Punahou's Ellie Brady had taken the conservative approaching and paced herself as a young runner.

As a Buffanblu freshman, she is starting to turn it on.

Brady ran away with the Interscholastic League of Honolulu cross country championship girls race yesterday on a hilly and winding course at Mid-Pacific Institute.

Brady completed the 3-mile course in 19 minutes, 8.59 seconds, nearly 46 seconds ahead of the runner-up, and helped the Punahou girls win the team title.

"She is a natural," said Punahou girls coach Duncan Macdonald. "I can't take any credit whatsoever for developing her. She came to me as she is. It's going to be interesting to see what we do with her the next three years."

Kamehameha's Jordan Thibodeau won the 3-mile boys race in 16:31.77, and the Warriors won the team championship.

Brady is competing in her first year of cross country because her mother, Mary (Bauer) Brady, a University of Hawai 'i runner in the 1980s, didn't want her to rack up too many miles as a youngster.

The ILH has cross country starting at the intermediate level.

Brady did built up her conditioning through summer track and soccer growing up. The longest race for track is 1,600 yards.

Yesterday, Brady ran most of the race by herself.

Pac-Five's Claire Hann finished second in 19:54.69, and Punahou's Kyleigh Mann was third in 19:56.69.

"It's sometimes really hard. It's hard when you're alone," Brady said.

The Punahou girls had five runners in the top 19 and finished with 41 points. Kamehameha was second with 58 and 'Iolani third with 60.

The Buffanblu girls team had three sophomores, two freshmen, one junior and one senior.

"I'm very proud of my girls," Macdonald said. "They're a good, solid and young group. Our seniors had a little bit of bad luck with injuries and illness this year, but the youngsters came through."

In the boys race, Kamehameha's Thibodeau was feeling the heat — from other lead runners and the afternoon sun.

"It was difficult along the backstretch with the road because my feet got hot," said Thibodeau, a junior. "But it was a fun course. I was glad to have run it."

'Iolani's Borys Pleskacz finished second in 16:38.36 and Kamehameha's Isaiah Sato placed third in 16:39.34.

Thibodeau held a small lead for most of the race and won by about 30 yards.

"He's a great kid. He works real hard," said Kamehameha boys coach Steve Jenness. "He's got that something, that you can tell when the gun goes off he's very focused."

Kamehameha's Sato, the third-place finisher, "slowly moved up and started catching guys when I could."

All seven Kamehameha boys finished in the top 14.

The Warriors finished with 28 points. 'Iolani was second with 59 and Punahou placed third with 66.

"Our entire team works hard every day at practice," Thibodeau said. "They aren't after the individual award, but they're after the team award."

The top 40 boys and top 36 girls from yesterday's race qualified for Saturday's Honolulu Marathon Cross Country State Championships at Island School on Kaua 'i.

"This last meet I wanted to come into it with everything I got because it's a dress rehearsal for the state championship, and there's going to be a lot of good competition I want to be able to hang with," said Punahou's Brady.

ILH CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Mid-Pacific Institute
3 miles

BOYS VARSITY

Team
1, Kamehameha 28. 2, 'Iolani 59. 3, Punahou 66. 4, Hawai'i Baptist 100. 5, Mid-Pacific 135. 6, Pac-Five 140. 7, Saint Louis 204. 8, Damien 233.
Individual
1, Jordan Thibodeau (KS) 16:31.77. 2, Borys Pleskacz (Iol) 16:38.36. 3, Isaiah Sato (KS) 16:39.34. 4, Troy Esaki (Iol) 16:42.23. 5, Nikolai Scharer (Pun) 16:49.97. 6, Daniel Kaneko (KS) 16:50.32. 7, Jordan Kahawai (KS) 16:54.62. 8, Ian Terayama (Pun) 16:58.38. 9, Ryan Hobson (MPI) 17:04.59. 10, Justin Higa (Iol) 17:11.72. 11, Alexander Ortega (KS) 17:17.25. 12, Zachary Sainz (KS) 17:21.16. 13, Chad Nakaoka (HBA) 17:23.41. 14, Caleb Achuela (KS) 17:37.40. 15, Matt Johnson (HBA) 17:43.34. 16, Marcus Takahashi (Lanakila Baptist) 17:45.88. 17, Jon Huner (Pun) 17:47.14. 18, Joshua Kaoiwi (Christian Academy) 17:51.04. 19, Shane Endicott (Pun) 17:53.18. 20, Kelvin Abe (HBA) 18:00.99.

GIRLS VARSITY

Team
1, Punahou 41. 2, Kamehameha 58. 3, 'Iolani 60. 4, Hawai'i Baptist 90. 5, Pac-Five 90. 6, St. Andrew's 181.
Individual
1, Ellie Brady (Pun) 19:08.59. 2, Claire Hann (P5) 19:54.69. 3, Kyleigh Mann (Pun) 19:56.69. 4, Julia Brand (Pun) 20:03.72. 5, Amanda Ishikawa (MPI) 20:09.05. 6, Jessica Johnson (KS) 20:11.39. 7, Kelli Morrissey (Iol) 20:15.79. 8, Tia Nakashima (HBA) 20:20.17. 9, Noelani Mikami (KS) 20:31.57. 10, Jenna Wong (Iol) 20:33.83. 11, Breanne Ball (Iol) 20:41.95. 12, Heidi Nicholls (HBA) 20:45.96. 13, Awapuhi Lee (KS) 20:48.38. 14, Chelsea Chan (HBA) 20:56.61. 15, Chaylene Guinto (St. Francis) 21:08.96. 16, Phoebe Jordan (Iol) 21:13.72. 17, Jade Alohikea (KS) 21:15.82. 18, Kacie Won (Pun) 21:19.71. 19, Jamie Durso (Pun) 21:20.92. 20, Liana Dollar (KS) 21:21.35.