Seabury Hall Girls Track and Field team earns come-from-behind state championship title in the inaugural 4×800 meter relay

History was made on Saturday night as the Seabury Hall Girls Track and Field team earned a come-from-behind state championship title in the inaugural 4×800 meter relay on Oʻahu. 

The Spartans anchor runner Freya Carlsen closed a large gap on the leader from Hilo High School in the last 100 meters of the event at the Island Movers Track & Field Championships for the win. Carlsen was supported by freshman Kailana Hagan (leg 1), freshman Isabella Grossman (leg 2) and senior Layne Millen (leg 3) as the team finished with the event’s first state record time of 9 minute, 51.38 seconds at Mililani High School. 

But that wasn’t the only gold medal that Seabury took home to Maui that night. Just about 40 minutes later, Grossman, who became a triple Maui Interscholastic League champion just the week prior, won the girls state 1,500 by 16/100th of a second with a time of 4:54.72. 

For the majority of the race, Grossman was positioned in the middle of the pack. With 200 meters to go, she moved up to fourth place before kicking down the homestretch to out-lean Campbell sophomore Ashlynn Jacobsen. 

Hagan, the MIL runner-up champion of the 1,500 and 3,000, finished 10th in the state with a time of 5:16.76. Kīhei Charter’s Tanya Kari was 9th (5:11). 

Other top Seabury contenders was MIL runner-up Jacob Romero, who finished ninth in the boys 1,500. This boys race is considered the fastest field in Hawaiʻi history with the winner, Kalani’s Yuta Cole, breaking 4 minutes (3:55). 

Tiger Shark’s Enzo Queirolo was fourth in the boys 800 with a 2:00.15 while Romero finished eighth place for a medal with a time of 2:03.7. 

Finn Hensley and Micah Brighton finished 15th and 16th, respectively, in the boys 3,000 meter race at the end of the night. In the girls 3,000, Seabury claimed three spots in the top 12 with Grossman earning a bronze medal, Hagan finishing ninth and Millen 12th. Kari from Kīhei was 10th. 

The MIL also represented well in the field with Maui High School sophomore Kiera Sam Fong winning two crowns — the girls shot put (42 feet, 7.5 inches) and discus (136-08). Kamehameha Maui’s Allie Kennedy finished second in the pole vault with 11-2 and St. Anthony’s Kiana Downs was sixth. 

Baldwin’s James Medeiros finished third in the state in the boys 110-meter high hurdles with a time of 15.24 seconds, seventh in the 300 hurdles, and 10th in the high jump.