Punahou’s Andrei Iosivas and Kamehameha-Hawaii’s Chenoa Frederick put on highlight performances at the HHSAA track and field championships, winning an unmatched three individual gold medals each.
When it came to inspiration and determination, however, no one overmatched a group of unified squads that competed in two relays Saturday at Kamehameha-Kapalama on Oahu.
Pahoa High co-coach Robert Clifford brought two squads – four Special Olympics and four partners – to compete in Honolulu. Each may have a different backgrounds but they shared in the opportunity to broaden their horizons.
“For the special needs kids, everybody is always telling them what they can’t do, or that they’ll get hurt,” Clifford said. “Some of them had never been away from their parents. This let them get away from their safety net.”
The trip to Oahu was no less fulfilling for the partners, students from the general population of the school.
“It’s about giving back,” Clifford said. “This is kind of the poor part of the island, so it’s important to give back to the community. They learned what it means to help others.”
Along with co-coach Kahea Rodrigues, Clifford brought Kendrick Mederios, Robert Wong, Matthew Ortega, Elias Korchmer, Duke Palma, Matthew Meyers Jr., William Velez and Kalavite Afu to the meet.
Some of the classmates, Clifford said, may not otherwise interact much with each other at school, but there they were passing the baton in two relay races Saturday night.
In the 400, Pahoa’s squads took second and fifth, with two squads from Hilo High sandwiched in between. Maui High also participated.
In couple of weeks, Clifford will take a group to the 50th state Special Olympics Summer Games on Oahu.
Still, there’s no substitute for letting special needs students experience the big high school stage with their peers.
Iosivas and Chenoa Frederick did their thing, then Clifford’s squad did the same.
‘This was a special occasion for them,” Clifford said. “They were in really good spirits. It was just fun.”