KEAAU – Waiakea High’s Kederang Ueda runs with determination until the deal is done. Then he stops, catches his breath and looks behind him. Then the feeling turns, albeit slightly, to compassion.
Midway through a typical BIIF boys 3,000-meter run, it can be hard to decipher a true pecking order with runners scattered around the oval. It’s best to follow Ueda on the lead lap.
Does he ever feel sorry for the runners he passes?
“Definitely, I can imagine being that kid that got lapped. I was that kid that got lapped,” he said Saturday at Keaau High. “It definitely doesn’t help when you’re running and they’re an entire lap ahead of me.”
The biggest newsmaker of the league’s fifth track and field meet of the season was a runner who used a different gear. Konawaena senior Caiya Hanks blazed to Hawaii-best seasonal times in the 100 and 200.
Ueda ranks No. 5 in the 3,000 after crossing in a personal-best of 9 minutes, 44.48 seconds at Keaau, and he’s ready to state his case as well. He’s sixth in Hawaii the 1,500.
During the BIIF champion’s cross-country season he couldn’t finish the deal due to a scheduling quirk that saw his club team, Sunrise Athletics, compete at a regional meet on the mainland on Dec. 4. That, as it turned out, also was the date of the rescheduled state championships in Waimea. Kealakehe’s Levi Childers, who had chased Ueda all season, took bronze.
“I wish I could gave been there,” Ueda said. “It was muddy there that day. Just to have all the Oahu kids to experience that, it would have been priceless. It gives me the hunger.”
He does plan to be on hand in mid-May on Oahu for the state track and field championships.
The best time this season in the state is 9:11.83.
“That’s really where I’m trying to get to,” he said. “Hoping at the state meet I can put everything together and race with those great guys.”
“My parents and coaches, they do so much for me,” Ueda said, “just getting up day after day I do it for them.”
Hanks ran personal-bests in the 100 (12.59) and 200 (25.90), ranking tops in the state in each event. The senior also was a member of the the Wildcats’ winning 4×100 relay.
Another multiple winner at the event was Kamehameha’s Kahiau Poe, who won both sprints and took the long jump. Konawaena’s Ro’o Satta-Ellis still holds the best league distance in the latter even this season, but Poe outraced him in the sprints at Keaau.
Kealakehe’s Cameron Cornforth claimed the 800 and 1,500. Cornforth’s 2:05.24 finish in the 800 ranks fourth in the state.
Waiakea’s Taysia Rocha reached 34 feet, 10 inches in the triple jump, the fourth-best effort in the state.
The next track and field meet is Saturday morning at Hawaii Prep.