WAIMEA — Kaua‘i High School’s Chelsea Smith-Wishard got the gold medal, but host Waimea High School swept the preseason Invitational cross country meet Saturday. “She’s got high goals,” Kaua‘i coach Erin Dunn said. “Last year, she finished No. 3 at
WAIMEA — Kaua‘i High School’s Chelsea Smith-Wishard got the gold medal, but host Waimea High School swept the preseason Invitational cross country meet Saturday.
“She’s got high goals,” Kaua‘i coach Erin Dunn said. “Last year, she finished No. 3 at States and the top two finishers were seniors. Last week, she finished fourth in another meet and that was her wake-up call.”
Kaua‘i High girls finished in the one-two positions, with Smith-Wishard stopping the clock at 20:13, followed by Tara McCoy at 21:43. Waimea’s Caralyn Broyles tripped the clock at 22:13 for third
Aside from the strong one-two showing, Kaua‘i only fielded five girls for the event, and with the remaining three Raiders finishing 10th, 18th and 21st, the team standings went to Waimea, which finished with 46 points over Kaua‘i’s 52 points. Kula School ended with 67 points.
In addition to Broyles, Waimea runners who added to the girls’ victory included Carolyn Hoeckman-Percival (23:11), Kelly Joyce (24:50), Kiera Barba (27:41), Erin Connelly (33:41) and Molly Connelly (35:56).
Additionally, Kapa‘a High School, who has the honor of hosting the first KIF meet next Saturday, fielded only two girls, Whitney Rowe and Keryn (Nahtice) Niel who finished fifth and sixth overall. Their times were 23:33 and 24:22, respectively, giving them the fastest average team time of 23:57.
Sarah Faraola (26:11, ninth) topped the Island School runners with Jesse Austin (25:01, eighth) leading the top five Kula runners.
Egged on by a third-place finish in an off-island meet last week, Menehune Kaimana Girod ran to a 17:59 finish to lead the boys race.
“Go for the power, go for the power,” Girod whispered as he pushed for the chute at the end of the three-mile course.
Led by Girod, Waimea took the boys standings with 23 points, followed by Kaua‘i with 67 points and Island School’s 72 points.
John Peason (19:38, fourth, Jared Coleman-Stark (19:53, fifth), Steven Rivera (20:25, sixth) and Stevenson Rivera (20:37, seventh) were the Waimea leaders.
Finishing third overall, Chris Marsh (19:00) led the Island School grouping with Christopher Barich (20:44, ninth) leading the Red Raiders.
“I started too strong,” said Adam Kerlin, who led the Kapa‘a team and finished second overall with a time of 18:56.
But Kerlin and the Kapa‘a runners were using the event to tune up for the first race which will start at 9 a.m. on the Kapa‘a campus.
Joining Kerlin were Steven Pascual (21:24, 11th) and Michael Brewer (25:40). Because there were fewer than five runners, the Kapa‘a girls’ and boys’ scores were not part of the standings rating.
Joining Barich, other Kaua‘i scoring runners included Darren Lapitan (21:37, 13th), Chuck Finlay (21:52, 14th), Walter Castillo (22:09, 15th), D.J. Herr (22:13, 16th), Daven Catiggay-Bodno (22:14, 17th) and Tyler Yee (22:30, 18th).
Marsh was joined by Noah Flagg (20:44, eighth), Kyle McDonald (19th), Jeremey Flagg (20th), Nick Krueger (22th), Logan Alcott (23rd) and Sam Dunham for Island School.
