Monday Morning MIL: Spencer’s discus throw leads big night at track; Estrella finishes third at women’s college wrestling nationals

For years, Kamehameha Schools Maui junior Pa‘u Spencer has been trying to beat the school record of 155 feet in the discus throw.

On Friday in the Maui Interscholastic League track and field meet No. 2 at War Memorial Stadium, Spencer hurled his discus 164 feet, 5 inches, into the Wailuku night, breaking the school mark and his own personal record, set Feb. 28 in MIL meet No. 1, by 11 feet — his mark would have won the state title in the event last season by nearly six feet.

“That’s great because I’ve been chasing that (school record) since freshman year,” he said.

Spencer was fifth at state last year at 153-6 and the state title was won by Tnias Tavale of Campbell at 158-2.

The Island Movers/HHSAA state track and field meet is May 9-10 at Kealakehe High School on Hawai’i Island.

Spencer competes in track and field and volleyball in the spring season and was a standout offensive lineman in football for the school’s Division II state championship football team.

He said his breakthrough throw “gives me a lot of confidence to at least compete better than I did last year” because of how hard it is to do two sports in one season.

If he has volleyball games on Tuesdays and Thursdays, he tries to lift weight on Mondays, throw on Wednesdays and compete in track and field meets on Fridays.

Later Friday night, Spencer finished second in the shot put at 41-8.25 in the event won by Baldwin’s Ethan Bacos at 44-0.5.

Spencer is a 6-foot-4, 295-pound junior who has football scholarship offers from the University of Hawai‘i and Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Ill., and has also had discussions with other schools, including Long Island University in New York where his older brother Kale Spencer is a standout volleyball player.

Pa‘u Spencer said the combination of sports, especially the footwork required in the discus and shot put rings, help his football prowess.

“For football it helps me a lot, helps me with my balance for volleyball, too,” Spencer said, adding he would like to do both track and football in college. UH is his “leader in the clubhouse,” although it does not have a men’s track and field team.

Spencer was one of several star performances on Friday night. Another standout early mark came from defending state champion Isabella Grossman of Seabury Hall in the girls 1,500-meter run. She won the state title last season as a freshman in 4:54.72 — in just the second week of the season this year she stopped the clock at 5:03.27 to win on Friday night by 17 seconds.

“I ran a 4:56 last week and I was kind of hoping to be under 5:00, but the wind was a little strong and my second 400 was a little slower than I wanted it to be,” Grossman said. “I’m pretty proud of where I’m at this early in the season. I worked really hard over the winter and offseason.”

Older sister Dakota Grossman, the all-time MIL record holder for boys and girls with 10 state championships, is a Seabury Hall assistant coach to their father Bobby Grossman, the team’s head coach.

“She always pushed me to be my best and I really appreciate her being my coach,” Isabella Grossman, who also won the 800 in 2:27.73 Friday night, said of her older sister. “It’s an honor to be coached by her.”

Baldwin senior Antone Sanches is primarily a hurdler, but he has been hampered by a back injury since his sophomore year. He has put hurdling on hold for the first few weeks of the season to concentrate on the triple jump, high jump and 4×100-meter relay. Last week, he triple jumped 42-7 and followed that with a 42-0 mark Friday night — the Bears finished 1-2-3-4 in the event.

Sanches’ triple jump mark Friday night would have been fifth at state last season when the title went to Saint Louis’ Josiah Fetui at 43-11. Sanches is considering Western New Mexico and Utah Tech universities for college.

Antone’s father Kyle Sanches was one of his football coaches at Baldwin and his grandfather Gary Sanches has been a coach for the school’s track and field program for more than 30 years.

“I’ve always wanted to run in college all the way growing up,” Sanches said. “This team looks like we can do something at states this year because we have a lot of talent and a lot of good new guys who came out. As a freshman we took third at states … so hopefully we can do something like that again.”

The boys 100-meter dash was close and fast among the top four athletes — Maui High’s Jonah Cariaga won in 10.96 seconds, Baldwin’s Landen Ambrocio was second in 10.99, Maui High’s Charlie Peterson was third in 11.04 and Baldwin’s Brock Toma was fourth in 11.13. The state title was won in 10.91 last season by Kalaheo’s Jalen Keller.

Kamehameha Maui senior Nohi Casco won the pole vault at 14-3 Friday night — his personal record coming into the season was 13-6. Last season, 14-3 would have been third at the state meet where the title was won by Shelbey Cabais-Fernandez of Waiākea at 14-10.

“I think it’s going to be a great season in MIL track and field,” Antone Sanches said. “There’s a lot of great athletes all over the place.”

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WRESTLING: Estrella finishes third nationally at 138, looks to future

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University of Iowa senior Nanea Estrella, a Lahainaluna High School graduate, finished third in her 138-pound weight class at the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships in Coralville, Iowa, on Saturday. 

She was one of 15 Hawkeyes to place in the meet as they won their second straight national team championship. Her decorated career includes four state titles for the Lunas; the Tricia Saunders High School Excellence Award in May 2020, an honor from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame & Museum; a 2020 junior national championship; and a gold medal at the under-20 Pan-American Games in 2022.

Estrella told Hawai‘i Journalism Initiative via text on Sunday that she plans to graduate this spring with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and continue her wrestling career on the national level. She does have one season of college eligibility remaining, if she decides to return to Iowa where she is coached by Clarissa Chun, an Olympic bronze medalist from O‘ahu.

“Monday Morning MIL” columns appear weekly on Monday mornings with updates on local sports in the Maui Interscholastic League and elsewhere around Maui County. Please send column ideas — anything having to do with sports in Maui County — as well as results and photos to rob@hjinow.org.