Warriors, Raiders race to ILH cross country titles
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
In a cross country meet turned survival test, the Kamehameha boys team overcame injury and the Iolani girls team fended off a relentless opponent yesterday.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
At Kamehameha Schools, the Warriors won their third consecutive Interscholastic League of Honolulu championship and the Raiders won their second consecutive title.
Kamehameha's J.B. Bolson won the 3-mile boys race in 16:52. The Warriors overcame a disqualification and injury to win their third consecutive ILH title.
Both streaks appeared in jeopardy yesterday. Kamehameha was hit by a starting-line disqualification to one runner and suffered a key injury to another, while Iolani battled a favored Punahou team that had won nearly every race it entered this year.
But the Warriors rallied with their depth, and the Raiders pulled off their best performance of the season to defend their ILH titles. The Kamehameha boys finished with a low score of 46 points followed by Punahou (49), Iolani (51), Pac-Five (76) and Damien (145). The Iolani girls finished with 29 points followed by Punahou (39), Kamehameha (53), Pac-Five (123) and Hawai'i Baptist (138).
Kamehameha senior J.B. Bolson won the boys 3-mile race in 16 minutes and 52 seconds, while Iolani sophomore Nicole Anderson won the girls 2-mile race in 11:43. The top 10 finishers in the boys and girls varsity races were awarded medals.
Many league coaches considered yesterday's ILH championships a preview of the state championships on Friday at Central O'ahu Regional Park. The Kamehameha boys and the Iolani girls are defending state champions. Kamehameha has won five consecutive state championships.
Yesterday, Kamehameha boys coach Steve Jenness credited his runners for hanging in the race and not losing their composure.
"I'm pleased with the win," Jenness said. "I'm surprised that we had that many things go wrong and we still came up on top."
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
Kamehameha runner Sam Wescoatt, the team's No. 2 runner, collapsed from heat exhaustion during the race and was taken to The Queen's Medical Center as a precaution, Jenness said. Wescoatt's status is "day-to-day" and the senior will be evaluated tomorrow for Friday's state championships, Jenness said.
Iolani's Nicole Anderson won the 2-mile girls race in 11:43. She helped the Raiders win their second ILH title in a row.
Before he was driven away by the ambulance, Wescoatt told Bolson that he was "all right," Bolson said.
"I know he'll come back stronger," Bolson said. "I'm not worried too much."
Bolson said Kamehameha's strategy was to stick with Iolani's top runner, Patrick Morrissey, who finished second at 17:04.
"We wanted to go out fast," Bolson said. "We wanted for our team to run in a pack."
The strategy worked and Kamehameha's third, fourth, fifth, six and seventh runners picked up the slack for the starting-line disqualification and Wescoatt's injury.
"Their quality runs so deep," said Punahou boys coach Michael Georgi. "They can make mistakes and survive."
In the girls race, Iolani upset Punahou by 10 points.
"I like to believe our girls stepped it up today," Iolani coach Greg Char said. "This is by far the best race we had all season."
Iolani's Anderson set the pace early, taking the lead after about 400 meters. Anderson, who suffered her only loss this season to Punahou's Pippa Macdonald at the same site last month, said she was wary about the Punahou star. Kamehameha's Jessica Domingo finished second at 12:08 and Macdonald finished third at 12:12.
"Pippa's a very fast runner," Anderson said. "I ran as fast as I could and I hoped that would be good enough."
Punahou coach Duncan Macdonald said the Raiders' runners ran well as a team and praised the Iolani coaches for preparing the team. Macdonald said his team could perform better.
"Basically, we had an 'off' day and Iolani had an 'on' day," MacDonald said. "We hope to reverse that next week (at the state championships)."
Boys Varsity (3 miles)
Team: 1, Kamehameha 46. 2, Punahou 49. 3, Iolani 51. 4, Pac-Five 76. 5, Damien 145.
Individual (top 10 awarded medals): 1, J.B. Bolson (Kam) 16:52. 2, Patrick Morrissey (Iol) 17:04. 3, Jeremy Kamaka'ala (Kam) 17:12. 4, Satoshi Mitsuda (Pun) 17:13. 5, Owen Martel (Pun) 17:14. 6, Adam Mendez-Ancheta (Kam) 17:15. 7, Jon Yasuda (Iol) 17:26. 8, Tyler Tajima (Pac5) 17:37. 9, Peter Deptula (Pun) 17:37. 10, Tyler Chun (Iol) 17:49.
Girls Varsity (2 miles)
Team: 1, Iolani 29. 2, Punahou 39. 3, Kamehameha 53. 4, Pac-Five 123. 5, Hawai'i Baptist 138.
Individual (top 10 awarded medals): 1, Nicole Anderson (Iol) 11:43. 2, Jessica Domingo (Kam) 12:08. 3, Pippa Macdonald (Pun) 12:12. 4, Joleen Oshiro (Iol) 12:15. 5, Laura Melahn (Pun) 12:19. 6, Christi Morrissey (Iol) 12:21. 7, Megan Chock (Iol) 12:23. 8, Carly Killam (Pun) 12:29. 9, Katie Craigie (Pun) 12:30. 10, Maya Coelho (Kam) 12:36.
Boys Junior Varsity (3 miles)
Team: 1, Punahou 31, 2, Iolani 57. 3, Hawai'i Baptist 82. 4, Kamehameha 85. 5, Pac-Five 106. 6, Damien 173.
Individual: 1, James Schulmeister (Pun) 18:18. 2, Michael Medoff (HBA) 18:24. 3, Danny Mills (Iol) 18:30. 4, Tommy Gill (Pun) 18:32. 5, Michael Wong (Pun) 18:37.
Girls Junior Varsity (2 miles)
Team: 1, Iolani 19. 2, Punahou 47. 3, Kamehameha 71. 4, Hawai'i Baptist 106.
Individual: 1, Ame Uyema (Iol) 12:59. 2, Piper Marshall (Pun) 13:00. 3, Nicole Leong (Iol) 13:02. 4, Lara Malins (Iol) 13:13. 5, Kira Tamashiro (Iol) 13:33.
Boys Intermediate (2 miles)
Team: 1, Iolani 37*. 2, Kamehameha 37. 3, Punahou 62. 4, Pac-Five 115. 5, Hawai'i Baptist 131. 6, Damien 190.
Individual: 1, Troy Yasuda (Pun) 11:12. 2, Jesse Moniz (Kam) 11:22. 3, Jay Kauka (Kam) 11:48.
Girls Intermediate (2 miles)
Team: 1, Iolani 39. 2, Hawai'i Baptist 56. 3, Punahou 57. 4, Kamehameha 74. 5, St. Andrew's 147.
Individual: 1, Chelsea Oda (Pun) 12:27. 2, Lauren Ho (HBA) 12:54. 3, Sarah Medoff (HBA) 13:22.
*--won in tiebreaker
