind-aided record of 48-11.5 set in 1986 by Campbell’s Larry Khan-Smith.

Baldwin’s Kiernan Leighton Mateo (right) won Saturday’s 300-meter hurdles battle with Lahainaluna’s Kamal Golaube. Mateo returned to the track after a five-week layoff. Photo by Rodney S. Yap.

“I’ve been around track for a while, particularly in Hawaii, and to see what he did was pretty impressive, you just don’t see that,” said Kamehameha Maui head coach Rudy Huber. “I have friends on Oahu who are gonna say, ‘Yeah, but Maui is always windy and they always run with the wind,’ and all this other stuff.

“But if you take the wind out of his jumps, he would still be jumping pretty damn far. If you took the wind out of his long jump, it’s still a 24-foot jump or a 23-10, or something like that. The triple jump would still be very, very impressive. The hurdles are impressive, the high jump — there is no wind there — you just go over the top.

“It’s pretty incredible to see. He’s been working hard and the staff over at Baldwin has been pushing him hard, and he reaped the rewards. We have two more weeks before we go to the state meet, and hopefully he can continue to make history.”

League championships can not compare to state meet championships.

In 1998, Bryan Clay of Castle won four events, setting wind-aided records in each, starting with the long jump (24-6.25), 110 high hurdles (13.90), 100 meters (10.52) and 200 meters (21.41).

In 1999, on Maui, St. Anthony’s Shane Victorino tripled in the 100 (10.80), 200 (21.54) and 400 (49.27). His 100-meter time remains the non-wind-aided meet record.

Kamehameha Maui’s Ikaika Renauld makes a move on the field in the boys 800 meters Saturday. Renauld won the event in a personal best time of 2:03.03. Photo by Rodney S. Yap.

Baldwin senior sprinter Bailey Kaopuiki was happy to see his hard work translate to a record-breaking performance in the 100 meters. Kaopuiki clocked a 10.77 to best Victorino’s 10.84 set in 1999.

“In the beginning of the year that (record) was one of my target goals,” Kaopuiki said. “It feels great.”

When asked if he felt fast, Kaopuiki said: “It felt good, but it felt tight at the same time. So there’s still a few things that I can improve on, but it was a good race.”

“I’m very surprised that the time was 10.77. But there were a lot of guys with good starts in this race and that really kind of pushed me. I felt like I got a good start and then when I opened up, I felt so much power behind me at about 20 to 30 meters. And that last 15, last 20 meters, I felt I was clinging on to whatever speed I had. It felt like a very clean race.”

Baldwin’s Andre Vaivela won the boys discus Saturday with a toss of 137-02. Photo by Rodney S. Yap.

Baldwin’s other clutch performance came from the state defending champion in the 300 hurdles, Kiernan Leighton Mateo, who did not run for five weeks, and snatched Golaube going to the sixth hurdle en route to a winning time of 40.6.

Coach Sanches said Mateo was especially pleased because his father was able to see him run for the first time.

Sanches said Mateo’s dad works for a security firm overseas and is gone for months at a time. His current stay, however, will extend to the state championships on Oahu in two weeks.

Finals MIL Track & Field Championships

Saturday’s Results

At Yamamoto Track & Field Facility

Girls 100 Meter Hurdles — New record 1, Smith, Kaitlin, Baldwin Girls, 14.59. 2, Navarro, Kacy-Lyn, Baldwin Girls, 15.84. 3, Dougherty, Makena, SEA, 16.21. 4, Preseault, Erika, SEA, 17.15. 5, Vehikite, Liliola, Llhs 2016, 17.50. 6, Molina, May, Maui High Girls, 18.09. 7, Daly, Mia, King Kekaulike, 18.72. –, Anguay, Kaeana, Baldwin Girls, DQ.

Boys 110 Meter Hurdles — New record 1, Kahoohanohano-Davis, Anthony, Baldwin Boys, 14.50. 2, Golaube, Kamal, Llhs 2016, 14.64. 3, DiMuro, Johnny, Baldwin Boys, 15.53. 4, Ranchez, Edilito, MHSB, 15.54. 5, Cadiz, Rey, Baldwin Boys, 15.81. 6, Rabara, Michael Jef, MHSB, 16.69.

