PUHI — Island School set the pace for the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation cross country meet for both the girls and boys. Pierce Murphy, blazing through at 14:58 last week, was slowed by the course mapped out by coach Richard Matsumoto
PUHI — Island School set the pace for the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation cross country meet for both the girls and boys.
Pierce Murphy, blazing through at 14:58 last week, was slowed by the course mapped out by coach Richard Matsumoto and his Kaua‘i High School staff, crossing the latest 3-mile course a minute later, 15:58.50.
“This was a pretty hard course,” said Waimea coach Basil Scott, speaking with several course officials and coaches. “I ran it, and it has nine, I counted them, hills. It doesn’t sound like much, but at the end, you can feel it in your legs.”
Add a sharp turn at the end of each mile and the course was a fan-friendly one, enabling the spectators almost a 100-percent view of the course and runners.
Joy Claypoole, running her final race as a 14-year-old, set the pace for the girls, crossing at 21:27.50, again almost a minute slower than her last week’s pace of 20:28. But with only three girls running, Island School was out of the team competition, Kaua‘i High School keeping its record intact with a first finish of 29 points followed by Waimea High School at 47 points, and Kapa‘a High School at 56 points.
Austin Riemer, finishing ninth overall (20:20.0), proved to be the swing man for the Kapa‘a boys who locked up first place with 37 points, just five points ahead of Island School, which finished second at 42 points. Kaua‘i High School and Waimea High School filled in the board with 56 and 95 points, respectively.
Kaua‘i High School boys were in the running with its first two finishers, Joshua Herr (17:41.60) and Mason Vegas (18:32.60), filling in second and third places overall.
Ryan Perez of Island School filled in fourth overall (18:55.20) before three Kapa‘a runners crossed in fifth through seventh overall, interrupted by Island’s Jeremy Randolph-Flagg (19:40.00) at eighth overall before Riemer crossed.
Kapa‘a’s leaders with Gabe Ball (19:26.10), Cole Pemberton (19:33.70) and Joshua Cram (19:33.70). Bradley Heiser, finishing 10th overall, put away the race for Kapa‘a boys on his 20:24.90 run, just steps ahead of Dylan Morrison-Fogel of Island School, who tripped the clock at 20:26.00.
Kaua‘i’s No. 3 runner, Nicholas Sloggett (21:16.30), crossed 15th overall, followed by Shosho Ogawa (21:19.00), Waimea’s first runner at 16th overall.
Claypoole and Lauren Spears, both of Island School, set their own race, Spears taking the early lead but Claypoole staying close until the second mile when she made her move on the uphill, taking the overall lead in the final mile. Spears finished second overall at 21:44.00, with Emeline Wu, the third runner for the Island School girls, crossing 35th overall at 27:30.50.
With Island School out of the team competition, Waimea’s Kaycee Nordmeier-San Agustin filled in the top spot on her third overall finish at 22:00.00. She was dogged by Kapa‘a freshman Cassie Wilson (22:10.10) and Kaua‘i’s Ashley Schnackenberg (22:25.90) leading two more Raiders, Heidi Herr (22:56.10) and Raisa Gil Carlos (23:06.00) in sixth and seventh overall, Carlos being the swing runner for Kaua‘i as its third finisher.
Talia Young (23:08.40) filled in the second spot for Waimea, with Tambrina Fairbanks (23:26.10) filling Kapa‘a’s second spot, at eighth and ninth overall, respectively.
Kaua‘i girls put away the race as the 10th-through-13th spots were all red, with Kyren Ishikawa (23:48.10) leading Cinzia Bruno (23:50.40), Cascade Mayer (24:02.30) and Nanea Babila (24:32.30) before Waimea’s third runner, Ember Teter (24:49.60), crossed 14th overall.
The next KIF cross country will be the KIF championships hosted by Island School on Oct. 16 starting at 8 a.m. The Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association state cross-country championships are scheduled for Oct. 29 on O‘ahu, hosted by the Interscholastic League of Honolulu.
