"This is something I wanted," said Kamaka'ala, who finished second in the ILH last year then won the state title the following week. "This is a different course; last year's was more flat with a really long downhill. But this course had more hills, and I like running up hills. That helped me a lot."

Kamaka'ala, who basically was the league's top harrier all season, won by 25 seconds over runner-up Morgan Stephenson of Iolani. Punahou's Peter Deptula took third in 17:03.

Kamaka'ala said despite being the favorite, he had some concerns before the race because of heavy rains Friday night and being three weeks removed from his last race due to the weather-related cancellation of two ILH meets.

"If it rained (today), I probably would have been more cautious," Kamaka'ala said. "(The cancellations) made me more anxious for this race."

Hawai'i Baptist junior Lauren Ho repeated as ILH champ in a record 11:57.3. Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

"After they canceled it, I ran the course anyway," said Ho, who is undefeated this season. "(The cancellations) just gave us more time to prepare. I was hoping for good conditions today and I was really surprised it didn't rain, but I knew the only way they could postpone it would be for lightning."

As for entering this year's title race as the defending champ, Ho said being a target fit into her game plan.

"I guess there's more pressure, but it's the kind of pressure I want," Ho said. "Winning the (Iolani Invitational) race at Kualoa gave me a lot of confidence."

In yesterday's team competition, Iolani's boys won with 40 points — two fewer than Punahou and three less than Kamehameha.

"It's been this close all season long," Iolani coach Jim Rubasch said. "I knew it'd be real tight because Punahou and Kamehameha are very well-coached. But the guys we needed to run well today did."

In addition to Stephenson, the Raiders got a fourth-place finish from Kon Weber (17:08), sixth place from Antonio Baclig (17:41) and 10th from Ryan Harada (17:53).

On the girls side, Iolani got second and third from Anderson and Oshiro, fifth place from Susan Mukai (13:34) and 10th from Megan Chock (13:50). The Raiders scored 40 points to edge Kamehameha (47). Punahou (66) took third.

"I think this was the toughest (of the four straight championships) because we were the favorites this year with all seven girls returning," Raiders coach Greg Char said. "It was expected on us to win it again, but it was a tough season. And after we got pounded at (the Oct. 8 Hawai'i Prep Invitational) we had a lack of confidence."

Char credited his team's focus and unity for enabling it to win its fourth straight ILH title.

"The girls are very tough mentally, and I think all the hard work they put into academics carries over into running," Char said. "And at Iolani, the 'One Team' philosophy extends to all aspects of our programs and it's something we always preach. We're a very close 'ohana."