Girls 100 Meters — 1, Antolin, Alyssa Mae, Maui High Girls, 12.58. 2, Borthwick, Claire, SEA, 12.71. 3, Nitta, Ani, KSM, 12.78. 4, Kern, Amira, King Kekaulike, 13.07. 5, Kimura, Mindy, Baldwin Girls, 13.22. 6, Campos-Ewaliko, Sascia, Baldwin Girls, 13.32. 7, Casayuran, Alssie, Maui High Girls, 13.47. 8, tuitele, kayla, KSM, 13.47.

Boys 100 Meters — New record 1, Kaopuiki, Bailey, Baldwin Boys, 10.77. 2, Payne, Isaiah, SEA, 11.26. 3, Brand, Dylan, MHSB, 11.42. 4, Taberna, Micah, King Kekaulike, 11.43. 5, Aquino, Jocel, Baldwin Boys, 11.44. 6, Cremer, Darrian, Baldwin Boys, 11.47. 7, Lawson, Andrew, Kihei Charter, 11.63. 8, Cadelinia, Allan, MHSB, 11.69.

Girls 1500 Meters — 1, Shipman, Ava, SEA, 5:06.86. 2, Craig, Emily, Maui High Girls, 5:16.00. 3, Winham, Veronica, SEA, 5:28.31. 4, Giron, Jules, Maui High Girls, 5:28.87. 5, Mulligan, Darby, SEA, 5:31.60. 6, Gavigan, Lily, KSM, 5:37.50. 7, Inouye, Kassie, Baldwin Girls, 5:44.42. 8, Teoh, Alexandra, Baldwin Girls, 5:45.61. 9, Valdez, Savanna, King Kekaulike, 5:49.87. 10, Estomo, Elan, Maui High Girls, 5:50.31. 11, Gera, Madison, Kihei Charter, 6:48.52.

Boys 1500 Meters — 1, Aganos, Dalton, King Kekaulike, 4:30.72. 2, Sears, Kai, Baldwin Boys, 4:33.14. 3, Thorup, Shaye, MHSB, 4:36.26. 4, Vega, Dylan, MHSB, 4:39.03. 5, Akiona, Po’okela, King Kekaulike, 4:43.60. 6, Giron, Deion, MHSB, 4:47.05. 7, Tamanaha, Cy, Baldwin Boys, 4:57.53. –, Omura, Dean, Llhs 2016, DQ.

Girls 4×100 Meter Relay — 1, Kamehameha Schools Maui ‘A’ 51.71. 2, Seabury Hall ‘A’ 52.65. 3, Maui High School Girls ‘A’ 52.69. 4, Baldwin High School Girls ‘A’ 52.77. 5, King Kekaulike ‘A’ 53.59. 6, Lahainaluna High School ‘A’ 54.68.

Boys 4×100 Meter Relay — 1, Baldwin High School Boys ‘A’ 44.35. 2, Kamehameha Schools Maui ‘A’ 45.88. 3, Maui High School Boys ‘A’ 46.14. 4, Kihei Charter ‘A’ 47.54. –, King Kekaulike ‘A’ DNF.

Girls 400 Meters — 1, Reynolds, Maya, Kihei Charter, 58.93. 2, Dougherty, Maile, SEA, 1:02.35. 3, Shipman, Ava, SEA, 1:02.46. 4, Currence, Natasha, Llhs 2016, 1:03.63. 5, Panuve, Sela, Baldwin Girls, 1:04.40. 6, Akinaka, Lytiana, King Kekaulike, 1:07.21. 7, Hackett, Kayla, King Kekaulike, 1:07.73. –, Echiverri, Kristi, Maui High Girls, FS.

Boys 400 Meters — 1, Crozier, Justice, Kihei Charter, 53.13. 2, Christie, Cole, SEA, 53.80. 3, Marquez, Kainalu, Baldwin Boys, 54.23. 4, James, Brendan, SEA, 54.77. 5, Harrington, Alexander, Baldwin Boys, 55.10. 6, Garcia-Beteran, Hesed, Llhs 2016, 56.31. 7, Par, Jasper, MHSB, 56.68. 8, Austin, Andrew, Llhs 2016, 57.10.

