Track and Field

On this day in 1978, Punahou dominated the state track and field trials before sweeping both team title the next day. There were plenty of big matchups boiling, here is how they turned out: >> Punahou’s Lee Scruton beat Rodney Yap of St. Anthony in one hurdles race and Leilehua’s David Monroy took the other. Yap rebounded to take the 180 low hurdles the next year and is still the reigning champion in the event since it was discontinued in […]

Before he became Hawaii’s athletic director, Young Suk Ko of McKinley was quite an athlete. He starred in football, basketball, baseball and track and field for the school while climbing up the ranks of the boy scouts. On this day in 1939, Ko put the shot 50 feet, 2 inches to break the record by more than five feet as McKinley won a track and field meet at Alexander Field. Three other records were broken that day. Ko went on […]

Larry Khan-Smith is probably best known for his running exploits with the UH football team, but he made his mark on the state as a jumper. On this day in 1986, the boy who is still perhaps Campbell’s greatest athlete broke OIA records in the triple jump and long jump at Kaiser. By the time he was finished with his senior season, Khan-Smith was all over the HHSAA record books with five gold medals. >> He repeated in the long […]

On this day in 1992, Sani Apuakehau won the 100 meters and the long jump to propel Kamehameha to the ILH track and field championship over Punahou. Apuakehau ran the 100 meters in a disappointing 11.3 seconds and flew 21 feet, 2 1/4 inches in the long jump. Other winners for Kamehameha included Marcus Taum in the 400, Cameron Ahana in the 300 hurdles, Brandon Toro in the 200, Drake Parker in the discus, Che Schmidt in the triple jump […]

Henry Pogue was destined to be a star for Punahou. On this day in 1917, Pogue won the broad jump, shot put and high jump in a grammar school meet at Alexander Field. He also took fourth in the 50-yard dash and second in the 100 but the Buffanblu finished second to Saint Louis. Pogue was named head of the freshman class at Punahou in the fall and instantly became a star on the school’s football and track and field […]

On this day in 1969, McKinley sprinter Richard Vasconcellos made a statement for public schools when the rivalry was at its most intense. Vasconcellos won the 100- and 220-yard races at the public school meet at Cooke Field, firing a shot across the bow of the private school speedsters at Punahou. Vasconcellos, who scored two touchdowns in his varsity football debut the previous fall, also took second in the long jump and anchored the winning 880-yard relay. For all of […]