HHSAA Cross Country Championship November 2, 2007

Leilehua's Bryce Jenkins won the Individual Title- HHSAA Top 20 finishers!

Mililani's Kristin Ali Keith won the Individual Title- Top 20 HHSAA finishers

By Alan Linsky coach-photos.com for Digital Sports Hawaii

>View: HHSAA Cross Country web site!
>WATCH: ILH-OIA Championship Cross Country VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS Below!

It was warm and muggy with no breeze. Add that to a difficult, but gorgeous course of roller coaster uphills and downhills, a very deep field on both the boys and girls sides, and it was a great day in the history of Hawaii Cross Country.

Boys

Well, I got it exactly right on the boys, picking Bryce Jenkins to win and his team, Leilehua, to capture the team title and did they do it in fine fashion!

In one of the lowest team totals in recent history (37 points), the Mules dominated their competition as Kamehameha-Kapalama was a distant second at 99 and Iolani was third at 116. Punahou and Honokaa were a little further back (123 and 142) before the rest of the field had a pretty large gap.

Bryce went out fast and basically just kept up the pace. I've seen him run at least 4 meets this year. He seems to have 2 gears, fast and faster. In second place was his teammate, Paul Williams, at 16:37. It was the emergence of Paul that sealed it for me when I picked Leilehua to win.

Matt Nakamoto of HBA ran a 16:45 for third place and be the first ILH finisher. Reid Hunter (King Kekaulike), Chris Burniske (Punahou) Juan Miguel Silva (Leilehua), Jake Shiraki (Honokaa), Mark Turner (Hilo), Nathan Nakatsuka (Kamehameha-Kapalama) and Tyler Mulloy (Iolani) rounded out the top 10.

The rest of the top 20 included Preston Vierra, Margarito Martinez, Garrett Prinslow, Dawson Vordergrueg, Christian Putegnat, Jordan Lerma, Kensuke Taylor, Nick Ucker, Kainoa Ho and Alan Akagi.

Girls

I wasn't exactly right on the girls, but I was close. I certainly considered picking Kristin Ali Keith as my favorite. I've seen her run a few times this year and she always ran well, but not as consistently as Haley Abing. That's why I chose Haley over Ali. Haley placed a strong second so I wasn't that off, but Ali ran a very smart race and earned the victory. Haley led throughout the first half of the race as Ali stayed close and waited to make her move. When she did, it was a move that Haley couldn't match. Ali's winning time was 19:31 and Haley's time was 19:41. I had predicted a 19:24 winning time (not publicly but you can ask Iolani's head coach for confirmation!), so being only 7 seconds off on that is pretty good. The oppressive conditions had a lot to do with that.

For the girls team winner, I got it right, as Punahou repeated. Even though I didn't publicly predict the next 3 finishers, I did believe they would be Seabury, Iolani and Kamehameha-Kapalama. I felt they were too close to call.

As it turned out, Seabury was stronger than I thought. They really had a chance to win it this year and with a little bit of luck they could have. They were only 8 points behind Punahou.

Iolani was bitten by the injury/illness bug this year. Their number one runner, Jenna Wong, injured her foot about a week ago and was questionable right up to the starting gun. This is a girl that has been injury free for her whole career. Very bad luck. Iolani also lost Kimberly Pugliese to illness. With these two running at full strength it was easy to see why most people had picked them to win this year.

I believe Kamehameha-Kapalama also had some injury situations to deal with.

This is why I had to go with Punahou. They are the only team that could withstand losing one or even two runners. Actually, with their JV team as strong as a lot of varsity teams, they could probably lose 4 or 5 runners and still be ok.

The final tally:

Punahou - 64
Seabury Hall - 72
Iolani - 107
Kamehameha-Kapalama - 116

Top 10 Girls:

Kristin Ali Keith - Mililani - 19:31
Haley Abing - La Pietra - 19:41
Bailey Massenburg - King Kekaulike - 19:55
Maile Scarpino - Iolani - 20:15
Hailey Grossman - Seabury Hall - 20:19
Savannah Lowrie - Leilehua - 20:19
Amanda Tamanaha - St. Andrew's - 20:26
Chaylene Guinto - St. Francis - 20:34
Kristi Torkildson - Punahou - 20:35
Dayna Domingo - Pearl City - 20:41

And, rounding out the top 20, Emma Broderick, Claire Hann, Amelia Linsky, Tialana Greenwall, Chelsea Oda, Kailea Tracy-Visin, Lea Lundblad, Caronne Rozet, Abigale Adolpho, and Carissa Bell-Chase.

As for next year, the boys side should be wide open as Leilehua will lose 3 seniors. I don't know the boys side as well as the girls, but I do notice that Iolani is young. They should be up there.

On the girls side, it's always safe to pick Punahou. They have so much depth that they are very, very hard to beat. But, Seabury is very young, and will not lose any of their top runners. Iolani also will not lose any of their top runners and they will add Breanne Ball. Kamehameha will also be in the mix because they are the only team that can somewhat match Punahou's depth. So, I expect the girls side to be even more exciting than this year!

For complete official results and more photos, please visit www.usatf-hi.org

Can't wait for track and field!