Girls 300 Meter Hurdles — 1, Navarro, Kacy-Lyn, Baldwin Girls, 47.93. 2, Smith, Kaitlin, Baldwin Girls, 48.35. 3, Dougherty, Makena, SEA, 48.39. 4, Preseault, Erika, SEA, 49.39. 5, Daly, Mia, King Kekaulike, 50.63. 6, Vehikite, Liliola, Llhs 2016, 50.88. 7, Ferge, Angelle, Baldwin Girls, 52.41.

Boys 300 Meter Hurdles — 1, Mateo, Kiernan, Baldwin Boys, 40.67. 2, DiMuro, Johnny, Baldwin Boys, 42.02. 3, Golaube, Kamal, Llhs 2016, 42.09. 4, Ranchez, Edilito, MHSB, 44.02. 5, Rabara, Michael Jef, MHSB, 46.04. 6, Natividad, Romeo, Baldwin Boys, 47.30. 7, Rickard, Anthony, SAS, 1:00.83. 8, Henderson, Isaiah, King Kekaulike, 1:01.28.

Girls 800 Meters — 1, Shipman, Ava, SEA, 2:29.83. 2, Giron, Jules, Maui High Girls, 2:34.34. 3, Winham, Veronica, SEA, 2:36.44. 4, Gavigan, Lily, KSM, 2:37.30. 5, Gangnath, Chloe, SEA, 2:41.21. 6, Sanchez, Hailee-Adrianna, Maui High Girls, 2:47.16. 7, Inouye, Kassie, Baldwin Girls, 2:49.44. 8, Teoh, Alexandra, Baldwin Girls, 2:49.47.

Boys 800 Meters — 1, Renauld, Ikaika, KSM, 2:03.03. 2, Anguay, Zachary, Baldwin Boys, 2:03.89. 3, Fontanilla, Kolbe, Baldwin Boys, 2:06.04. 4, Fernandez, Kawika, MHSB, 2:09.85. 5, Stevenson, Nicholas, King Kekaulike, 2:12.44. 6, Thorup, Shaye, MHSB, 2:15.16. 7, burkhart, luke, King Kekaulike, 2:15.65. 8, Paet, Aleksander, Baldwin Boys, 2:16.97.

Girls 200 Meters — 1, Antolin, Alyssa Mae, Maui High Girls, 26.02. 2, Borthwick, Claire, SEA, 26.02. 3, Nitta, Ani, KSM, 26.39. 4, Reynolds, Maya, Kihei Charter, 26.73. 5, Kern, Amira, King Kekaulike 27.63. 6, Currence, Natasha, Llhs 2016, 27.89. 7, Panuve, Sela, Baldwin Girls, 28.15. 8, Kimura, Mindy, Baldwin Girls, 28.31.

Boys 200 Meters — 1, Kaopuiki, Bailey, Baldwin Boys, 22.04. 2, Christie, Cole, SEA, 23.56. 3, Crozier, Justice, Kihei Charter, 23.63. 4, Hottendorf, Quinn, KSM, 23.71. 5, James, Brendan, SEA, 24.14. 6, Ribucan, Shane, King Kekaulike, 24.61. 7, Tanicala, Joshua, King Kekaulike, 24.65. 8, Vergara, Renz, Baldwin Boys, 24.84.

Girls 3000 Meters — 1, Shipman, Ava, SEA, 10:52.58. 2, Craig, Emily, Maui High Girls, 11:46.70. 3, Gangnath, Chloe, SEA, 12:24.76. 4, Estomo, Elan, Maui High Girls, 12:51.38. 5, Valdez, Savanna, King Kekaulike, 13:01.22. 6, Daniels, Nicole, Maui High Girls, 13:09.81. 7, Teoh, Alexandra, Baldwin Girls, 14:20.08. 8, Inouye, Kassie, Baldwin Girls, 14:20.38. 9, Gera, Madison, Kihei Charter, 15:06.92.

