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GIRLS VARSITY CROSS COUNTRY

ILH and OIA Cross Country League Championships

Alan Linsky usatf-hi.org for Digital Sports Hawaii

October 27th, 2007
>See more photos by Alan Linsky at www.coach-photos.com
>WATCH: Video highlights of the ILH and OIA Cross Country Championships BELOW!

The day was pretty good for running. It wasn't really hot and occasional showers graced the CORP course, keeping the temperature somewhat under control. CORP is a moderately tough course, one really steep hill and quite a bit of side hill running.

	The first race of the day was the boys intermediate. Joshua Freitas has run well all season, but never won. He was always in the top 10, usually around 3 or 4, but not too far behind the leader. Joshua peaked at the right time, running an 11:48, winning by 11 seconds over Kelvin Naito and Kasey Chun. Teamwise, it was Iolani with 33 points, followed by Kamehameha and Punahou close behind.
Joshua Freitas

Next up was the girls intermediates. Breanne Ball has won every race this season and only injury or illness would prevent her from taking the championship. She came through again, running a 12:50 to best second place Amanda Ishikawa by 22 seconds. Kamehameha took the team title with 45 points, followed by Punahou, MPI and Iolani.
	Breanne Ball

In the boys JV division, Justin Higa won by 15 seconds over Zachary Sainz. Justin has been running well and improving all season so this doesn't come as much of a surprise. Kamehameha took the boys JV's with a strong 29 points. Punahou had 42 while Iolani had 69.
	Justin Higa

	In the girls JV race, the Puns show why they have to be considered the favorite every year. The Puns took the first 6 places plus number 8 for good measure. They were led by Courtney Choy who ran a 21:58. That time would have put her in the top 20 of the varsity race and her teammates weren't that far behind. Pretty awesome performance. The Puns perfect score of 15 was followed by Kamehameha at 50 and Iolani at 82.
Courtney Choy

	For sheer excitement at the finish and throughout the race, the boys varsity took the prize as Matthew Nakamoto and Chris Burniske battled throughout the whole 3 miles. They came around the last tree with Matt having a slight lead but Chris closing. They both went into an all out sprint with Matt nosing out Chris at the finish. The times: Matt at 16:50.7 and Chris at 16:50.96 tell the story. Great race! Punahou took the boys varsity team title with 42 points. Iolani had 51, while Kamehameha had 54.
Matthew Nakamoto and Chris Burniske

In the girls varsity, Haley Abing was undefeated this season and looking to win. Maile Scarpino took the lead with about one mile to go but Haley answered and ended up being the only girl to break 20 minutes in the race at 19:52. Amanda Tamanaha ran a strong second at 20:09, with Jenna Wong a few seconds behind.

Maryknoll, with 3 finishers in the top 10 (Iolani managed that feat also), took the team title with 49 points. Punahou was close behind at 53 points. Iolani had 69, while Kamehameha tallied 82.

Haley Abing

In the OIA Championship races that followed, Leilehua made a strong statement at being the best overall cross country team in the state, winning both the boys and girls team championship.

	The girls won handily with 36 points to 67 for Mililani and 93 for Kahuku. But, compared to the boys who had 26 points to the second place Radford's 117 it was close! Kristin Ali Keith was the only girl to break 20 minutes in the OIA race, winning with a time of 19:58. Dayna Domingo was 28 seconds back at 20:26, and Leilehua's Savannah Lowrie was the only other girl to break 21:00 at 20:40.
Kristin Ali Keith

	Bryce Jenkins continued his winning way beating his own teammate, Paul Williams, 16:14 to 16:19. Leilehua had five runners in the top 10, taking 1, 2, 6, 7 and 10. Superb performance. As for what will happen at States on Friday, I am going to go with Punahou for the girls and Leilehua for the boys. For the individual championship, admittedly always hard to predict, but I am going with Haley Abing and Bryce Jenkins.
Bryce Jenkins

I know there could be some outer island runners out there that will surprise me, but I've seen these two run too much and too well to bet against them.

It should be fun!

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

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