HPA, Konawaena athletes set records in BIIF track-and-field week 7

HPA’s boys 4x800 relay turned in the kind of performance that can reshape a BIIF season, clocking a school-record 8:34.33 with Jack Soon-Ludes, Micah McDowell, Santino Tribuiano and Philipp Gerstengarbe. The mark helped anchor a week in which records and personal bests came fast at Hawaii Preparatory Academy and Hilo High School, and it underscored how many island programs are peaking as the championship phase approaches.

Soon-Ludes kept building one of the league’s most imposing resumes. The HPA junior won the boys 800 in 2:05.62, captured the 1,500 in 4:18.44 and helped the Ka Makani win the 4x400 relay. By the end of the meet, he had won 12 individual races in his junior season. Gerstengarbe added another HPA highlight, winning the boys 3,000 in 9:18.07, a personal best that also stood as a stadium record.

HPA’s girls lineup also delivered. Kirra Geesey won the girls 800 in just over 2:30 and ran on two winning relays that hit season-best times, including the 4x400 in 4:24.87 and the 4x800 in 10:21.34. With postseason seeding and qualifying marks tightening across the island, those relay times matter as much as the wins themselves.

Konawaena answered with a set of sprint marks that will carry real weight into the BIIF title race. Senior Violet Schaut won the girls 100 in a stadium-record 12.16 seconds and took the 400 in 55.42. She was 10-for-10 in individual races across the 100, 200 and 400 at the time of the roundup, a level of consistency that keeps Kona squarely in the sprint conversation. The Cones’ boys also made noise, as Kea Sanders, Trenton Wong Yuen, Lucas Carvalho and Aden Sokham combined for a 42.56 in the 4x100, breaking the previous record of 42.60. Aden Sokham won the boys 400 in a venue-record 49.52, and Paxton Sokham ran the boys 200 in 22.42, ninth-best in the state.

Kamehameha-Hawaii junior Isaiah Kanae added another all-around statement, winning the boys 110-meter hurdles, high jump and triple jump, with his triple jump listed as 10th-longest in the state. In the throws, junior Chanse Kaaua-Long reached 153 feet, 3 inches in the boys discus after setting a school record of 155-8 on March 28. Kealakehe sophomore Alaska Delangen also posted two personal bests, winning the girls 200 in 24.43 and the pole vault at 3.12 meters, or 10-03.00.