Maui High School hosted the first high school cross country meet at Kahului Community Center park yesterday morning, and it was a relay meet, the only one of the season.

The teams were divided into girls and boys, then into groups of four. These groups were either A or B teams. The A groupings were faster teams. Each group ran 6 miles in total, but a mile and a half individually.

Athletes were put into groups by the coaches, Jeremy Pallone De-La Torre (J-Del), Matthew Linder, and Lynda Casey, and the members included both varsity and junior varsity athletes.

With just a mile-and-a-half leg for each runner, it was a great beginner course for the athletes to start off with.

The first and fastest boys group consisted of Quinn Hottendorf, Ezekiel Matutino, Makaio Lorenzo, and Brody Yamada, and they finished with a time of 40:30.

The second boys group–Andrew Amaral, Joshua Grant, Aaron J. Pagan, and Justin Shiffler–had a finishing time of 41:38.

Gideon Aiwohi, Jaden Texeira, Hunter Worth, and John Williamson finished in 42:05, and Cy Ornellas, Tani Kuluhiwa-Kim, Taylor Ching, and Spencer Keanini finishing in 48:55.

The four different kāne teams all placed within the top 20.

All of the girls groups finished in just under 50 minutes:

Lily Gavagan, Jasmine Casey, Kylie Murakami, and Kailani Kealoha (48:30)

Kennedy-Kainoa Tamashiro, Faith Bonacorsi,  Skye Murakami, and Keely Logan (48: 52)

Lilia Wietecha-Davis, Jaimelee Felipe, Kaho Mateaki, and Tatiana Soon (49:20).

The wahine runners had an amazing run, finishing one-behind-the-other within the top 15.

The KSM cross country Warriors spent time pre-season to build a stronger relationship to assist them at this first meet.

Being a relay meet, the players had to come out of their individual mindsets and work as a team, but this wasn’t hard for them since, during the summer, they spent time with one another. Whether it was at the beach, running miles together, or camping out in Hāna, the team gained more confidence and comfort as the season approached.

Although none of the Warriors placed for a medal, they finished off strong and were proud of accomplishing the run.

Coach J-Del said that the run was a “good measuring and stepping stone to see where we are trying to get to, and where we are at.”

Gallery • 3 Photos

Photo by Aaron Veincent

Sophomore Kaylie Ho runs the mile and a half course.