WAIPI 'O — Leilehua's previous cross country titles came from a wealth of talent and experience.

This year's winning bunch was quite the opposite.

With youth, heart and a blazing pace by junior Margarito Martinez, the Mules won their fifth straight boys team title at yesterday afternoon's O 'ahu Interscholastic Association championships at Patsy T. Mink Central O 'ahu Regional Park.

"We just wanted to come out here and have some fun and show that we could put a good team together even though we lost some great runners," said Martinez, who won the boys 3-mile race in 16 minutes, 15.42 seconds, nearly a minute ahead of runner-up Colin Honeker of 'Aiea.

"We had a lot of heart," Martinez added. "We kept believeing in ourselves even though the odds were against us — obviously, we have a young team."

Gone were runners like Alan Akagi, Paul Williams and three-time state champion Bryce Jenkins.

With two sophomores, a freshman and just one senior in its seven-runner lineup, Leilehua finished with a meet-low 59 points. Senior Evan Igarashi finished seventh in 18:07.34 and junior Micah Velasco, one of the co-captains with Martinez, was 13th in 18:24.09. Martinez's younger brother, Dylan, is a freshman and finished 15th in 18:33.13.

"Micah, he's a great team captain," Margarito Martinez said. "Evan, he put on a great race, he really kicked that last mile. He really put a lot of heart into there."

Members of the winning team included sophomore Branden Miya (23rd), sophomore Michael McCaffery (41st) and junior Gerardo Escareno (71st).

Pearl City finished second with 100 points after David Obatake, Casey Ryan, Royce Ramos and Patrick Enriquez finished 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th.

In the girls race, Mililani runners finished first, second and third to help the Trojans win their second straight team title with 25 points.

Mililani's Gabriella Jenkins led the lead pack of six runners in the 3-mile race that included teammates Kimberly Pugliese and Kristin Ali Keith. By the second mile, Jenkins and Pugliese were running together in front.

Jenkins eventually pulled away to win in 19:37.35. Pugliese was second in 20:04.81 and Keith was third in 20:22.39.

"I really like running beside one of your teammates," Jenkins, a sophomore, said. "It feels like you're at practice ... kind of.

"And then you go when you feel good and hope that they follow."

Keith was attempting to be the first runner to win four straight OIA girls titles. But she spent the past week on the Mainland because of her grandfather's death.

"I think it set me back a little," Keith said. "But our team still ran good."

Mililani's Arielle Uejo was sixth in 21:09.69. Also on Mililani's winning team were Taylor Sinn (15th), Courtney Garner (19th) and Taylor Suwa (28th).

"Since she (Keith) has all this experience, it's kind of nice to have someone that guides you," Jenkins said. "Her and our other senior captain, Arielle, they're really good captains."

Kelsey Waters finished seventh and Kayleigh Waters was ninth to help Leilehua place second with 66 points.

The top 48 boys and top 50 girls qualified for Saturday's state championships at Island School on Kaua 'i.

GREENWELL WINS THIRD STRAIGHT BIIF TITLE

Honoka 'a junior Tialana Greenwell won her third straight title at yesterday's Big Island Interscholastic Federation championship at Kamehameha-Hawai 'i.

Greenwell won in 20:04.05. Hawai 'i Prep junior Kela Vargas was second in 20:42.06, followed by freshmen teammates Zoe Sims (20:53.74) and Emily Evans (20:57.11) to help Ka Makani win the team title with 30 points.

Chris Mosch won the boys race in 17:02.68 and teammates Joshua Robinson, Chayce Moniz and Geo Chavez-Pardinin finished fifth, sixth and seventh to help Honoka 'a win the boys title with 48 points.

GROSSMAN WINS MIL RACE, LEADS SEABURY TO TITLE

Seabury Hall senior Hailey Grossman won her third girls title and led Seabury Hall to the team title at yesterday's Maui Interscholastic League championships at King Kekaulike.

Grossman, who also won as a freshman and sophomore, finished in 19:56. Seabury's Justine Malek was third, followed by teammates Lea Lundblad (fourth), Cady Cadiz (sixth) and Christie Haines (eighth) to help the Spartans win with 22 points.

Nicola Perez-Garreaud won the boys race in 17:38 and teammate Rocky Balala was third in 18:01 to help Maui win the boys title with 44 points.

OIA CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Patsy T. Mink Central O‘ahu Regional Park
3 miles

BOYS VARSITY

Team
1, Leilehua 59. 2, Pearl City 100. 3, Castle 129. 4, Mililani 140. 5, Kapolei 152. 6, 'Aiea 185. 7, Radford 203. 8, McKinley 204. 9, Farrington 219. 10, Roosevelt 244. 11, Waipahu 257. 12, Kaimuki 273. 13, Kahuku 357. 14, Campbell 358. 15, Kalani 376. 16, Moanalua 378. 17, Wai'anae 426.
Individual
1, Margarito Martinez (Lei) 16:15.42. 2, Colin Honeker ('Aiea) 17:12.96. 3, Zachary Carvalho (Mil) 17:31.86. 4, Eric Pak (Cas) 17:49.60. 5, Kai Yoshioka (Roos) 17:51.80. 6, Kevin Do (McK) 18:05.24. 7, Evan Igarashi (Lei) 18:07.34. 8, Marjeson Gonzales (Farr) 18:12.43. 9, Dylan Lee (Cas) 18:12.74. 10, Royce Yamane (Mil) 18:16.74. 11, Quentin Penn (Rad) 18:16.99. 12, Basem Khamis (Kap) 18:20.96. 13, Micah Velasco (Lei) 18:24.09. 14, Michael Chin (Kaim) 18:25.17. 15, Dylan Martinez (Lei) 18:33.13. 16, Gavin Taketa (Kaln) 18:36.09. 17, David Obatake (PC) 18:37.32. 18, Casey Ryan (PC) 18:37.85. 19, Royce Ramos (PC) 18:38.37. 20, Patrick Enriquez (PC) 18:41.68.

GIRLS VARSITY

Team
1, Mililani 25. 2, Leilehua 66. 3, Roosevelt 103. 4, Radford 118. 5, Moanalua 145. 6, Waipahu 184. 7, Kalani 185. 8, Kapolei 196. 9, McKinley 199. 10, Kaimuki 220. 11, Kaiser 256.
Individual
1, Gabriella Jenkins (Mil) 19:37.35. 2, Kimberly Pugliese (Mil) 20:04.81. 3, Kristin Ali Keith (Mil) 20:22.39. 4, Sophie Curatilo (Moa) 20:27.63. 5, Deylynn White (Kap) 20:34.65. 6, Arielle Uejo (Mil) 21:09.69. 7, Kelsey Waters (Lei) 21:14.89. 8, Janice Pagdilao ('Aiea) 21:15.94. 9, Kayleigh Waters (Lei) 21:37.49. 10, Charlene Valeriano (Cam) 21:40.73. 11, Lauren Watanabe (Roos) 21:41.78. 12, Jessica Kafer (Rad) 21:47.91. 13, Rhiannon Cleveland (Lei) 21:57.37. 14, Ana Marie Batan (Waip) 22:04.33. 15, Taylor Sinn (Mil) 22:04.81. 16, Kayla Grimmett (Rad) 22:07.38. 17, Tiffany Tang (McK) 22:07.92. 18, Rachel Morihara (Lei) 22:08.45. 19, Courtney Garner (Mil) 22:19.16. 20, Sade Myers ('Aiea) 22:23.05.