Boys 3000 Meters — 1, Mackinnon, Eden, King Kekaulike, 9:58.50. 2, Cooper, Tyler, Baldwin Boys,10:12.35. 3, Aganos, Dalton, King Kekaulike, 10:19.79. 4, Giron, Deion, MHSB, 10:21.71. 5, Omura, Dean, Llhs 2016, 10:21.96. 6, Akiona, Po’okela, King Kekaulike, 10:26.82. 7, Vega, Dylan, MHSB, 10:28.17. 8, Sears, Kai, Baldwin Boys, 11:01.42. 9, Soo Hoo, Caleb, Baldwin Boys, 11:03.55. 10, Blessum, Forest, Kihei Charter, 11:47.03. 11, Mitchell, Kai, SEA, 11:49.05. 12, Tsang, Ian, SEA,11:54.36. 13, Guerrero, Fredmariel, Llhs 2016, 12:14.54. 14, Jones, Conner, Kihei Charter, 12:26.19.

Girls 4×400 Meter Relay — 1, Maui High School Girls ‘A’ 4:21.49. 2, Seabury Hall ‘A’ 4:22.73. 3, Kamehameha Schools Maui ‘A’ 4:30.64. 4, Baldwin High School Girls ‘A’ 4:34.51. 5, Lahainaluna High School ‘A’ 4:39.84. –, King Kekaulike ‘A’ FS.

Boys 4×400 Meter Relay — 1, Baldwin High School Boys ‘A’ 3:37.69. 2, Kamehameha Schools Maui ‘A’ 3:39.79. 3, Kihei Charter ‘A’ 3:43.98. 4, Maui High School Boys ‘A’ 3:45.24. 5, King Kekaulike ‘A’ 3:45.63. 6, Lahainaluna High School ‘A’ 3:57.89.

Girls Discus — 1, Henderson, Alexis, King Kekaulike, 106-08. 2, Pedro, Sehja, MOL, 102-06. 3, Maea, Tanifa, Baldwin Girls, 100-09. 4, Evangelista, Haile, Maui High Girls, 91-03. 5, Serena, Sofia, Kihei Charter, 87-02. 6, Ramos, Anela, Baldwin Girls, 83-06. 7, Mataele, Mele, Baldwin Girls, 82-08. 8, Kanoeau, Jaslynne, Llhs 2016, 79-06.

Boys Discus — 1, Vaivela, Andre, Baldwin Boys, 137-02. 2, Evalu-Robinson, Koa, Llhs 2016, 130-07. 3, Wright, Makana, Baldwin Boys, 130-03. 4, Felemi, Mosese, Llhs 2016, 129-11. 5, Au-Haupu, Micah, KSM, 129-04. 6, Anitema, Mahonri, MHSB, 127-00. 7, Ngahe, Manu, Baldwin Boys, 124-04. 8, Smith, Javin, MHSB, 121-07.

Girls Pole Vault — 1, Patch, Maygan, Llhs 2016, 9-06. 2, Tumaneny, Cassidy, Baldwin Girls, 7-06.

Boys Pole Vault — 1, Bel, Anis, Llhs 2016, 14-00. 2, Fukuhara, Sean, Baldwin Boys, J14-00. 3, Omine, Edward, Baldwin Boys, 13-00. 4, Hottendorf, Quinn, KSM, 12-00. 5, Baldonado-Kaleiopu, Tyerell, KSM, 10-00.

Girls Long Jump — 1, Smith, Kaitlin, Baldwin Girls, 17-05. 2, Navarro, Kacy-Lyn, Baldwin Girls, 16-03.50. 3, Borthwick, Claire, SEA, 16-03. 4, Campos-Ewaliko, Sascia, Baldwin Girls, 16-00.25. 5, williams, quinn, KSM, 15-07.50. 6, Patrick, Hannah, KSM, 15-01.50. 7, Pilotin, Erica, SEA, 14-09.50. 8, Love, Rose, King Kekaulike, 14-09.25.

