WAILUKU --- The Baldwin High School track and field teams have made a habit of winning Maui Interscholastic League titles.
Outside of several outstanding individual efforts from athletes across the league, nothing was going to stand in the Bears' way of continuing the trend on Saturday night at the MIL championships at Yamamoto Track and Field Facility.
The Baldwin girls rolled to their 10th team title in a row, piling up 141 points to 77 for runner-up King Kekaulike.
In the boys race, Baldwin rode a meet-record shot put mark by senior Mana Rosa, three individual wins from sophomore John Vergara and a couple of big surprises to swamp the field with 192 points. Maui High was second with 107.
''I expected to win all of it,'' Vergara said after winning the 100- and 200-meter dashes and long jump, and anchoring the Bears' victorious 400 relay team. ''When it came to the 200, it was a depressing race because I know I can hit 22.7, but I went 23-flat. So it was a little depressing.''
That was perhaps the only disappointment the Bears experienced as they got a shocking pole vault win from Devin Sakamoto over St. Anthony's Billy Pacheco --- the defending champion and two-time state medalist --- based on fewer misses after both cleared 14 feet, and a pair of hurdles wins from Andy Felix.
''John (Vergara) has been doing it all year, but we got a surprise (win) from Sheldon Leong in the 400, and Maverick (Falan) was a late entry in the 100 and he took second, and Devin is a complete and pleasant surprise,'' Baldwin boys coach Gary Sanches said. ''He has been hurt and we have been resting him. And Andy Felix, that kid came out of nowhere this year. He didn't score a point for us last year and now he has an appointment to the Naval Academy. It shows what can happen with a little luck.''
The Bears' best shot at a state title appears to be Rosa, who came into the weekend leading the state in the shot put at 55-feet-7, and broke the MIL meet record with a throw of 54-8 1/2 in Friday's preliminaries, wiping out the 2008 mark of 52-4 set by eventual state champion Sean Tesoro of Baldwin. Rosa, an Oregon State football recruit, was happy with his consistency --- three throws over 54 feet --- on Friday, but not so on Saturday.
''Today wasn't too great,'' Rosa said. ''I was just anxious and over-excited. This week I have been pretty consistent, so hopefully I can keep that up for states. A couple more feet would be great and really help me out. I'm glad I got to beat the mark of my former teammate, Sean.''
Tesoro is an offensive lineman at Nevada-Las Vegas.
Rosa is committed to football, but if Oregon State follows through on plans to resume its dormant men's track program, he said he might consider that sport in Corvallis as well.
''I might possibly go out if their track team comes back,'' Rosa said. ''I might actually try out for track. Football is my first choice, my first consideration, but I am going to miss track a little bit. It is something different. It is a relaxed sport and good fun.''
The Bears' Kristine Felix won the pole vault --- she cleared 9-9 to tie the meet record set by Baldwin's Asia Okamura in 2008 --- and 100, Ayesha Pladera won the long jump, Jennifer Alakai took the 100 hurdles title and the 400 relay team finished first.
''Actually, our whole team stepped it up,'' said first-year Baldwin girls coach Keoni Tengan. ''We wanted them to PR at the MIL championships and a lot of them did. Our pole vaulters, our jumpers, our throwers, everybody stepped it up.''
The meet was the last on the Yamamoto track for two of the most decorated distance runners in MIL history --- Bailey Massenburg and Reid Hunter, both of King Kekaulike.
Massenburg won her sixth and seventh league track titles in the 800 and 1,500 before deciding to skip the 3,000. Massenburg was the state champion in the 800 and 1,500 last year and finished second in the 3,000. She won the state cross country title last fall and will attend Point Loma Nazarene University this fall.
''I PR'd in the 1,500 in 4:49 and I thought it felt really, really easy,'' she said. ''I thought it was a lot slower, so there's a lot left. I think I can go faster (at state). The 8 felt good, too. I was going to run the 3, but my coaches told me not to. I might run it at state, but today they just wanted to give me a lot of rest to prepare for it.''
Hunter also cruised to wins in the 800 and 1,500 before skipping the 3,000, a race in which he set the MIL meet record of 9:25.70 last year. He will run the 800 and 1,500 only at the state meet, and had the top times in the state going into the weekend. His 4:05.34 in the 1,500 two weeks ago is a second and a half faster than the state meet record, all of which stand for state records. His 1:58.61 run in Friday's 800 preliminaries lowered his state-leading mark by more than a second.
Hunter said he plans to continue his running career in New Zealand for a club team after not drawing much attention from Mainland colleges. He has dual citizenship in New Zealand and wants to study medicine there and run for that country's Olympic team.
First, however, comes the quest for his first state title. He was second in each race last year and fifth in the state cross country meet last fall and leaves the MIL with four individual track titles.
''For the state 1,500 my goal is to win the gold and to go get the record, sub-four is the goal,'' he said. ''To be the first from Hawaii under four minutes would be great. That is my goal and everything is geared towards it and I think I can do it.''
The meet also signaled a bright future for the MIL.
Maui High freshmen Nicola Perez-Garreaud and Rocky Balala went 1-2 in the 3,000. Perez-Garreaud usually triples in the distances races and a week after setting three MIL JV meet records, he was fourth in the 800 Saturday and second to Hunter in the 1,500. Balala was fifth in the 1,500 and seventh in the 800.
King Kekaulike's girls 1,600 relay team broke the meet record in 4:10.35, erasing the 2007 mark of 4:12.29 set by Baldwin.
In the middle of the meet, the MIL honored 50-year track official Baron Souza, who announced earlier this season that he is retiring from the sport.
Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com
