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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, April 10, 2010

Santiago leads Kahuku girls to OIA East title

 •  OIA East track championship results



by Stanley Lee
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Kahuku's Zhane Santiago won the 100-meter hurdles at the OIA East track & field championships at Kaiser High.

NORMAN SHAPIRO | The Honolulu Advertiser

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The biggest difference is that familiar face is no longer racing alongside her.

The results, though, are still astonishing.

Zhane Santiago won six events at yesterday's O'ahu Interscholastic Association Eastern Division championships, helping her Kahuku track & field team run away with the girls' team title.

"It feels a little bit different because my sister isn't here," said Santiago, referring to her older sister Tajana, who graduated last year. "But at the same time I have other people pushing me through."

Santiago won the 100-meter hurdles, 100 dash, 300 hurdles, long jump and triple jump. Santiago, a junior and two-time state champion in the 100 hurdles and triple jump, also tied for first in the high jump. The Red Raiders totaled 160 points in the team standings, winning the 4x100 and 4x400 relays and scoring points in 14 of 16 events. Kaiser was second with 96.

"We work hard and a lot of the girls now are kind of injured, so they're just pushing," said Santiago, who thanked her coaches and Roosevelt's coaches for letting her team train there. "It means a lot to us, showing that hard work pays off."

Taking advantage of the usual windy conditions at Kaiser, Moanalua emerged as the boys team champion with 95 points. Roosevelt was second with 79 1/3 and Castle was third with 70.

"Running-wise ... the winds ... that was pretty good. It helped us out a lot," said Moanalua's Essaye Villaver, who won the triple jump and long jump and was the runner-up in the 200 and 100. "It helped me out a lot with my times. It helped the other boys and girls with their times."

McKinley's Solomon Dixon was a lean short in breaking Willard Gouveia's 29-year-old record in the boys 400. Dixon, the defending state 400 champion, won in 49.94, missing Gouveia's record of 49.8 set in 1971 while racing for Kaimukī. Gouveia, a Roosevelt assistant, fired the starting gun for all of yesterday's events.

Moanalua also won the junior varsity girls title and McKinley won the junior varsity boys title. See tomorrow's For the Record for results or visit www.honoluluadvertiser.com.