PUHI — Island School runner Jaden De Souza had just one task Saturday during the Kauai Interscholastic Federation cross country meet on the Island School campus — stay close to teammate Ella Beck.
“I was just supposed to stay close to Ella,” said De Souza, a sophomore. “But when Ella got hurt (about midway through the three-mile course), I just passed her and kept running.”
The run through misty rain enhanced by the return of cooling tradewinds kept De Souza ahead of the pack. She tripped the clocks first overall in the 47-runner field, the readout locked at 22 minutes, 10.52 seconds — a pace ahead of last week’s top run that teased the 23-minute mark.
“I didn’t really like the rain,” De Souza said. “But having the wind helped. If there wasn’t any wind when the rains came on the course, it would have been really unpleasantly muggy. I used to run for myself before, and this is the first time I’m learning to run with a team. It’s really good, and I think I’m being hooked.”
Despite her strong finish in the girls race, Island School girls finished third at 68 points with its five scoring runners scattered among the top 25 finishers.
Kauai High School, missing two top runners due to injuries, topped the field with 33 points, led by Molly Middlebrook (22:41) and Mia Takekuma (22:42.93), third and fourth overall.
“I didn’t think we would have finished this well,” said Kauai High School coach Marissa Purcel. “I was ready to give up first to Kapaa because we were missing key runners. But the girls surprised us and gave us the win to keep us undefeated.”
Juliana Tampus (22:29.91), challenging De Souza throughout the misty, muggy course, topped the Kapaa girls, placing second overall. Kapaa finished second with 40 points after its third runner, Victoria Hennessy (25:18.90) — returning for only her second race following injury recovery — gave up sixth place to Kauai’s Malia Splittstoesser (25:14.87).
Waimea High School girls ended the day in fourth at 97 points, led by Samantha Bostick (26:39.43) crossing first for the blue in 15th place overall.
The excitement in the 93-runner boys field continued from last week when Kauai High School used its tie-breaking sixth runner to earn second place at the torturous Kauai Ranch course over the Kapaa High School boys.
Garret Smith of Kapaa (18:23.00) set the pace for the boys’ race and the Kapaa boys, finishing first overall. Kauai, led by Kane Casillas battling a nagging injury, set the pace for the Red Raiders, crossing third overall on a run that extended into the 19-minute realm (19:02.75). The Warriors controlled the field until Jacob Borrero (21:43.17) crossed the line in 14th overall, a breath ahead of Kapaa’s Alakai Gonsalves (21:43.56) to force the tie-breaker when Kauai’s fifth runner, Kai Pappas (22:04.95), crossed.
Last week, it was the sixth runner giving Kauai boys the advantage. The order flip-flopped this week as Kapaa’s sixth-fastest runner, Keanu Brown (22:02.57), crossed 19th overall, ahead of Kauai’s Micah Matsunaga (22:15.31), who crossed 21st overall to break the 52-52 stalemate for second and third places.
Matthew Vickers, finishing second to Kapaa’s Smith at 18:45.23), led the pack of Voyager boys whose top-scoring runners controlled the race’s top 10 finish spots for a commanding 27 points.
Waimea High School, led by 12th overall finisher Levi Snowden (21:11.30), finished with 100 points.
The next KIF cross country meet takes place Saturday starting at 5 p.m., hosted by Kauai High School near the gazebo at Kauai Community College.
The revised start time is due to college testing schedules and the endangered seabird fledging season that started Sept. 15 and impacts the start times for KIF football games and, thereby, cross country start times.
“SAT (Scholastic Aptitute Test) testing takes place in the morning and KIF football starts at noon,” said Purcell. “Our only window is at 5 p.m. to be able to finish the races before the sun goes down. We’re grateful to the Kauai Community College for working with us to make this happen.”
RESULTS
Girls (Top 20): Jaden De Souza (IS 22:10.52), Juliana Tampus (Kap 22:29.91), Molly Middlebrook (Kau 22:41.72), Mia Takekuma (Kau 22:42.93), Tavehi Dubocage (Kap 23:14.29), Malia Splittstoesserr (Kau 25:14.87), Victoria Hennessy (Kap 25:18.90), Olivia Lutkevich (IS 25:19.49), Nicole Matsunaga (Kau 25:20.48), Jessica Drent (Kap 25:43.88), Amy Khoang (Kau 25:59.01), Emma Thain (IS 25:59.69), Mia Matsunaga (Kau 26:00.40), Kirra Carvalho (Kau 26:12.91), Samantha Bostick (Wai 26:39.43), Coral Haeger (Kap 26:51.21), Libirty Bernal (Kap 26:59.74), Hokulani Iseri (Kau 27:12.18), Tiani Kaui (Kap 27:14.60), Aurora Ramseth (Kau 27:36.99)
Boys (Top 20): Garret Smith (Kap 18:23.00), Matthew Vickers (IS 18:45.23), Kane Casillas (Kau 19:02.75), Joshua Graves (IS 19:45.53), Jeremy Herr (Kau 19:47.67), Henry Scherer (IS 20:23.17), Elijah Ibbs (IS 20:27.13), James Pratt (IS 20:41:44), Sage Ioana (Kap 20:58.08), Brody Smith (Kap 21:03.58), Jaheim Schoburgh (Kau 21:06.82), Levi Snowden (Wai 21:11.30), Caleb Brown (IS 21:12.78), Jacob Borrero (Kau 21:35.56), Alakai Gonsalves (Kap 21:43.17), Zach Costales (Wai 21:43.56), Keon Orlando (Kap 21:53.69), Keanu Brown (Kap 22:02.57), Kai Pappas (Kau 22:04.95), Wanbli Primeaux (IS 22:11.57)
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
