Posted on: Sunday, November 7, 2004
Campbell girls, 'Aiea boys win OIA
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
WAIALUA — After being overlooked for much of the season, the Campbell girls broke through yesterday with a statement-making victory in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association cross country championships at Waialua High School.
Led by OIA individual champion Annzen Salvador, the Sabers claimed their first girls title under second-year coach Arturo Morales.
'Aiea won its first boys title under coach Bryan Terauchi, who had previously won three OIA girls titles in his 18 years of coaching. Mililani senior Anthony Kaleikini Barreras won the boys individual title.
"I'm proud of my girls," Campbell's Morales said. "They felt they had something to prove. I gave them all the newspaper articles, the Internet printouts and I said, 'You guys don't get any respect.' They wanted everyone to recognize Campbell's cross country program."
The Campbell girls had the best low team score with 89 points followed by Kaiser (96), Mililani (96), Pearl City (102) and Radford (139).
Campbell's winning team included Salvador, Michelle Mendes (6th), Crystal Woodward (11th), Samantha Gingras (36th), Tiani Sojot (42nd) and Crystal Robello (103rd).
"It feels like such a great accomplishment," Mendes said. "No one noticed us all season and now we got somebody to notice us."
As for the boys, 'Aiea's Terauchi credited his team for grinding out the victory.
"There was a lot of good competition out there today," Terauchi said. "My boys, they did the best they could. They showed a lot of heart. All season long, it had been very easy for us. Today, I just think the pressure, and the other teams wanting it, put a lot of pressure on us."
The 'Aiea boys scored 107 points followed by Kaiser (114), Pearl City (125), Moanalua (143) and Mililani (144).
"When I turned around after I finished, I was kind of surprised to see there was a lot of runners that weren't 'Aiea runners," said Aiea's Lance Agena, who finished second overall. "During the season, we're one of the top teams. But it came out good at the end."
'Aiea's winning team included Agena, Roy Hawkins (13th), Terrence Kawano (22nd), Michael Pagdilao (27th), Dale Angelo Bacani (46th), Eric Morrison (72nd) and Scott Shigeoka (74th).
As for the individual girls title, Salvador passed Mililani's Sara Mitman — the OIA Western Division champion — in the final 200 meters. Salvador finished the two-mile course in 12:52.31 to win her first OIA title. Mitman clocked in at 13:00.70. Both Salvador and Mitman are seniors.
"We were really pushing it at the end," said Salvador, who has never beaten Mitman before. "She was pretty much in the lead for more than half the race."
Barreras, who is in his first year at Mililani after transferring from Seattle's Ballard High School, took control of the boys' race near the two-mile mark and won by more than 20 seconds. He finished the three-mile course in 16:29.54.
'Aiea's Agena finished second at 16:49.75.
"The race was pretty tough," said Barreras, whose father, Ricardo Solis, works in the Navy and was transferred to Hawai'i. "There's a good bunch of athletes over here."
Officials restarted the girls race three times. The first restart occurred after runners fell in the beginning of the race. The second was because of issues with the timer's clock, and the third resulted from a malfunction with the starter's pistol.
Reach Brandon Masuoka at bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2458.
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