UH hosts upgraded Rainbow Relays

Most opportunities to post Big West qualifying marks require a trip to the mainland for the University of Hawaii track and field team.

Not so this week.

Touted as the largest meet hosted by UH since the 2011 Western Athletic Conference championships, the Rainbow Relays runs Friday and Saturday at the Ching Complex. The Rainbow Wahine will be joined by Sacramento State, Cal State Northridge, Cal State Dominguez Hills and Hawaii Pacific University in the two-day meet.

“I don’t think I thought about it until I walked out and saw everyone,” UH distance runner Montana Martinez said as the Wahine began practice on Wednesday with Sacramento State warming up on the other side of Ching Field. “The other teams being here is super exciting already.”

The meet will feature 19 events with competition starting at 3 p.m. Friday with the throwing events on the grass field. The first running event will be the 800 meters at 6:15 p.m. Saturday’s events start with the pole vault at 8 a.m. and 3,000-meter at 8:30.

UH opened the outdoor season at the Hornet Invitational hosted by Sacramento State last weekend and having multiple Division I teams in this week’s meet offers an opportunity to post qualifying marks for the Big West championships without making a five-hour flight.

“That’s really nice,” Martinez said. “You don’t have the jet lag, everyone else will have the jet lag.”

Here are just a few of the myriad UH storylines that will fill the weekend at the Ching Complex.

>> Karen Bulger will be among the first Rainbow Wahine athletes to compete with the javelin leading off Friday’s throwing events. She was introduced to the javelin as a high school sophomore in Washington and was hooked.

“I think it’s like a spartan moment,” the UH sophomore said. “I think it’s really cool. It definitely picked up my attention.

“You get really excited. It’s almost like fireworks going off. It builds in you and if you hit it right, it’s perfection. But if you don’t hit it right, you sure know. It’s a finicky object.”

Bulger ranks third on UH’s all-time performance list in the event with a throw of 46.68 meters last season and claimed silver at the Big West championships last year. She qualified for the NCAA West preliminary round, but fell short of her goal of a trip to Eugene, Ore. for the NCAA championships.

“It kind of raised the bar,” said Bulger, who placed fifth at the Hornet Invitational last week. “Not making it to Eugene was a little bit of a disappointment, but all I know is you have to push harder for this season.”

>> Amber Kozaki figured her gymnastics background would progress into cheerleading and she did indeed join the squad at Baldwin. But when she went out for track as a freshman, a coach convinced her to apply her speed and flexibility to pole vaulting.

“I just went out to do track because I was fast and the pole vault coach said, ‘You did gymnastics also, why don’t you try pole vaulting,’” Kozaki said. “And I said, ‘OK, I’ll try it,’ and it ended up being a sport I love.”

That decision led to a college career in the event after winning the state championship in 2013. Now a senior, Kozaki said “I’ve had my ups and downs,” so far this season. But she hopes a home meet and favorable conditions provide a boost this weekend.

“We really like a tailwind,” Kozaki said. “It’s been a headwind lately in practice so we’ve been struggling a little. (Tuesday) the tailwind was great and we were all pumped to vault and clear some bars.”

>> Martinez set the school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in last year’s Rainbow Relays, a dual meet with San Jose State, with a time of 11:03.50. But she doesn’t plan on running in the event this week due to pain in her shin.

She hopes to compete in the 5,000-meter run on Friday while battling through illness and injury.

Then senior is among the distance runners making the transition from cross country in the fall to track in the spring.

“I think being on the track is definitely harder on your body, but for me I like it so much better. … I don’t like hills,” Martinez said. “But being in season from cross country to indoor to outdoor, definitely wears on your body.”

>> Freshman Lily Lowe made an impressive debut with a silver medal in the high jump at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championships on Feb. 25. Her leap of 1.80 meters led Big West schools and tied for 23rd nationally. But missing out on the NCAA championships added to her motivation for the outdoor season.

Coming from Murray, Ky., Lowe said part of her transition to the college level was learning how to practice when not at the high jump pit.

“First semester I always thought, ‘I’m not at the high jump pit, I don’t have to work as hard,’” she said. “What I’ve come to realize is doing my sprints, (going) 110 percent in the weight room, all of that goes to my high jump and I’m just learning in college athletics there’s more than the event.”

Being part of a collegiate program has also been an eye-opener in Lowe’s first season.

“In high school, I didn’t really have much of a team,” she said. “So finally coming to college and getting the team atmosphere is just so amazing. I love that.

“(In high school) it was a lot of self motivation, and here you’re pushing for a team. You’re not just jumping for you, you’re jumping for your school.”