LIHU‘E — The Island School boys cross country team and the Kaua‘i High School girls cross country team took the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation cross country championships this past Saturday before a crowd that tested the COVID-19 restraints at the Island School campus.
Led by Christian Carrington who stopped the clocks on a run of 17 minutes, 30.11 seconds, the Voyager men filled the second through fifth overall spots, and capped the win when Spencer Summerhayes crossed 13th overall at 19:15.27 to give the Voyagers 27 points, and the title.
“This is No. 4,” said Eric Wortmann, the Island School coach. “This is the fourth year the Island School team has won the KIF title. Plus, they haven’t suffered a loss. This is their 22nd consecutive win!”
Brennen Corregedore of Kaua‘i High School filled in the first overall finisher slot, stopping the clock at 17:21.57, nearly nine seconds ahead of Carrington.
That performance led the Red Raider boys’ scoring effort that finished with 38 points, followed by the Kapa‘a High School boys whose Dominic Agrade held the lead through half of the 5,000k before being overcome by the pack to finish eighth, overall. The Warrior men accumulated 71 points with Waimea, despite the strong running of Isaac Funtanilla finishing sixth overall, getting 95 points to round out the boys’ scoring.
“I set a goal of 17:30 before the race,” Corregedore said. “And, I beat it by nine seconds. It wasn’t easy because the ground was soft because of the overnight and early-morning rains.”
On the girls’ run, Kaua‘i High School’s Emma Burgess continued to burn the course at Saturday’s race breaking 20 minutes to stop the clocks at 19:08.02. That performance coupled with the strong 20:33.37 finish from Kaua‘i’s No. 2 runner Kamaira Silva led the Red Raiders to the top-scoring position with 29 points.
“I had a goal of 19:30,” Burgess said. “I ran a 19:08, and it was a challenge because I’ve run the course before and there are great runners. I was worried for a while, but I feel awesome.”
Silva, who also balances a schedule as a competitive swimmer, broke her conventional run strategy of trying to pace with Burgess.
The Kapa‘a girls mixed the field with the Kaua‘i girls with Jessica Drent and Sage Hofmann dogging the Red Raider traffic. Drent stopped the clocks in third overall at 21:50.80 with Hofmann following in fourth overall at 22:02.05 to lead the Kapa‘a girls’ scoring at 36 points.
The Menehune scoring cluster had its pace set up by Aliyah Taba who finished sixth overall on a 23:06.95 followed by Hope Newton coming in 10th overall at 23:47.42 toward Waimea’s 60-point total.
The KIF championships also determine eligibility to advance to the Honolulu Marathon Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association cross country championships that will run Dec. 4 at the Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy course on the Big Island.