Boys Long Jump — New record 1, Kahoohanohano-Davis, Anthony, Baldwin Boys, 24-08.50. 2, Aquino, Jocel, Baldwin Boys, 21-03.25. 3, Sakai, Kei, SAS, 20-00. 4, Christie, Cole, SEA, 19-06. 5, Foronda II, Edmund, MHSB, 19-03.50. 6, Bel, Anis, Llhs 2016, 19-02.25. 7, Ibe, John Michael, MHSB, 18-10.50. 8, Wyner, Sam, SAS, 18-06.50.

Girls Triple Jump — New record 1, Smith, Kaitlin, Baldwin Girls, 36-09.25. 2, Panuve, Sela, Baldwin Girls, 35-00. 3, Dougherty, Maile, SEA, 34-08.75. 4, Navarro, Kacy-Lyn, Baldwin Girls, 34-07.75. 5, Patch Maygan, Llhs 2016, 33-07. 6, Love, Rose, King Kekaulike, 33-06.50. 7, Logan, Hunter, KSM, 33-05.50. 8, Logan, Keely, KSM, 32-08.50.

Boys Triple Jump — New record 1, Kahoohanohano-Davis, Anthony, Baldwin Boys, 48-06.50. 2, Tamaki, Chayse, Baldwin Boys, 44-09. 3, Aquino, Jocel, Baldwin Boys, 42-10.50. 4, Foronda II, Edmund, MHSB, 38-02.75. 5, Segundo, Kyle, KSM, 38-00.50. 6, Au, Haaheo, Llhs 2016, 37-03. 7, Shultz, Kyle, Llhs 2016, 37-02. 8, Ragudo, Elijah, Llhs 2016, 36-07.75.

Girls High Jump — 1, Love, Rose, King Kekaulike, 5-02. 2, Logan, Keely, KSM, 5-00. 3, Wenzler-Steves, Dominique, Kihei Charter, J5-00. 4, Narayan, Alexa, Maui Prep, 4-10. 5, Patch, Haylee, Llhs 2016, J4-10. 6, Abreu, Charlie, King Kekaulike, 4-08. 7, Aquino, Kristine, MOL, 4-06. 8, Abraham, Alex, SEA, J4-06. 9, Otto, Cassidy, Maui Prep, J4-06. 10, Bechert, Elsie, King Kekaulike, 4-02.

Boys High Jump — 1, Kahoohanohano-Davis, Anthony, Baldwin Boys, 6-10. 2, Tamaki, Chayse, Baldwin Boys, 6-00. 3, Brand, Dylan, MHSB, J6-00. 4, Tanner, Isaiah, Llhs 2016, 5-10. 5, Foronda II, Edmund, MHSB, 5-06. 6, Schwindler, Ryan, Baldwin Boys, J5-06. 7, Lightfoot-Lani, Isaiah, MOL, J5-06. 8, Wyner, Sam, SAS, 5-04. 9, Metoyer, Trey, King Kekaulike, J5-04. –, Alvarez, Mark, MOL, NH. –,  Austin, Andrew, Llhs 2016, NH.

Girls Shot Put —1, DeRouin, Kori, MOL, 34-11.75. 2, Henderson, Alexis, King Kekaulike, 34-03.50. 3, Miguel, Jaedyn, Maui High Girls, 33-03.25. 4, Ramos, Anela, Baldwin Girls, 32-04.50. 5, Dougherty, Makena, SEA, 32-03.75. 6, Maea, Tanifa, Baldwin Girls, 31-09.25. 7, Pedro, Sehja, MOL, 31-05.75. 8, Serena, Sofia, Kihei Charter, 28-09.50.

Boys Shot Put — 1, Paranada, Jarred, Baldwin Boys, 45-10.50. 2, Au-Haupu, Micah, KSM, 44-05. 3, Sigrah, Joseph, King Kekaulike, 44-03.25. 4, Wright, Makana, Baldwin Boys, 44-00.50. 5, Vaivela, Andre, Baldwin Boys, 44-00.25. 6, Pascua, Preston, MOL, 43-07.25. 7, Batulayan, Aaron, MHSB, 42-09. 8, Anitema, Mahonri, MHSB, 42-00.