6 from Big Isle strike gold

KEAAU — Hawaii Prep’s Shane Brostek had a couple of off days in the discus.

He was as good as ever in the shot put, however.

Brostek was one of five defending state champions from the Big Island Interscholastic Federation who had a title on the line at Keaau High Saturday at the Hawaii High School Athletic Association state track and field championships.

Brostek finished the discus in fourth place to lose his crown.

In the shot put, he came back with a vengeance, repeating as the state champion with his toss of 55 feet, 7.25 inches.

“I messed up in the discus with bad technique,” Brostek said. “I’m a little disappointed tonight, even with my shot because I did better during the regular season.”

Brostek is headed to the University of Washington on a football scholarship, but is also thinking of joining the track team.

“I might try to walk on in track, but those guys are pretty awesome,” he said.

Kealakehe’s Luca Walter did what he’s been dreaming of in the finals.

“I finally got my time under 50 seconds,” Walter said of his 400-meter dash victory. “Breaking 50 seconds means more to me than winning the state title.”

Walter, a senior, took the race out in Lane 5 and ran his own race.

“I actually like Lane 3 better because I can see my competition around me,” Walter said. “I’m a firm believer in God, so I asked him to help me.”

During the preliminaries on Friday, a Kealakehe coach timed Walter on the anchor leg of the 1,600 relay at 48.99 seconds.

Kamehameha-Hawaii’s Aukai Akau had no trouble defending his long jump title with his leap of 21-11.

“It’s great to repeat as state champ,” Akau said. “I managed to work out the tension in practice and allowed my technique to carry over into the jump.”

Akau, who found himself fouling in his first two attempts most of the season, was composed during the state championships, and on Friday he unleashed a leap of 22-1 to regain his title.

“It was during my last jump on Friday that I hit the 22 mark,” Akau said.

During the 100 dash, Akau claimed third place and was satisfied with that mark.

“Third in the 100 at states, I can’t go wrong with that,” Akau said. “My mantra coming into states was, ‘Run fast, jump further.’”

The defending 300 hurdle champion, Konawaena’s Ua Ruedy, dove in desperation 18 inches from the finish line to take second place.

Wildcat teammate Lia Galdeira won her first track state title, leaping 18-1 in the long jump to outdistance the rest of the field. Then she added gold in the triple jump.

“I can’t wait to play basketball,” Galdeira said after winning the long jump. “It was good fun with great coaches, but it’s onto basketball now.”

HPA’s Zoe Sims fell in her attempt to repeat in the 1,500 when Seabury Hall’s Dakota Grossman, a sophomore, ran her personal best and gave credit to the two Big Island girls for pushing her during the race.

Hilo’s Carmen Garson-Shumway tried to stay in a pack with Sims and Grossman, but as the event came to its final lap Grossman pulled away for the victory.

Two new state champions were crowned in Keaau’s Cliff Eriksson, who won the high jump at 6-2, and Alexander Engdahl, who took the 300 hurdles.

Eriksson was the only competitor to clear 6-2, and he asked that the bar be raised to 6-4.

“I just wanted to see what I could do today,” he said. “I am happy that I won the state title but am also disappointed that I couldn’t clear 6-4.”

For Eriksson, it proved to be a mental game as the senior put it all together.

“I thought I could, and I wanted it,” Eriksson said of the hurdle victory.

Eriksson did have his share of disappointment as his relay team failed to pull out the victory in the 4×100.

“It was a little disappointing,” Eriksson said. “We were all hoping we could win the relay, and it just didn’t happen.”

The Cougar boys, the BIIF champions, finished fourth overall.

“I’m very proud of my team,” Keaau coach Vicky Chai-Guerpo said. “This was our greatest season in the history of Keaau.”