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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Sunday, September 21, 2003

Eisenhower boys repeat at Iolani meet

By Jonathan Lyau
Special to The Advertiser

Ukiah High's Shelby Leland, right, pulled away from Tia Ferguson of Seabury Hall to win the girls varsity race.

Photos by Jonathan Lyau • Special to The Advertiser

Eisenhower High's Charles Cummings, left, and Robbie Barany finished 1-2 in the boys varsity race.
Over the past five years, the Iolani Invitational has evolved into a premier cross country event.

At yesterday's meet at Kualoa Ranch, Eisenhower (Yakima, Wash.) proved for the second consecutive year it has a premier boys varsity team.

The Eisenhower boys, ranked No. 24 in the nation, scored 19 points (15 is perfect) as its runners took 5 of the top 7 places to repeat as champions.

The girls' title was won by No. 3 Sultana (Hesperia, Calif.), which edged No. 8 Snohomish (Wash.) by four points. Ten of the top 20 places went to a Sultana or Snohomish harrier.

More than 900 runners from 30 high school (20 from the Mainland) participated in boys and girls varsity, junior varsity, intermediate and open divisions.

Orange High (California) was runner-up in the boys varsity division and Snohomish was third. Iolani was the first local team with a 10th-place finish.

Robbie Barany and Charles Cummings of Eisenhower finished the 5K (3.1 miles) race together with a time of 16:40, but Barany was credited with the win.

A tight pack of seven led through the first mile, but Baranay and Cummings slowly pulled away by pacing off each other.

"It wasn't planned. Coach just told us to use our downhill technique and that is how we were able to pull away," Cummings said.

Barany struggled a bit with the heat and hilly course.

"It was the hardest course that we have ever run in terms of humidity and terrain. Coach told us to stay calm the first mile and be strong in the finish," Barany said.

Kainoa Guerin of Maui's Baldwin High placed 11th overall as Hawai'i's top finisher. Jeremy Kamakaala of Kamehameha High finished 24th.

Shelby Leland of Ukiah High (California) won the girls varsity 5K course in 19:00.

She broke away from Seabury Hall's Tia Ferguson with a strong push over the second half of the course. Ferguson finished in 19:41.

"I felt strong throughout," said Leland, who placed third in the race as a sophomore in 2001. "I felt it out the first mile and stayed with the leaders and kept on going. I went to cross country camp with Tia and know she is a good runner. It was just my day today."

Leland was the only Ukiah finisher among the top 25.

Ferguson made a statement in her return to Hawai'i cross country running after spending a year in California. She led through the first mile and hung tough for the runner-up spot.

"I had no plans," she said. "This was my first race of the season so I just wanted to come out and test myself."

The first Hawai'i girls varsity team was fifth-place Iolani, led by Joleen Oshiro's 15th-place finish.

"It was a privilege to run with such high-caliber competition," said Jessica Domingo of Kamehameha, who finished 21st.