WAIMEA — Hilo senior Mehana Sabado-Halpern and Waiakea junior Louie Ondo covered Hawaii Preparatory Academy’s 3-mile course on Friday faster than anyone else to pick up their first Big Island Interscholastic Federation championships, finishing unbeaten in the league.
Under typical Waimea weather — windy with a cool breeze — Sabado-Halpern blitzed the field and clocked in at 21 minutes and 0.76 seconds.
A race later, Ondo blazed to a solid 17:23.21.
Kealakehe’s Ziggy Bartholomy (18:11.4) finished second behind Ondo, helping the Waveriders dethrone seven-time boys champion Honokaa. Led by runner-up Sabrina Disney (22.25.5), the Lady Ka Makani dominated again, claiming their seventh consecutive girls title and 37th in the past 41 years.
Sabado-Halpern and Ondo each went 7 of 7 in league races this season.
Last season, Sabado-Halpern had the time of her life in track. The Vikings were second at the Hawaii High School Athletic Association state championships at Kamehameha-Kapalama’s campus.
“That’s what I’m most proud of when we placed second last year at states for track,” she said. “It was the best day and my emotions were a roller coaster. That was the most fun, and the team was really happy.”
She was on the 4×400 meter relay team that seized second place, and the 4×100 that placed sixth. She earned silver in the triple jump and was eighth in the 300 hurdles (the top six get medals).
Ondo didn’t run cross-country last year.
He was on Waiakea’s junior varsity basketball team last season, and got in shape by running around the school’s track. Out of the blue, Ondo joined the track and field team, and was an instant success: He won BIIF titles in the 800 and 1,500 meters last year.
Waveriders surge
By virtue of a pair of top-two team finishes, first-year Kealakehe coach Brad Lachance made good on his goal of qualifying seven boys and seven girls for the state cross-country championships, which will be held next Saturday at Central Oahu Regional Park.
Keili Dorn placed third in the girls race for the Waveriders, who finished in second behind Ka Makani, who once again showed off their incomparable depth.
HPA posted four runners in the the top 10 — Ada Benson, Tove Fostvedt and Savannah Cochran were Nos. 5-7 — and all seven were in the top 13.
Waiakea finished third — Saya Yabe led the Warriors’ charge in fourth — and will send five harriers to Oahu, as will fifth-place Kamehameha. Hilo was fourth, but Kamehameha was the top Division II finisher.
The boys race was closer, with Kealakehe (69) edging HPA by 19 points. Thunder Frost (fourth) and Adalberto Malagon (seventh) joined Bartholomy in the top 10 for the Waveriders.
Hilo was third, getting a third-place finish from River Brown, and Honokaa was fourth.
Kohala’s Josiah Adams rounded out the the top five in the boys race.
When the state meet was last held at CORP in 2010, Leilehua’s Margarito Martinez won the boys race in 15:50.05 while Seabury Hall’s Dakota Grossman took the girls race in 19:27.50.
That year, the BIIF’s top finishers were Honokaa’s Chris Mosch in ninth in 17:23.05, and HPA’s Zoe Sims in seventh in 20:14.85.
However, state champions do come from the Big Island: HPA’s girls captured the team crown in 2011, and HPA’s Emmett Weatherford brought home the boys state title in 2004.