KEAAU — There was a new face and a familiar face crossing the finish line during a Big Island Interscholastic Federation cross-country race Saturday as Kamehameha-Hawaii played host on its sprawling campus Saturday.
Hilo’s Mehana Sabado-Halpern (19:58) captured her first BIIF three-mile race of her young career, and St. Joseph’s Andrew Langtry (17:19) rolled to his second in as many weeks, winning at Hawaii Prep the previous week.
Sabado-Halpern, a sophomore, never ran cross-country last season and discovered her distance talent as a result of being talked into coming out for the sport by teammate Carmen Garson Shumway.
“We balance each other. Mehana is good at distance, and I’m good at speed,” Garson Shumway said.
Garson Shumway finished the varsity race in second overall, giving the Vikings a great 1-2 punch but not enough to overcome Ka Makani’s harriers for the team title.
“We pulled away from the pack of HPA and formed our own pack of two,” Garson Shumway said. “Mehana and I are only looking at making ourselves better.”
The Hilo duo trailed midway during the race to a five-pack of HPA runners, led by defending BIIF champ Zoe Sims.
“I love running, and it is really fun to run together and help a freshman team member,” Sims said.
HPA coach Michael Franklin echoed the same team strategy.
“I wanted our girls to hold the pack together. I’m really happy with the result. You don’t need to coach the top runners, you work to reach the fourth through 10th runner on the team,” he said.
The defending state champion Ka Makani harriers took the team title with 28 points, followed by the Vikings with 63 and the host Warriors with 97.
For Langtry, it was his second league victory in as many weeks and firmly established him as the one to beat in the BIIF.
“I know I now have a target on my back,” Langtry said. “I needed to prove something to myself, and now I have lots of confidence, and I hope to win the league title this season.”
Langtry started out in the middle of the pack and pulled ahead and took the lead for good near the halfway mark in the course.
“I pretended someone was right behind me the entire time to be able to put pressure on myself,” Langtry said.
Langtry finished almost 20 seconds ahead of Parker’s Paul Gregg, the runner-up.
But seeing the Cardinal’s back is only making Gregg run faster.
On the HPA course, Gregg went out fast and led the race until faltering in the second half to drop to sixth place.
On the Warrior course, Gregg used a different strategy.
“I decided to pace off Langtry and the other leaders, and I ended up having my best BIIF finish, second overall,” Gregg said. “I need to do more muscle training and to be more mentally aware on the course before I become a contender for the BIIF title.”
The eighth annual Kamehameha-Hawaii Invitation cross-country featured four races (two open races followed by two varsity races) with awards going to the top harriers in each race.
“We gave 10 keychain medals in each of the varsity races (both boys and girls races) and five keychain medals in each of the open races for a total of 30 medals,” said Warrior girls varsity coach Joel Truesdell.
Koa plaques were given to the top three teams in each varsity race, and two more koa plaques were given to the top two teams in the open division.
In the girls open, Hilo’s Bailey Honda won in a time of 24:30 and HPA won the girls team open title. For the boys open, it was Colton Hill from host Kamehameha in a time of 19:45 with Honokaa taking the boys open team title.
Over the years, the Truesdells have paid for the awards out of pocket, with the commitment to raise the level of running in the BIIF, according to Coach Truesdell.
The only off-island team to make the trip this year was Watsonville, Calif., with seven varsity boys and seven varsity girls.
Watsonville won the boys team title with 46 points, outdistancing Hilo with 76 and Kealakehe (97). Five-time BIIF champion Honokaa (100) was fourth, and Kamehameha (113) finished fifth.
Watsonville coach Alex Siqueiras said he was here for a second time and he is glad to return.
Next week league harriers have a bye, and on Sept. 22 action continues with the boys and girls races at Waiakea, starting at 10 a.m.
