PUHI — Pierce Murphy finished almost two minutes ahead of his closest competitor and the Kaua‘i girls and the Kapa‘a boys each won their respective team races to close the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation cross country season. Island School, hosting the
PUHI — Pierce Murphy finished almost two minutes ahead of his closest competitor and the Kaua‘i girls and the Kapa‘a boys each won their respective team races to close the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation cross country season.
Island School, hosting the KIF championships, Saturday, added some twists to its cross country course, adding about 30 seconds to runners’ times, said Richard Matsumoto, the Kaua‘i coach.
That showed in Murphy’s performance of 15:33.60 for first overall finish in the boys’ race.
At the last race held at Island School, Murphy stopped the clock at 14:58.
That three-mile distance slowed to a 15:58 when he ran the Kaua‘i Community College course hosted by Kaua‘i High School.
With Kaua‘i High School’s Joshua Herr (17:16.40) and Mason Vegas (17:57.50) interrupting the Island School flow, Ryan Perez filled in fourth overall, stopping the clocks at 18:21.50.
But Kapa‘a stepped in as Brycen Phillips (18:50.00) and Cole Pemberton (19:00.70) crossed in fifth and sixth overall, respectively.
Jeremy Randolph-Flagg added to the Island School lead in seventh overall on a 19:04.90 run.
But a wave of white smothered that lead as Kapa‘a boys filled in eighth through 15th overall to sew up the boys’ race with 38 points, just four points ahead of Island School who finished with 42 points.
Kaua‘i boys filled in third with 61 points, followed by the Waimea boys collecting 94 points.
In the wave of white, Island School’s Dylan Morrison-Fogel made his move in the final stages of the race, but the white wave proved insurmountable as Morrison-Fogel settled for 16th place on a 19:52.00 run.
Following Joshua and Vegas, Kaua‘i’s Travis Navarro (20:13:20) finished 18th overall, just steps behind Waimea’s first runner, Keoni Mattos (20:09.20).
Waimea’s Shosho Ogawa, proving he could carry the Waimea load, desperately looked over his shoulder at the threat posed by Kapa‘a Dylan Devin in a sprint finish for the 20th and 21st spot.
At the stripe, Ogawa stayed steps ahead of the charging Devin, 20:18.00 to Devin’s 20:18.40.
Raisa Gil Carlos, finishing ninth overall, and third for Kaua‘i, proved to be the Red Raiders’ pivotal runner as the Kaua‘i girls tallied 46 points for first place.
Kapa‘a girls followed with 53 points and Island School, despite getting the top two overall spots, finished third with 60 points, while a costly uniform disqualification pushed Waimea to fourth with 63 points.
Island School freshman Joy Claypoole set the pace for the girls’ field on a first overall finish of 20:50.00 over the three-mile course that ran under a light cloud cover and cool morning conditions.
She was followed by teammate Lauren Spears (21:10:70), hounded by Kaua‘i’s Ashley Schnackenberg (21:15.30).
Waimea’s Kaycee Nordmeier-San Agustin (21:24.30) filled in fourth followed by a pair of Kapa‘a runners, freshman Cassie Wilson (21:56.60) and senior Takara Kunioka (21:59.80), Kunioka having homecoming commitments later in the day.
“Cassie’s just so excited that she is going to states,” said Colin Wilson, Cassie’s dad following the race. “She proved to herself that she can do this, even as a freshman, and now she’s just looking forward to states.”
Heidi Herr filled in the second spot for Kaua‘i at eighth overall on a 22:21.30 before Carlos crossed ninth.
Talia Young filled in the second spot for Waimea at seventh overall (22:02.80) followed by Ember Teter (22:39.00) in 10th overall, resulting in a logjam for the team lead.
Kyren Ishikawa (23:39.00) pulled Kaua‘i out of the logjam in 12th overall as Kapa‘a’s fourth runner, Tambrina Fairbanks (23:49.10) crossed 15th overall and Waimea’s fourth scoring runner, Lani Rae Green (24:01.90) crossed 17th overall.
Island School’s third and fourth runners were Chan Hsu (23:40.70), crossing 13th overall, and Danielle Grainger (24:34.80), crossing 21st overall.
The KIF cross country runners now look forward to the Honolulu Marathon Hawai‘i Cross Country 2010 state championships scheduled for Oct. 28 at the Central O‘ahu Regional Park.
