Waimea High School swept the pre-season Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation cross country meet, but had the help a photo finish to win. Tied with Kaua‘i High School in the girls’ field at a 26:42 team average, BreeAnn Abuan made the difference,
Waimea High School swept the pre-season Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation cross country meet, but had the help a photo finish to win.
Tied with Kaua‘i High School in the girls’ field at a 26:42 team average, BreeAnn Abuan made the difference, crossing 18th overall, but sixth for Waimea with a 29:55 run.
That compared favorably for the Menehune against Kaua‘i’s sixth runner, Briana Bailey who finished 15th overall on a 27:46 run. “It was a tight race,” said Tony Magaoay, one of the Waimea High School officials. “If this is an indication of the season, it’s going to be very close every single race.”
Magaoay said a photo-finish win by Gregory Griffin for 11th place against Red Raider runners Chevas Takasaki and Charles Finlay led to Paul Apilado pushing the Menehune over Kaua‘i for the tie-breaker.
The Menehune girls’ victory was paced by Menehune runner Caralyn Broyles, a returning runner, who topped the field at 22:34 over fellow Menehune Natasha Abadila (23:01).
Kaua‘i’s top girl runner, Elizabeth LaMadrid finished fourth overall (24:46) followed by Elizabeth Schiller (8th-25:20), Elisabeth Young (26:14), Kendall Andersland (26:18), and Kailyn Kealoha (26:33), all three runners finishing 11th through 13th, respectively.
Waimea’s third girl, Charleen Miguel (25:09) finished sixth overall followed by LeeAnn Sagucio (10th-26:04) and Elisa Broyles (14th-27:41).
Gillian Picket (24:31), finishing third overall, was the top runner for Kula School. Stephany Foster (25:03), finishing fifth overall, was the top Kapa‘a runner. Island School did not field any runners for this event.
Pierce Murphy, a freshman for Kula School, dominated the field with a first finish overall of 18:06 for the 3-mile course.
“He’s a real tough runner,” said Ross Shimabukuro, athletic director for Kaua‘i High School. “He was so far ahead of everyone. Someone, last year, said there was this guy who was really fast that was going to be entering Kula, and here he is. It’s too bad they only had two runners. If he had a team behind him, he’d give everyone a run.”
That finish was 11 seconds faster than Adam Kerlin of Kapa‘a (18:37), and Christopher Barich of Kaua‘i (19:08).
Waimea’s first runner, Christian Tangalin crossed the line fourth overall at 19:18, and with its top five runners filling in the sixth (Darrel Nonaka 20:04), ninth (Jared Coleman-Stark 20:36), 10th (Peter Joyce 20:52) and 11th slots (Gregory Griffin 21:01), went on to take the match on a 20:51 team average.
Kaua‘i High School followed at a team average of 20:51. Following Barich, Kaua‘i filled in the fifth (Darren Lapitan 19:39), seventh (Daniel Degracia 20:06), 12th (Chevas Takasaki 21:01) and 13th (Charles Finlay 21:02) berths.
Following Kerlin, Kapa‘a filled in the 15th (Steven Pascual 21:21), 17th (Cole Pemberton 21:26), 19th (Taylor Langstaff 22:18), and 25th (Chazton Sasil 22:46) slots.
Michael Raithaus (29th-23:38) was the top finisher for Island School, and Bryson Phillips (8th-20:09) was the only other runner aside from Murphy for Kula.
The KIF cross country meet starts at 9 a.m. Saturday at Kula School.
U-Know unbeaten
in 35+ league
The lead for the Lihu‘e 35+ Slow Pitch league is being waged between U-Know and Hana Hou following Thursday night game results.
U-Know, the current leader at 5-0, kept its unblemished record intact with a 14-9 defeat of Universal in the second game Thursday night.
Hana Hou, 5-1 in the standings, is on U-Know’s tail with a 12-1 win over Plus 35 in the evening’s opening contest.
Meanwhile, the battle for the cellar was settled by the Doo Doo Boys who climbed to 1-4 in the standings following its 15-5 win over Da Cowboys.
Iseri-Carvalho, who enjoyed a bye Thursday night, is in the middle of the standings at 3-2 followed by Plus 35 at 2-2-1, Universal at 1-3-1, Doo Doo Boys at 1-4, and Da Cowboys at 0-5.
Games are played at Isenberg Field on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
