PUHI — All shook up. The Kapaa High School boys and girls teams swept the Kauai Interscholastic Federation cross country titles following a costly disqualification Saturday at Island School. Kauai High School boys, holding the lead in the standings heading
PUHI — All shook up.
The Kapaa High School boys and girls teams swept the Kauai Interscholastic Federation cross country titles following a costly disqualification Saturday at Island School.
Kauai High School boys, holding the lead in the standings heading to the KIF championships, suffered an infraction by one of its leading runners resulting in the Red Raider men tumbling to third place in the race with 54 points, just two points shy of second place, which was taken by Kapaa High School at 52 points.
The Island School boys, led by Michael Miller finishing second overall on a run of 18 minutes, 16 seconds, jumped to first place in the race with 40 points.
“The runners should know the course,” said Kauai High School coach Richard Matsumoto following the race.
Overall standings following the shakeup saw Kapaa boys take the KIF championship title with 18 points, just a point ahead of Kauai, who finished the season in second place at 17 points.
Island School, despite the first-place finish in the Saturday race, was two points back at 15 points for third place, followed by Waimea High School at 10 points.
On the girls’ course, the Kapaa High School girls ran smart, its pack of leaders staying close throughout and capturing the meet with 45 points, led by Kelsea Armstrong (22:28). Island School, led by its pace-setting Chan Hsu (20:34), finished second in the race at 55 points, followed by Kauai High School at 61 points and Waimea High School at 66 points.
Overall, the Kapaa girls were crowned the KIF champions with 21 points followed by Kauai at 14 points, a point ahead of Island School, who settled in third with 13 points, and Waimea at 12 points.
Basil Scott, helping with the KIF timing through the season, said with the results, Kapaa High School will send both its boys and girls teams to the Honolulu Marathon Hawaii High School Athletic Association state championships Friday at the Island School course.
On the boys side, the KIF will send four additional runners including Michael Miller, Kainoa Matsumoto, Brodie Noice and Bradley Lumabao.
On the girls side, the KIF will send three additional runners, including Hsu, Carolyn Price and Krista Schnackenberg.
The Island School course, adjusted for about 200 yards longer for the KIF championships, comes in at about 3.14 miles, according to the map posted on Sports High.com, the official HHSAA website.
Scott said based on this, the finish times add about 50 seconds for the boys and 55 for the girls.
Kapaa’s Micah Nobriga-Ferris, the top runner for the boys, crossed the KIF championship race at 18:07, nine seconds ahead of Island Schools’ Michael Miller (18:16).
Hsu, topped the girls’ field at 20:34, nearly 90 seconds ahead of teammate Carolyn Price (21:58) and Kauai’s Schnackenberg (22:16).
Scott said those times were pretty good, running in high humidity which made conditions “kind of tough.”
He said he is hopeful the leaders will have a reasonable chance of getting a Top 20 finish on Friday.
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