Cross Country boys claim third place
Girls come in sixth
Photo by Alyssa Urayanza
With the finish line in sight, sophomore Kupono Aguirre has pulled up to the Baldwin runner just ahead of him. The Maui Interscholastic League Cross Country Championships saw many such exciting finishes this morning, Oct. 25, at Keōpūolani Park.
Kamehameha Maui’s varsity cross country team wrapped up the season with the boys placing third and the girls sixth overall in todayʻs Maui Interscholastic League championship meet.
Throughout the race, the runners paced themselves, but the most excitement occurred on the final stretch towards the finish line when the runners gave it their all trying to pass each other. Many runners were neck and neck, finishing within just a few milliseconds of each other.
“I feel like they did pretty well. I had high expectations for them [the boys team] to finish second in the league — we finished third. But the thing about it is that we have a very young team and a bright future,” head coach Jon Svenson said.
The Seabury Hall girls and the Maui High boys teams came in first place overall. The Kamehameha girls’ score was 161, and the boys’ score was 93.
Competing in today’s meet for the girls were senior Mia Czerwinski, juniors Keely Lindsey and Mckenna Chaney, sophomore Jasmine Casey, and freshman Lily Gavagan.
Running for the boys were senior Keoni Frampton; junior Richard “Ikaika” Renaud; sophomores Paytin Ayau, Cruz Castillon, Kupono Aguirre, and Isaac Gabin-Williams; and freshman Iokepa Supnet.
For this championship meet, Coach Svenson moved up several runners from junior varsity to varsity.
“They were some of our top runners,” Coach Svenson said.
Those who were moved up to varsity included Casey, Gavagan, Castillon, Aguirre, Gabin-Williams, and Supnet.
“Honestly I was a little scared because I didn’t even run the jv course because of an injury, so I didn’t know how I would hold up with varsity,” Casey said.
The times from today’s meet determined which runners will be advancing to the 2014 Honolulu Marathon Cross Country Championships on Oʻahu next weekend, on Saturday, Nov. 1.
Czerwinski, Ayau, Frampton, Supnet, Renaud, and Aguirre will be representing KS Maui at the Hawaiʻi High School Athletic Assoication event. Update 10/27/14: Gavagan had also qualified for the HHSAA championships.
“It feels good knowing that I worked hard enough to be at the level I am, and I feel good,” Aguirre said. ” I feel that my biggest accomplishment was making it to states because I never actually thought I would be able to.”
Coach Svenson was happy to see some of the runners improve and work so hard this season; however, he said he would like to see a little more consistency with their times.
“Some weeks they were just really revved up, and then other weeks they were just kind of lackadaisical,” Coach Svenson said.
“I would like if I could get more numbers out, we had one of the smallest teams. We had quality boys and some pretty good girls. I would just like to see more runners come out and participate, because we are like a family, and in years past, a few years ago, we used to have about 40 on our team. But this year we’re down to low twenties,” he said.
