WAIMEA — Nine points separated the first and second place team finishers Saturday as Kaua‘i and Waimea high schools split the races at the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation cross country races hosted by Waimea High School.
Kaua‘i High School swept last week’s Waimea Invitational race, but after winning the girls’ race by three points, had the tables reversed on Waimea’s fourth runner. The Menehune went on to take the girls race on 30 points to Kaua‘i’s 39 points.
Kapa‘a High School finished with 58 points followed by Island School settling at 99 points. Island School’s top runner, Joy Claypoole, was absent from the race.
Kaua‘i High School boys placed four of its finishers in the Top 10 of the field to hold off Waimea at 34 points. Waimea, getting three of its finishers in the Top 10, finished at 45 points followed by Kapa‘a High School at 48 points, just three digits short of silver, and Island School settled in at 101 points.
“You’re right in the chase,” coach Basil Scott, the KIF timing official, told Kara Kitamura, the Kapa‘a High School cross country coach. “You had one runner disqualified, but if he had stayed on course, the outcome would have been different.”
In addition to the Kapa‘a disqualification, Waimea also posted two DQs.
The Herr brothers, Joshua and Andrew, continued to fuel the Kaua‘i boys’ race: Joshua crossed first overall at 16:57.00, the same time he recorded during last week’s race, and Andrew crossed ninth overall on a 19:58.60 run.
Filling in, Kainoa Matsumoto (19:09.00) and Charles Samuel (19:10.00) secured the third and fourth spots overall, respectively.
Christian Sarmiento, getting frantic signs from coach Fred Sasan, locked up the win at 17th overall on a 20:59.00 run despite allowing more than a handful of runners past him while he tried to decipher the signals being issued by both Sasan and a course official who pointed out a missed cone.
Mickey Rita, trying to dog Joshua Herr’s shadow last week, tapered his effort, this week running his own race to finish tops for the Menehune men at fifth overall on a 19:14.00 run. Other finishers include Henry Delos Reyes (19:55.00, sixth), Hazzard McDougall (19:58.60, eighth), Bradly Lumabao (20:13.00, 11th), Byron Freitas (20:56.00, 15th) and Justin Pagtolingan (20:57.00, 16th).
Kapa‘a veteran runner Joshua Cram topped the Warriors’ finishers, crossing second overall on a 19:06.00 run followed by Tanner Henry (19:57,00, seventh), Eli Lluellen (20:31.00, 12th), Joel Mikenzie (20:36.00, 13th), Marcus Bloss (20:53.00, 14th) and Noah LaMadrid (21:01.70, 19th).
Kellan Wortman of Island School crossed first for the Voyagers in 10th overall at 20:12.00 followed by Travis Kim (21:01.40, 18th) and Michael Miller (21:31.00, 22nd).
Kaua‘i girls’ team placed Krista Schnackenberg (20:53.00) and Heidi Herr (21:19.00) in the first and second spots overall, respectively, but Waimea, its first runner crossing fourth overall, placed its top five scoring runners in the Top 10 to edge past the Red Raiders.
Kaycee San-Augustine Nordmeier (22:03.00) was the fourth overall and the first Menehune finisher, followed by Talia Young (22:38.00, fifth), Bailey San-Augustine Nordmeier (22:59.00, sixth), Lani-Rae Green (23:12.00, seventh), Sienna Santiago (23:20.00, eighth) and Bethany Tangalin (24:05.00, 14th).
Following Schnackenberg and Herr, Kaua‘i filled in with Cascade Mayer (23:25.00, 9th), Lorinda Sasan (23:52.00, 12th), Tirah Yamamoto (24:10.00, 15th) and Macy Tamura (24:55.80, 20th).
Cassie Wilson topped the Kapa‘a girls’ scoring on her third overall finish with a 21:50.00 run followed by Coral Vernon (23:31.00, 10th), Kekai Gonsalves (23:35.00, 11th), Malia Hickey (24:11.00, 16th), Nani Brun (24:23.00, 18th) and Casey Nakamura (25:21.00, 21st).
Madison Moore topped the Island School girls in 13th overall with a 23:58.00 run followed by Makenna Olson (24:13.00, 17th), Jade Murphy (24:55.00, 19th), Leila Breen (25:48.00, 24th) and Mattea Wortmann (26:01.00, 26th).
The next KIF cross country race unfolds Saturday at 8:30 a.m., hosted by Kapa‘a High School.
