KAPA‘A — The third runner for Kapa‘a High School made the difference for the Warriors at Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation cross country meet Saturday at Kapa‘a. When the dust settled, the Kapa‘a boys’ team edged out Kaua‘i’s squad, 33-45. The Waimea
KAPA‘A — The third runner for Kapa‘a High School made the difference for the Warriors at Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation cross country meet Saturday at Kapa‘a.
When the dust settled, the Kapa‘a boys’ team edged out Kaua‘i’s squad, 33-45. The Waimea High School boys’ team finished in third, a mere seven points above the Island School team.
Cinzia Bruno may have been the third runner to cross the finish line overall, but the pivotal third runner, Christina Pearson, gave the meet to the Red Raider women, 28-37 over the Kapa‘a challenge.
Waimea High School finished in third place with 60 points.
This coming Saturday, runners have another shot at improving their times when Kaua‘i High School hosts the meet on the campus of the Kaua‘i Community College starting at 9 a.m.
Pierce Murphy, finishing first overall in the boys’ race, continued to dominate the scene, the Island School runner crossing the line at 16:03.10, down from his finish last week in Waimea where he stopped the clock at 15:55.50.
But the 16-minute race was still more than two-and-a-half minutes faster than the second overall finisher, Riley Cox of Kapa‘a, who set the pace for the field at 18:34.10.
Daniel Degracia continued to lead the Red Raider men, crossing third overall at 18:45.00, and Christian Tangalin of Waimea, stopping the clocks ninth overall, was the first Waimea runner at 19:58.20.
Kapa‘a men took control of the standings with its second runner, Brycen Phillips (19:23.80, 5th overall) and pulled ahead with its third runner, Bradley Heiser (19:48.00, 6th overall).
Kaua‘i High School boys had Joshua Herr finishing fourth overall at 19:01.10 followed by Jason Chun crossing seventh overall, four seconds back of Heiser at 19:52.30, but Kapa‘a had slipped into the lead 13-14 at that point.
“Our No. 4 finisher was just diagnosed with asthma, recently, and is learning how to run with it,” said Kaua‘i coach Erin Dunn, verifying with athletic director Ross Shimabukuro on the details of the runner’s inhaler.
Confusion and cones threw a monkey wrench into the finish of the girls’ race.
Waimea’s Natasha Abadilla, a victim of finish line confusion in Waimea last week, headed into the final turn in the lead. That lead was just a few steps off Kapa‘a’s Takara Kunioka’s challenge.
Into the final turn, Abadilla led Kunioka on the downhill side of the cone, the pair being called back by the course marshall.
But the rising heat took its toll as Kunioka stumbled ahead of a reeling Abadilla to finish first overall at 22:37.30.
Stumbling across the line, Abadilla stopped the clock at 22:43, just two seconds ahead of Kaua‘i’s Bruno who was pushing for the line in the final stretch. Her time was 22:45.50.
“I don’t know about this,” Abadilla said after recovering from the race. “Last year was easy because I just followed Caralyn Broyles. This year, I have no one to follow.”
At that point, Kapa‘a was in the lead, 1-3 over Kaua‘i, and still held the lead when Kaua‘i’s second runner, Andersland Kendall (22:56.90, 4th overall) crossed ahead of Kapa‘a Tiare Welborn (23:05.00, 5th overall).
Pearson’s 23:08.20 finish at sixth overall pulled Kaua‘i into the lead with Melissa Carlos (23:39.70, 7th overall) and Ashley Schnakenberg (23:45.30, 8th overall) increasing the Raider lead.
Kapa‘a’s Sarah Faraola, battling for the lead at last week’s meet in Waimea, crossed ninth overall on a 24:13.20 run.
Jade Cano filled in the No. 2 slot for Waimea on a 24:52.30, 11th overall finish followed by Elisa Broyles, Caralyn’s younger sister, stopping the clock at 25:10.40 at 13th overall.
