KOZA, Okinawa — If Saturday’s Okinawa Activities Council district track and field meet was an indication, the Pacific high school record book might be renovated this month.
Six OAC records tumbled on Saturday, the most since nine were shattered in 2006, and Kadena’s boys and Kubasaki’s girls repeated their OAC team titles in the two-day meet. Field events were held Friday at Kubasaki and running events Saturday at Koza City Stadium.
"It’s taken all season for them working toward this goal," Kubasaki coach Charles Burns said. "This is like the final exam. All the other meets, they … were like pop quizzes getting you ready for this one."
With the Kanto Invitational on May 15 in Tokyo and Far East May 24-25 at Kubasaki, Saturday’s meet was "the first one in the three-step process. They have goals, and they’re working toward those goals."
Among them was Tomas Sanchez, Kadena’s junior mid-distance runner who snapped the four-year old 800 record by 12 seconds, running the island’s first sub-2-minute time. "Amazing. Good feeling," he said.
After running behind Kadena most of the season, Kubasaki’s 400 relay team finally got the upper hand, and in record time, 43.8 seconds, 0.4 better than the old mark.
The anchor for that relay unit, A.J. Watson, topped the 200 record with a 22.54 clocking, bettering the 22.8 set seven years ago.
Sarah Wilson of Zion Christian Academy continued to top her own standards; she ran the 400 in 1 minute, 0.1 seconds, beating her 2009 record of 1:00.68.
Then, both the 400 and 1,600 relay records got a makeover. Kubasaki was timed in 51.42, beating its own 400 relay mark of 52.2 set four years ago. Kadena then shattered the 1,600 record by just over four seconds, 4:17.92; the old record was 4:22 set six years ago by Kubasaki.
Multiple winners included Kubasaki’s Vallyne Alleyne in the girls shot put and discus, Kubasaki’s Milyka Dees and Kadena’s Anthony Tarver in the girls and boys hurdles events, Kadena’s Jacob Bishop in the boys 1,500 and 3,000 and Watson in the boys 100 and 200.
