Iacovelli, Cuadra run to state titles
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau
PUHI, Kaua'i — Punahou senior Todd Iacovelli and Maryknoll senior Christal Cuadra, who have dominated cross country running on O'ahu this year, capped the season yesterday with victories at the Honolulu Marathon/Hawai'i High School Athletic Association Championships.
Kamehameha's boys edged Punahou and Iolani's girls ran away from the field to win team titles.
Cuadra said she would have preferred a hillier course than the mostly flat Island School campus layout outside Lihu'e.
"I like hills, and relentless uphills," Cuadra said.
She had to play catch up to Seabury Hall's Tia Ferguson, whom she defeated by just three seconds on the 2-mile girls' course. Cuadra finished in 12 minutes, 3 seconds.
"Tia took it out real fast, but I think that hurt her in the end," said Cuadra, whose school did not field a large enough team to compete for the team title.
Iacovelli held a blazing 5:15 pace across the boys' 3-mile course, finishing in 15:45. He led through most of the race, but was pushed by last year's winner, Justin Petersen of Kamehameha, and Mililani's Jeff Lim, the O'ahu Interscholastic Association champion.
Petersen finished eight seconds behind Iacovelli, with Lim — who had held second place during part of the race — one second behind Petersen.
"I never feel him during the race, but I know he's there," Iacovelli said of Lim.
Petersen and three teammates finished in the top 10 of the 159-runner field. No other team had more than two.
"Those four are real guns," said Kamehameha coach Steve Jenness, who has now led his team to five state cross country championships in a row.
"That's two years in a row we've had four in the top 10," Jenness added. The foursome, each of whom ran a personal best time yesterday, are Peterson, J.B. Bolson, Sam Wescoatt and Jordan Medeiros. Puna Kaneakua was the fifth scorer for Kamehameha.
In cross country, a team's first five runners score points — with one point awarded to the first-place finisher, two for second place, and so on. For the purpose of team scoring, runners whose schools do not have enough members to field a full squad are not counted.
The boys' battle was between Interscholastic League of Honolulu giants, and although Punahou's Iacovelli won the race, Kamehameha's depth proved too much to overcome. The Warriors scored a low-best 63 points, with the Buffanblu second at 68. McKinley (174) finished third, followed by Seabury Hall (181) and Radford (185).
On the girls' side, 'Iolani placed three in the top 10 of the 165-runner field — including third-place finisher Nicole Anderson in 12:31— to win the championship with 52 points. Also scoring for the Raiders were Kristin Shinkawa, Christi Morrissey, Joleen Oshiro and Becki Jones.
Punahou was second with 80, followed by King Kekaulike (121), Kamehameha (139) and Castle (140).
Boys
Team Standings
1, Kamehameha (Justin Petersen 2nd, J.B. Bolson 4th, Sam Wescoatt 8th, Jordan Medeiros 9th, Puna Kaneakua 54th) 63. 2, Punahou 68. 3, McKinley 174. 4, Seabury Hall 181. 5, Radford 185. 6, Mililani 197. 7, 'Aiea 218. 8, Hawai'i Prep 222. 9, Hilo 230. 10, Waiakea 250. 11, Farrington 260. 12, Iolani 266. 13, Baldwin 275. 14, Maryknoll 313;. 15, Kalaheo 315. 16, Kaua'i 383. 17, Leilehua 509.
Top 25
1, Todd Iacovelli (Punahou) 15:45. 2, Justin Petersen (Kamehameha) 15:53. 3, Jeff Lim (Mililani) 15:54. 4, J.B. Bolson (Kamehameha) 16:09. 5, Patrick Morrissey (Iolani) 16:28. 6, Cheyenne Diaz (Castle) 16:30. 7, A.J. Wilson (Maryknoll) 16:33. 8, Sam Wescoatt (Kamehameha) 16:36. 9, Jordan Medeiros (Kamehameha) 16:37. 10, Philip Ho (Punahou) 16:44. 11, Bob Sheetz (Kohala) 16:44. 12, Jared Chapman (Hawai'i Prep) 16:47. 13, Kauila Rivera (Seabury Hall) 16:49. 14, Andrew Maixner (Radford) 16:49. 15, Ben Johnson (Hilo) 16:51. 16, David Sato ('Aiea) 16:53. 17, Stephen Meyers ('Aiea) 16:53. 18, Rei Alzate (Farrington) 16:54. 19, Satoshi Mitsuda (Punahou) 16:54. 20, Leif Kohler (King Kekaulike) 16:54. 21, Brian Hughes (Hilo) 16:55. 22, Kevin Shimmon (Punahou) 16:59. 23, Kyle Ellison (Seabury Hall) 17:03. 24, Marty Ngirmidol (McKinley) 17:04. 25, Nicholas Chang (Punahou) 17:04.
Girls
Team Standings
1, Iolani (Nicole Anderson 3rd, Kristin Shinkawa 5th, Christi Morrissey 8th, Joleen Oshiro 28th, Becki Jones 33rd) 52. 2, Punahou 80. 3, King Kekaulike 121. 4, Kamehameha 139. 5, Castle 140. 6, Seabury Hall 157. 7, Pearl City 171. 8, Kaiser 210. 9, Kaua'i 281. 10, Hawai'i Prep 286. 11, 'Aiea 304. 12, Hilo 304. 13, Konawaena 325. 14, Waiakea 348. 15, Kalaheo 348.
Top 25
1, Christal Cuadra (Maryknoll) 12:03. 2, Tia Ferguson (Seabury) 12:06. 3, Nicole Anderson (Iolani) 12:31. 4, Jessica Domingo (Kamehameha) 12:31. 5, Kristin Shinkawa (Iolani) 12:32. 6, Caitlin McDonald (Lahainaluna) 12:33. 7, Ethel Tabula (Farrington) 12:36. 8, Christi Morrissey (Iolani) 12:38. 9, Chandrika Bickford (King Kekaulike) 12:41. 10, Sheena Thain (McKinley) 12:47. 11, Emalia Suehiro (King Kekaulike) 12:49. 12, Elise Ciez (St. Joseph) 12:52. 13, Shauna Tachibana (Kaua'i) 12:57. 14, Rebecca Vinsonhale (Mid-Pacific) 12:58. 15, Kari Tanimoto (Pearl City) 12:59. 16, Rachel White (Punahou) 13:00. 17, Chimene Sienkiewicz (Pearl City) 13:00. 18, Lonnie Sugai (Castle) 13:00. 19, Laura Melahn (Punahou) 13:03. 20, Nicole Woitovitch (Kalani) 13:04. 21, Leilani Kaluhiokalani (Castle) 13:04. 22, Carly Killam (Punahou) 13:08. 23, Ashley Swart (Kaiser) 13:14. 24, Angela Beck (Waiakea) 13:16. 25, Katie Craigie (Punahou) 13:17.
