Kamehameha certainly made it interesting, even down its stud sprinter.

Logan Ne injured his hamstring at the start of the 100 meter dash — an event he won anyway in 10.97 seconds — and was forced to scratch in several ensuing races. Yet the Warriors battled to the finish with Punahou at the Interscholastic League of Honolulu track and field championships on Friday, giving fans at Kunuiakea Stadium a meaningful finish in the 4×400 relay to go with three meet records.

Punahou proved itself too deep, too reliable in the end and won 143-136, while the Buffanblu girls kept a stranglehold on ILH meets with a runaway victory over runner-up Kamehameha.

"It definitely gives us some momentum (for states at Mililani in two weeks)," Buffanblu boys coach Micah Pavich said. "I want to start off by giving the boys at Kamehameha a big shout out. Arguably their best athlete, Logan, went down, and they all rallied. Their jumpers in particular all PR’d and went crazy and Coach Harvey (McInerny) did a good job of rallying the troops and making it that close without their big gun."

With only a point separating the teams entering the final event, the Punahou relay team of Reece Tateishi, Justin Matias, Kanawai Noa and Darreon Schwartz got it done with a first-place finish (‘Iolani crossed the finish line first but was disqualified), while Kamehameha took fourth. Ne would have run in that event, as well as the 200 and 400.

"It’s always been us and them," said Schwartz, the anchor. "They’re just a school full of freakish athletes. We’re a school full of freakish athletes. We just go at it. It’s a lot of fun to run against them."

Ne, who was projected to contend in several events at the state meet, is questionable to recover in time, McInerny said.

"It was a really challenging meet," the Kamehameha coach said. "While we came out on the short end of the stick, hats off to Punahou. I couldn’t love a group of guys more than I love these guys. They gave everything they had. Being down one man, everybody stepped up. I couldn’t be a prouder coach than I am tonight."

The Punahou girls took eight events, including a meet record of 12 feet, 4 inches in the pole vault by Sammy Marumoto on Thursday. It went 1-2-3 in the 3,000 meters to highlight a successful Friday.

"In almost every event today, people stepped it up a little bit and had season bests, which is what we want out of them at this point," Buffanblu coach Duncan Macdonald said. "We don’t do a lot of doubling up among our teams. Everybody has one opportunity to get it right, and they took advantage of that."

At the other end of the spectrum, tiny Christian Academy acquitted itself very well. Its only two competitors, sprinter Raion Black and distance runner Michael Chin, dominated their respective events. Black took the girls 100 (12.58), 200 (25.88) and 400 (58.71), while Chin set a meet record in the boys 1,500 (4:04.35) and came from the back of the pack in the final lap to take the 800 (1:59.16) in impressive fashion.

The two high-fived with big smiles on the field when they’d finished their events.

"We work hard. We work really hard. It paid off for the both of us," said Black, who will run for the University of Hawaii starting next year. "The 100 was the most challenging because I came into the meet a little tired. That one woke me up."

Chin, bound for Northern Arizona, used Friday’s race as a ramp-up for states.

"In the past, (it has) been tactical races," he said. "I just wanted to go out and see what I could do. Wanted to push the pace, help everyone earn PRs."

The ‘Iolani girls turned out impressive hurdling efforts from Abrianna Johnson-Edwards in the 100 (meet-record 14.91, bettering her own 15.12 from two years ago) and from Lindsey Combs in the 300 (45.82, well ahead of the pack).

"I think when I was younger, as a sophomore, I didn’t have that much pressure," Johnson-Edwards said. "As I grew older, there was more pressure. But I definitely think as I get older I have to work harder. … That’s always my drive. I always want to win, but I want to have fun too."

Kamehameha girls junior Kekahiliokalani Novikoff rounded out the multiple winners with victories in the discus (116-9) and shot put (40-0).