PUKALANI – The cross country junior varsity championship, brought out the best in the Kamehameha Schools Maui JV runners today at King Kekaulike High School .

“They’ve all improved. They’re peaking,” cross country coach Jon Svenson said. Earlier in the season he had said that it was a goal of his to have his runners peak at the championship.

Freshman Dayson Damuni, top finisher for the KSM boys, made the most progress from the start of the season.

“He had never run three miles before, and he became one of the top JV runners in the league,” Mr. Svenson said.

Damuni placed 6^th overall out of 49 runners with a time of 21:05.

“My hard work paid off. I feel like I can endure more now,” Damuni said.

Following the race, he didn’t take all the credit for his success.

“Mr. Svenson is a really good coach,” he said.

Damuni’s biggest challenge today was the weather, which was windy throughout the boys race.

His teammate, sophomore Avi Singh, faced bigger problems with the King Kekaulike course.

Singh was among those in the lead throughout the beginning of the race, but fell back when, “I missed a turn,” Singh said. He ended up placing 11^th with a time of 21:31.

Though he was slightly disappointed over his misjudgement in the championship, he is excited to enter the varsity level.

“I feel really at home moving up to varsity because I’ve always run with them,” Singh said.

Another student who is moving on to varsity following Saturday’s race is first-year girls runner sophomore Kiana Sniffen, who placed 6^th overall out of 30 runners with a time of 24:44.

“It’s a lot of pressure moving up to varsity, but I think I can do it,” Sniffen said.

Sniffen’s teammate sophomore Rachel Smith finished not far behind her in 9^th place with a time of 24:59.

“Rachel exceeded my expectations today,” Mr. Svenson said.

“I definitely tried my best,” Smith said.

Both girls said that they improved most on their self-motivation over the duration of the season.

The KSM boys placed 4^th overall, following Maui High School in 1^st, Seabury Hall in 2^nd and Baldwin High School in 3^rd.

Baldwin High School placed 1^st, Seabury Hall placed 2^nd and Maui High School placed 3^rd in the girls race, with the KSM girls unable to place because they lacked the minimum amount of runners.