WAIMEA — Running along the rolling hills of Waimea, there is no place like home for Hawaii Prep. Ka Makani proved it again Saturday, and if that form holds they could prove be one tough champion to dethrone during the postseason.
Ka Makani’s girls dominated team scoring during a Big Island Interscholastic Federation cross-country meet that also included seven off-island schools looking to try out the state course.
HPA’s Zoe Sims and Parker’s Paul Gregg were the top BIIF finishers.
Kamehameha-Oahu freshman Hennessey Ellis took the final downhill lead from a pack of Ka Makani in the girls race and handled the difficult three-mile course in 20 minutes, 55 seconds.
“We came here to prepare for states,” Ellis said. “The course is hard, but coaches prepared us well for it, and it was a good race today.”
Ellis was followed by a sea of red jerseys. Led by defending BIIF champion Zoe Sims, HPA grabbed the next three spots and posted five finishers in the top 14.
HPA’s Kristiana Van Pernis and Mariah Haight finished just over a second apart to grab third and fourth, respectively, and freshman Erin Evans was ninth.
“While I am where I want to be at this point of the season, there is still room for improvement,” Van Pernis said. “It was great to be motivated by (Ellis), and all the off-island schools really motivated me. It was good to see new faces.”
Ka Makani (29 points) easily outdistanced three Oahu schools. Kamehameha-Oahu (58) was second, followed by Pearl City (94) and Hawaii Baptist (114).
Boys winner David Clarke of Iolani finished in 18:20, but he came away impressed by the challenges of running in Waimea.
“This is my first time running on the HPA campus, and it’s the toughest course I’d ever run,” Clarke said. “I took the lead on the downhill section of the course around the 2.5-mile mark from James (Pearson) and was never seriously challenged after that.”
Pearson, from Baldwin of the Maui Interscholastic League, is one of the top contenders for the state title, and he left feeling like he’d learned a lot about a course that will host the Hawaii High School Athletic Association championships on Oct. 26.
“I tried to challenge the course, and I went out fast and had the lead for a while until (Clarke) took over with about half a mile to go,” Pearson said.
Gregg finished sixth, and the senior likes where he is with just one meet left before the BIIF championships take place Oct. 19 in Waimea.
“It was hot, but it felt good,” Gregg said. “I guess now the target’s on my back.”
“I felt fatigued and dizzy at the end, but I ran my race today. I am still confident, and I must be the league favorite on this course.”
Iolani (52), which brought 14 boys runners over, finished first, followed by Pearl City (75), HBA (91) and HPA (122).
“It is a tough course with strategic sections in different spots,” Iolani coach Jack Kuo said. “It is one of the toughest courses in the state, and it’s hard to find this type of terrain to practice on.”
c Notes: The BIIF regular season continues at 3 p.m. next Saturday at Kamehameha-Hawaii. … The other off-island schools were Campbell, Nanakuli and St. Louis, and there were 17 girls teams and 21 boys teams in all … Led by freshman Emma Taylor, HPA took the top four spots in winning the open race. Christian Liberty was third.
