WAIMEA — The Herr family — Joshua, Heidi and Andrew — helped pilot the Kaua‘i High School cross country team to a sweep of the Waimea High School cross country invitational Saturday at the Waimea campus. Joshua, not running in
WAIMEA — The Herr family — Joshua, Heidi and Andrew — helped pilot the Kaua‘i High School cross country team to a sweep of the Waimea High School cross country invitational Saturday at the Waimea campus.
Joshua, not running in the shadow of Pierce Murphy of Island School who graduated earlier in the year, set the pace for the Red Raider boys with a first finish on a 16:57.00 run over three miles, two minutes ahead of the second overall finisher.
The second and third overall finisher, Kainoa Matsumoto and Charles Samuel, were clad in red jersies, crossing at 18:58.00 and 19:06.00, respectively.
The 1-2-3 finish by Kaua‘i clinched the boys race as Kaua‘i men piled up 27 points for the win, ahead of Kapa‘a (42 points), Waimea (60 points) and Island School (93 points).
In Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation cross country scoring, less points puts a team ahead of another.
Joy Claypoole of Island School set the pace for the girls’ field, crossing at 20:32.00 for first overall finisher honors.
Following her, Krista Schnackenberg (20:44.00) and Heidi Herr (21:31.00) filled in the order, interrupted by Cassie Wilson of Kapa‘a (22:03.00), Waimea’s Bailey San-Augustine Nordmeier (23:47:00), Talia Young (23:33.00) and Kasey San-Augustine Nordmeier (23:47:00) before Tirah Yamamoto of Kaua‘i clinched the girls’ win for Kaua‘i on a 23:50.00 run, eighth overall, a mere seven seconds ahead of Menehune returning runner Sienna Santiago (23:57.00).
Collectively, the Kaua‘i girls collected 37 points, just three points ahead of Waimea who finished with 40 points followed by Island School (68 points) and Kapa‘a (76 points).
Waimea’s Mickey Rita dogged Joshua off the blocks and most of the first mile before slipping to No. 4 overall and first for the Menehune on a 19:51.00 run followed by Kapa‘a’s Joshua Cram (20:04.00) and Tanner Henry (20:05.00) before Andrew Herr (20:07.00), a freshman, crossed seventh overall, filling in the No. 4 of the top five scoring runners for Kaua‘i.
Christian Sarmiento of Kaua‘i, crossing 14th overall, iced the Red Raider boys’ win on a 21:11.00 run, Raymart Ballesteros (21:28.00, 16th) serving as the tie-breaker.
Following Tirah Yamamoto, Cascade Mayer (23:59.00), finishing 10th overall, and Lorinda Sasan (24:52.00), crossing 14th overall, iced the Kaua‘i girls’ win, Macy Tamura (25:34.00), crossing 19th overall, serving as the tie-breaker.
The invitational serves as a pre-season warmup for the first race, which takes place Saturday at the Waimea High School campus starting at 8:30 a.m.
