KEAAU — It’s only an inch, but it sometimes seems like more to Hawaii Prep high jumper Kau’i Taylor.
Multiply that times six for Waiakea pole vaulters Darien Calicdan and Monique Apuakekau.
If the Big Island Interscholastic Federation handed out an Athlete of the Meet at Saturday’s track and field qualifier at Keaau, it probably would have gone to Hilo’s Mehana Sabado-Halpern, who reached 36 feet, 2.25 inches in the triple jump to set a new standard this season in the state. The senior also won the long jump and the 400 meters.
Hawaii Prep junior Emma Taylor, meanwhile, lowered her state-best time in the 100 hurdles again and neared a No. 1 rank in the 300.
Sabado-Halpern and Emma Taylor are at the top, and then there are athletes such as Kau’i Taylor, Calicdan and Apuakekau who have reached rarefied air themselves but are still working hard to raise the bar and reach the top.
“I’m there,” Kaui Taylor said. “But an inch is a gap. It can be a lot.”
Taylor competed in five events Saturday and had major competition in four. She was fourth in the triple jump but more than a foot behind the top three in an event the BIIF is quickly starting to own statewide.
Big Islanders swept the event last season at the HHSAA championships and have a chance to do it again this year. Sabado-Halpern’s leap left Kealakehe sophomore Nicole Cristobal second in Hawaii, while Kamehameha’s Meagan Kualii’s 35-07 was good enough for third in the state.
“It’s great to jump with the best,” said Kau’i Taylor, who also set a personal-best in the 100 meters in finishing third.
But her marquee event is the high jump, an event Taylor took up in middle school and finally started to get last year when she was second at BIIFs, reaching 5-0.
“I’ve seen some really small girls that are great and some huge girls that are great,” said Taylor, who stands 5-9 1/2. “I guess it’s how much hops you have. And then technique is very important.”
She started at 4-6 on Saturday and then worked her way up, but she doesn’t even bother with 5-3, her personal-best. The goal, for now, is 5-4, which is a height only one girl in the state, Leilehua’s Temiyah White, has reached this year.
“Week after week, your grazing that height but you can’t get over it,” said Taylor, a starter the last two seasons on HPA’s state champion soccer teams. “I’m grazing it with my shorts. It gets a little frustrating.”
Calicdan and Apuakekau know the feeling. They both matched their personal-best of 10-6 again in the pole vault Saturday and are third in the state.
Warriors coach Sherman Viernes was excited that each got to use a new, longer pole, but clearing 11-0 again was elusive.
“They didn’t know how to finish (with the new pole),” Viernes said. “But once they do, they are going to get there.
“They are good friends who push each other.”
The seniors’ best competition comes off the island. Calicdan and Apuakekau are set to compete at at a Punaho meet on Oahu this weekend, and Viernes said they made quite an impression earlier this month in finishing 1-2 at a meet on Maui.
“When we got there, everyone thought we were putting on an exhibition,” Viernes said. “They saw the girls’ physique and thought they were college girls.”
No, just a couple of second-year pole vaulters who harnessed their athletic ability and learned the sport quickly, he said. Calicdan was seventh at states last season and Apuakekau was ninth.
While Calicdan may be the technically stronger of the two, Apuakekau takes advantage of her longer stride.
Both are mentally strong.
“You got to be crazy to pole vault,” Viernes joked.
Quick hitters
• Kualii’ effort of 17-6.5 on March 21 still ranks second in the state in the long jump, a half-inch behind Baldwin’s Kaitlin Smith. On Saturday, Sabado-Halpern (17.3.75) and Waiakea’s Kadara Marshall (17-3) moved into fourth and fifth, respectively.
• Waiakea’s Ridge Quitoriano won the shot put in 50-4.75, ranking him fifth in the state.
• Hawaii Prep senior Ula Brostek swept the shot put and discus after an effort of 36-7 in the shot put Friday on Oahu that ranks her fifth in the state. Kamehameha Taylor Sullivan is fourth.
• Kealakehe Keili Dorn capped a busy two days. She neared a BIIF-best this season in winning the 800 in 2.27.76. On Friday on Oahu, she competed in the 1,500 and 3,000.
