UH and HPU take shortcuts to victory
By Casey McGuire-Turcotte
Special to The Advertiser
The college cross country regular season in Hawai'i closed with a kick yesterday at the University of Hawai'i Sprint Invitational on the Kane'ohe Klipper golf course.
The all-Hawai'i college meet featured one combined men's and women's race. The women ran 3 kilometers and the men continued on the same course to complete a 5K; both races considerably shorter than the distances usually run.
"We wanted to give the teams a chance to do some competitive speed work as we all work towards our conference and regional meets," explained UH head cross country coach Carmyn James.
UH junior Victoria Chang finished first in the 3K race in 10 minutes 33 seconds. Sayuri Kusutani of HPU, in her first race under 5K, was next in 10:46, followed by Hanna Bremler (UH) in 10:53.
"We've been training very hard, so a 3K was a nice change," Chang said. "It seemed so short."
The UH women scored 25 points to take the team title, followed by HPU (52) and BYU-Hawai'i (66). HPU's Nina Christensen, slowed by a virus the past four weeks, finished fourth.
In the men's 5K race, HPU speedster Christian Madsen pulled away from HPU alum Christian Friis in the final 2 kilometers to win in 16:24. Friis finished in 16:39, followed by Robert Tyler (HPU) in 16:51.
"You've got to be even more ready at the start when the races are shorter," Madsen said. "You've just got to go."
The HPU men took the team title with 24 points, with UH-Hilo edging BYU-Hawai'i, 63-65.
NOTES: All five Hawai'i colleges now prepare for the championship season. UH heads to the Western Athletic Conference Championships in Dallas, Nov. 2, and the West Regional meet, Nov. 16, in Palo Alto, Calif. ... UH associate head coach Andy McInnis says the Rainbow Wahine, though not favorites for the WAC title, should do well. "We've been hammering them for the past six weeks non-stop," McInnis said. "They responded well to the little rest we had before last week's San Diego meet, so the next two weeks should get them fresh and ready to go." ... The Division II schools will compete in a West Regional meet Nov. 9 in Fresno, Calif. There is no conference meet in the Pacific West because less than six schools compete in cross country. ... Rice and defending champion Tulsa are the favorites for the WAC team title. UH finished fourth last year.
