Grossman took first place at yesterday's Seabury Hall Invitational with a time of 19 minutes, 24 seconds, nearly 10 seconds faster than the next runner, for her third win on the Spartans' course in two years.

"Last year, I only won two races and it was the first one here and the MILs here, so I've never won a race outside of here, ever,'' Grossman said to The Maui News. "I didn't really expect to go out there and win — I was just going to try my best — it just ended up working for me.

"This is my course.''

Seabury Hall coach Tom Rehrer was pleased with Grossman's performance.

"This course, she's never lost on it,'' he said. "I told her there's horses for courses and courses for horses. She ran an outstanding race, she really looked relaxed and just ran great.''

Grossman was the lone Spartan among the top 10 overall finishers as 'Iolani and Kamehameha Schools-O'ahu dominated the field. Kamehameha took first place with 35 points, followed by Iolani (39) and Seabury Hall (57).

Lahainaluna High School's Dillon Soldwisch won the boys race.

The Spartans were missing a few key runners, as were several of the teams, and the warm weather didn't particularly help anyone during the race.

"It's a difficult course and when the girls ran, it was very warm, so it was hard for them,'' Rehrer said. "The 'Iolani girls and the Kamehameha O'ahu girls are two of the best teams in the state — they are very, very good.''

'Iolani's Jenna Wong finished in 19:32 for second place, followed by two teammates — Kimi Pugliese (20:01), a junior-varsity runner, and Maile Scarpino (20:04). Kamehameha's Emma Broderick finished in 20:11, and Kamehameha-Maui's Ka'ahumanu Rozet, who has won two meets this season had a time of 20:14.

"I tried to do my best — I went out there and tried to be aggressive and everything, just tried to stay up in the front,'' she said.

Grossman and Rozet agreed that getting a chance to see what the outside competition will bring at the state championship was beneficial.

"It was actually a learning experience because I kind of know now what they're going to do, but I've just got to go out there and try harder,'' Grossman said.

Added Rozet: "I didn't even know ('Iolani and Kamehameha Oahu) were coming, but it was awesome they were here. It gave me a good feel for state.''

Soldwisch recorded his third victory of the year, setting a personal best for the season with a time of 17:52.

"It's my best time of the year so far,'' he said. "It's a pretty fast course — there are a couple of spots where it dips — so we expected a fast time.''

Soldwisch had a little company this time around — teammate Danny Watson kept pace the entire way, finishing a second behind Soldwisch. They were the only runners to break 18:00.

"Well, usually I just try to stay with him the first mile or two, and then he usually picks it up, but today I just felt good enough to stay with him the whole way,'' Watson said. "It's always been a goal (to break 18:00), but I didn't know we were going to do it today ? thinking more like the MIL championships.''

The Seabury Hall boys had six top-10 finishers — led by Kaikona Hendershot, who was third in 18:21 — and earned a chuckle from their coach.

"The guys surprised me,'' Rehrer said. "They all showed up, they're sick, they're coughing and I know they've been at the (Maui County Fair) half the night and I'm like, 'You guys aren't going to do well.'

"But they packed it up, they all ran together and they did good.''

Seabury Hall's Jacob Sandoval (18:55) was fourth, and Kevan Blount (19:09) was sixth.

Jacob Pardo of Maui High was fifth in 18:58.

The Spartans combined for a team score of 28, followed by the Lunas (48) and Sabers (88).

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Seabury Hall Invitational

At Seabury Hall

Saturday's results, 3 miles

Girls varsity

Team—1, Kamehameha, 35. 2, 'Iolani, 39. 3, Seabury Hall, 57.

Individual—1, Hailey Grossman, Seabury Hall, 19:24. 2, Jenna Wong, 'Iolani, 19:32. 3, Maile Scarpino, 'Iolani, 20:04. 4, Emma Broderick, Kamehameha, 20:11. 5, Ka'ahumanu Rozet, Kamehameha-Maui, 20:14. 6, Amelia Linsky, 'Iolani, 20:15. 7, Dara Pagaduan, Kamehameha, 20:37. 8, Kelly Opedal, Kamehameha, 20:56. 9, Cheyane Kamai, Kamehameha, 21:03. 10, Lea Lundblad, Seabury Hall, 21:09.

Boys varsity

Team—1, Seabury Hall, 28. 2, Lahainaluna, 48. 3, Maui, 88. 4, St. Anthony, 89. 5, King Kekaulike, 99.

Individual—1, Dillon Soldwisch, Lahainaluna, 17:52. 2, Danny Watson, Lahainaluna, 17:53. 3, Kaikona Hendershot, Seabury Hall, 18:21. 4, Jacob Sandoval, Seabury Hall, 18:55. 5, Jacob Pardo, Maui, 18:58. 6, Kevan Blount, Seabury Hall, 19:09. 7, Jordan McEntire, Seabury Hall, 19:10. 8, James Matsui, Seabury Hall, 19:11. 9, Nick Noufer, Seabury Hall, 19:27. 10, Mathew McCraney, St. Anthony, 19:41.

Junior varsity girls

Individual—1, Kimi Pugliese, 'Iolani, 20:01. 2, Phoebe Jordan, 'Iolani, 22:11. 3, Shannon Whener, Maui, 22:28.

Junior varsity boys