	<script language="JavaScript" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/dsp.hi.hnl/cf_oahu_interscholastic_association;pgt=article;ogt=conference;pos=1;sz=728x90;tile=1;ord=589805087?" type="text/javascript"></script>


HHSAA Cross Country Championship November 2, 2007 Published: 11/03/2007 Leilehua's Bryce Jenkins won the Individual Title- HHSAA Top 20 finishers! Mililani's Kristin Ali Keith won the Individual Title- Top 20 HHSAA finishers By Alan Linsky coach-photos.com for Digital Sports Hawaii >View: HHSAA Cross Country web site! >WATCH: ILH-OIA Championship Cross Country VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS Below! It was warm and muggy with no breeze. Add that to a difficult, but gorgeous course of roller coaster uphills and downhills, a very deep field on both the boys and girls sides, and it was a great day in the history of Hawaii Cross Country. Boys Well, I got it exactly right on the boys, picking Bryce Jenkins to win and his team, Leilehua, to capture the team title and did they do it in fine fashion! In one of the lowest team totals in recent history (37 points), the Mules dominated their competition as Kamehameha-Kapalama was a distant second at 99 and Iolani was third at 116. Punahou and Honokaa were a little further back (123 and 142) before the rest of the field had a pretty large gap. Bryce went out fast and basically just kept up the pace. I've seen him run at least 4 meets this year. He seems to have 2 gears, fast and faster. In second place was his teammate, Paul Williams, at 16:37. It was the emergence of Paul that sealed it for me when I picked Leilehua to win. Matt Nakamoto of HBA ran a 16:45 for third place and be the first ILH finisher. Reid Hunter (King Kekaulike), Chris Burniske (Punahou) Juan Miguel Silva (Leilehua), Jake Shiraki (Honokaa), Mark Turner (Hilo), Nathan Nakatsuka (Kamehameha-Kapalama) and Tyler Mulloy (Iolani) rounded out the top 10. The rest of the top 20 included Preston Vierra, Margarito Martinez, Garrett Prinslow, Dawson Vordergrueg, Christian Putegnat, Jordan Lerma, Kensuke Taylor, Nick Ucker, Kainoa Ho and Alan Akagi. Girls I wasn't exactly right on the girls, but I was close. I certainly considered picking Kristin Ali Keith as my favorite. I've seen her run a few times this year and she always ran well, but not as consistently as Haley Abing. That's why I chose Haley over Ali. Haley placed a strong second so I wasn't that off, but Ali ran a very smart race and earned the victory. Haley led throughout the first half of the race as Ali stayed close and waited to make her move. When she did, it was a move that Haley couldn't match. Ali's winning time was 19:31 and Haley's time was 19:41. I had predicted a 19:24 winning time (not publicly but you can ask Iolani's head coach for confirmation!), so being only 7 seconds off on that is pretty good. The oppressive conditions had a lot to do with that. For the girls team winner, I got it right, as Punahou repeated. Even though I didn't publicly predict the next 3 finishers, I did believe they would be Seabury, Iolani and Kamehameha-Kapalama. I felt they were too close to call. As it turned out, Seabury was stronger than I thought. They really had a chance to win it this year and with a little bit of luck they could have. They were only 8 points behind Punahou. Iolani was bitten by the injury/illness bug this year. Their number one runner, Jenna Wong, injured her foot about a week ago and was questionable right up to the starting gun. This is a girl that has been injury free for her whole career. Very bad luck. Iolani also lost Kimberly Pugliese to illness. With these two running at full strength it was easy to see why most people had picked them to win this year. I believe Kamehameha-Kapalama also had some injury situations to deal with. This is why I had to go with Punahou. They are the only team that could withstand losing one or even two runners. Actually, with their JV team as strong as a lot of varsity teams, they could probably lose 4 or 5 runners and still be ok. The final tally: Punahou - 64 Seabury Hall - 72 Iolani - 107 Kamehameha-Kapalama - 116 Top 10 Girls: Kristin Ali Keith - Mililani - 19:31 Haley Abing - La Pietra - 19:41 Bailey Massenburg - King Kekaulike - 19:55 Maile Scarpino - Iolani - 20:15 Hailey Grossman - Seabury Hall - 20:19 Savannah Lowrie - Leilehua - 20:19 Amanda Tamanaha - St. Andrew's - 20:26 Chaylene Guinto - St. Francis - 20:34 Kristi Torkildson - Punahou - 20:35 Dayna Domingo - Pearl City - 20:41 And, rounding out the top 20, Emma Broderick, Claire Hann, Amelia Linsky, Tialana Greenwall, Chelsea Oda, Kailea Tracy-Visin, Lea Lundblad, Caronne Rozet, Abigale Adolpho, and Carissa Bell-Chase. As for next year, the boys side should be wide open as Leilehua will lose 3 seniors. I don't know the boys side as well as the girls, but I do notice that Iolani is young. They should be up there. On the girls side, it's always safe to pick Punahou. They have so much depth that they are very, very hard to beat. But, Seabury is very young, and will not lose any of their top runners. Iolani also will not lose any of their top runners and they will add Breanne Ball. Kamehameha will also be in the mix because they are the only team that can somewhat match Punahou's depth. So, I expect the girls side to be even more exciting than this year! For complete official results and more photos, please visit www.usatf-hi.org Can't wait for track and field!
PHOTOS (click here for all photos)

Published: 11/03/2007