Off and running

MIL season gets under way at King Kekaulike

By MARY BETH BISHOP
PUKALANI — Friday’s Maui Interscholastic League track and field meet at King Kekaulike was a first in several ways for the MIL competitors who came out ready to get the season under way.

For Baldwin senior and two-time defending state champion Brittany Feiteira, it was the first meet of her last high school season.

‘‘It was good coming out, getting to know the track again,’’ said Feiteira, who won the 100 meters in 12.33 seconds. ‘‘It kind of hit me — it’s my last year. That was kind of iffy but I came out, I’ve been training for this, and I told my mom, ‘This year, I’m just going to run and do what I love to do.’’’

‘‘I’m not going to freak out — OK, I’ll freak out — but this is my last year and I love to do it so I’m just going to live it up,’’ she said with a laugh.

Feiteria also anchored Baldwin’s winning 4 x 400 relay team, which included Whitney Johnson, Ayesha Pladera and Maile Thomas. The Bears finished with a time of 51.77.

While she has her goals in mind, she’s more focused than ever on helping her teammates get ready.

‘‘I do have goals, but more for my team to work together,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s my last year and these guys helped me get to where I am now, through the bad and the good races, so hopefully I can try to teach the youngsters, pass it on to them, so when I leave, it’s their turn to shine and they can do it well and be confident in themselves.’’

On the other side of things, Seabury Hall freshman Kailea Tracy-Visintainer flew to a 58.20 first-place finish in the girls 400 in addition to winning the high jump at 4 feet, 10 inches.

‘‘This being the first race, I was really excited and kind of nervous — my first high-school race — and I was like, ‘OK, let’s just go out and do this,’ ’’ she said. ‘‘But coming out that strong and having qualified for states in the high jump as well as the 400 meters, my two main events, makes me really excited and happy the season started finally.’’

Although she’s still testing the waters, Tracy-Visintainer has a basic plan in mind to help her make the most of her first season on varsity with the Spartans.

‘‘This season, my goals are kind of everywhere right now, but my main goals are just to keep up my times and PR and just keep improving and hopefully I can bang something out at states,’’ she said. ‘‘Just do some damage my first year.’’

Teammate Lea Lundblad also had a state-qualifying time of 5:05.17 in the 1500, while the Spartans’ Kaipo Rocha qualified in the girls shotput with a distance of 32 feet, 3 1/4 inches.

King Kekaulike’s Reid Hunter took advantage of an injury-free offseason and the intense training paid off as he rolled to an easy win in the boys 1500 with a time of 4:11.61, two seconds faster than last season’s MIL meet record.

The winning state time last season was 4:10.99.

‘‘We’ve been training pretty hard and it felt easy, it felt like I could go much faster,’’ said Hunter, who also won the boys 800 with a time of 2:01. ‘‘Lots of form drills with my coach and a lot more mileage. In the sprints, I trained consistently without getting injured and I’m on a good track, I like this.’’

The Bears, however, continued to clean up events across the board. Asia Okamura vaulted 8 feet, 6 inches to win the girls’ event, while Leti Langi threw 135 feet, two inches to win the boys discus.

Sean Tesoro also won the shotput at 50 feet, 10 1/2 inches and Michael Marrs threw for 5 feet, 10 inches in the discus.

But Baldwin boys coach Greg Sanchez knows there’s still a lot of the season left and much room to improve.

‘‘We’re OK, nothing spectacular yet, and it’s too early to tell,’’ Sanchez said. ‘‘You may look good here on Maui but I’ve got to sit down and look at the times and the overall, how we stack up with the rest of the state at the end of the weekend, and then we kind of figure out where we’re at.

‘‘I don’t put too much faith in this first track meet ... it’s kind of like, ‘OK, let’s get the jitters out.’ I was satisfied.’’