HBA's Ho surprise winner in girls 5K
By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer
KUALOA — Hawai'i Baptist junior Lauren Ho had never run a 5K in her high school career before yesterday.
She won her debut at that distance at the sixth annual Iolani Invitational Cross Country Meet at Kualoa Ranch, becoming the first winner from Hawai'i since its inaugural year.
Ho
Ho finished the 5K (3.1 mile) race in 19 minutes, 59.34 seconds, and was Hawai'i's first winner since Punahou's Victoria Chang in 1999.
More than 1,000 runners from 45 schools, including 20 from the Mainland, participated in boys and girls varsity, junior varsity, intermediate and open divisions, in what is becoming one of the top meets in the region.
"It's pretty hard," Ho said. "I could hear them coming up behind me."
She took the lead about halfway through, and held off Midlothian's (Va.) Amanda Patterson, one of the top 50 runners in the nation, to the finish line.
Patterson finished in 20:01.62. Iolani senior Nicole Anderson finished third in 20:22.42.
"I was surprised about Lauren, because I hadn't raced her this season, but she did good like she always does," Anderson said.
Ho said the race started off slower than she expected or wanted, and she was forced to take the lead.
"I was trying to stay behind them; It was windy coming down the stretch, and I wanted to run with them," Ho said. "I couldn't risk slowing down because I wasn't sure if they were holding back to pass me at the end."
Three previous girls winners went on to win the FootLocker national championships later in the season.
"I kinda knew it, but I wasn't thinking about it," said Ho, who will run in the FootLocker regionals in early December.
The Snohomish (Wash.) girls, ranked No. 17, captured the team title, followed by Lake Braddock (Va.), and Midlothian (Va.).
Iolani, the three-time defending state champion, was the first local girls team with a seventh-place finish.
Snohomish also captured the boys title, followed by Auburn Riverside (Wash.) and Lake Braddock.
Auburn Riverside senior Jordan McNamara won the boys 5K race in 16:39.21, followed by his teammate Josh Clough (17:13.71) and Lake Braddock's Brad Clark (17:25.45).
"Our strategy was to conserve early, and push late," McNamara said.
The strategy worked, as he stayed with the pack until about 800 meters left, then broke away to win by 34 seconds.
"I knew when I wanted to go," said McNamara, who finished 19th in the boys junior varsity race two years ago, saying that experience helped this year.
"I remember hearing things about the course, how they filmed 'Jurassic Park' there," he said about being nervous as a sophomore.
Iolani, the defending state champion, was the first local boys team, in seventh place.
Kamehameha junior Jeremy Kamaka'ala, the 2003 state champion, was Hawai'i's first finisher, placing fifth (17:47.65) despite leading almost the entire race.
"My start was too fast, and no one else was with me," he said. "It's hard to set a pace when you're in the front."
Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2457.
