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A reader recently suggested a real gold nugget of a story idea — a little-known Hawaii track and field happening in 2020 just before that spring season came to a halt due to COVID-19.
Sure enough, what the reader said happened was verified — that Saint Louis sprinter Trenton Wailehua, a senior at the time, ran an early season 400-meter dash faster than the established state meet record.
A quick check on Athletic.net shows that, indeed, Wailehua ran a 47.96 to win in the Menehune OIA-ILH Invitational at Moanalua High School on March 14, 2020. That time is .70 better than the state meet record of 48.66 by Punahou’s Bennett Valencia set in 1997. (Unlike state meet records, statewide overall bests from all competitions are not kept).
Too bad that Wailehua did not get a chance to try to break Valencia’s state met record due to the coronavirus-caused cancellation of the season.
Still, he had a successful career despite a few injuries. He was named the Gatorade Hawaii Track and Field Athlete of the Year for 2019-2020.
As a freshman in 2017, Wailehua won the state meet 400 and placed second in that event as a sophomore and junior and was also on some of the Crusaders’ successful 4×100 relay teams.
This video link includes Wailehua’s blazing 400-meter run from 2020 as well as some other races.
It Sounded Familiar
Interestingly, soon after compiling this story to highlight the accomplishment from three years ago that many may not remember because of the world health situation at the time, we took a look back at the Bedrock archives and came across this Sports Snippets story that includes (scroll to the bottom) Wailehua’s Gatorade Hawaii selection and mentions that the reason he was picked for the honor was indeed for the 47.96 400 run mentioned above.
So, as it turns out, this Wailehua story idea was a gold nugget back then, too!!!!
And it was worth telling again, if only so it does not get obscured (like so much else) in the fog caused by COVID-19.
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ALSO AT BedrockSportsHawaii.com:
>> Football Players In Command Of The Top 4 Spots In 4 Hawaii Track And Field Events
