If there is an NAIA running championship going on, former Kealakehe standout Keili Dorn is sure to be competing.
Saturday was no different.
Running for Embry-Riddle Arizona, Dorn placed 13th in the 5,000 at the outdoor track and field championships in Gulf Shores, Ala.
The junior’s time of 19:11.24 was more than 12 seconds faster than her time at the 2017 championships.
Dorn, a graduate of West Hawaii Explorations Academy, is also a three-time qualifier at the NAIA cross-country championships, twice at Embry-Riddle and also at Vanguard her freshman season.
Last fall, she was the Cal Pac Runner of the Year and an NAIA Scholar Athlete.
Here is a look at how some other Big Island graduates fared during the spring season:
• Louisiana Tech junior Monique Apuakehau, a Waiakea graduate, finished 10th in the pole vault at the Conference USA outdoor track and field championships in mid-May, clearing 11-06.25.
A transfer from Iowa Western CC, Apuakehau reached 11-09.75 and was seventh at the indoor championships earlier in the year.
• Grand Canyon freshman Nicole Cristobal, a Kealakehe graduate, jumped in two events at the Western Athletic Conference outdoor track and field championships two weeks ago, placing ninth in the triple jump (37-01.25) and 11th in the long jump (18-02.50).
• Linfield (Oregon) senior Mehana Sabado-Halpern, a Hilo graduate, claimed gold and bronze at the Northwest Conference track and field championships.
In all, Sabado-Halpern competed in six events, including the heptathlon. She won the long jump with a college-best effort of 18-6, took third in the triple jump (37-5.25) and was on a 400 relay team that finished fourth.
During her junior season, she set a Linfield-school record in the triple (39 feet, 7¾ inches) and competed at the NCAA Division II championships.
• Macalester senior Carmen Garson-Shumway (Hilo High) claimed bronze in the 5,000 meters at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference outdoor track and field championships earlier this month, finishing in 4:42.26.
She also was part of silver-medal winning 1,600 relay team, and she collected another bronze at the MIAC indoor finals earlier this year in the 1,000.
In the fall, Garson-Shumway competed at the NCAA Division III Central Region cross-country championships.
• Lewis-Clark State College sophomore Louie Ondo (Waiakea) ran a college-best 1:57.90 in the 800 to win at the Whitworth Twilight in April. Lewis-Clark is an NAIA school in Idaho.
• Brown senior Kristiana Van Pernis (Hawaii Prep) helped her 3,200 relay team finish seventh at the Ivy League outdoor track and field championships, and she took 15th in the 800.
Van Pernis’s 3,200 relay squad was fourth in the indoor finals.
