Cross country brings it home
Photo by Aaron Veincent
Cross country girls begin the race at Kamehameha Schools Maui Campus’ Kanaʻiaupuni Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 1. This was the Warriors’ first and only race at home this season.
Kamehameha Schools Maui hosted the Maui Interscholastic League cross country meet #2 Saturday afternoon, where the Warriors were able to run on their home turf.
Being a week after mid-season, the team is buckling down in preparation for the MIL championships.
Being that this was the Warriors’ home course, the team was familiar with the 3-mile route.
Senior Jasmine (Koko) Casey said “We had a little bit of an advantage today, since we run our course pretty often, but there was really good competition from each school today.”
The route consisted of two laps, which meant that the runners had to run up the hill behind the Charles Reed Bishop Learning Center twice, which was difficult compared to other schools’ courses.
Sophomore Kiana Over said, “Our home course is one of the hardest courses for me, but I couldn’t have been able to finish without the training and support my coaches and teammates gave me.”
Throughout the morning runners tried to give up when they got to that portion of the course, but their teammates as well as the runners of opposing teams lifted their spirits as they went by or watched and gave them the encouragement to continue.
Junior Lily Gavagan said “This particular race was very high spirited from everyone.”
The runners were guided through the course by Kamehameha Maui cheerleaders, but due to some miscommunication, they misdirected runners in the second lap of the girls run.
Coach Lynda Casey (spelling has been corrected 10/3/16) said, “It really didn’t affect [the race results] time wise, it was just a little opposite course.”
The map above shows the deviation. The gray line indicates how the runners were guided between Kekaulike and Konia instead of between Pākī and Kalanikupule.
The cheerleaders correct the mistake for the boys race.
Cheerleaders show the course’s direction.
The girls team finished fourth overall, with the times as follows:
Lily Gavagan (23:48), Kahopewai Mateaki (27:02), Kiana Over (27:22), Lilia Wietcha-Davis (27:38), Kennedy-Kainoa Tamashiro (27:54), Faith Bonacorsi (27:56), Kailani Kealoha (28:07), Tiana Irvine (28:20), Jaelyne Navarro (28:22), Jasmine Casey (29:01), Keely Logan (29:42), and Jaimelee Felipe (30:57).
The kāne Warriors finished in fifth overall:
Gideon Aiwohi (20:34), Cy Ornellas (20:58), Andrew Amaral (21:15), Brody Yamada (21:25), Aaron Pagan (21:45), John Williamson (21:53), Makaio Lorenzo (22:03), Quinn Hottendorf (22:50), Hunter Worth (23:17), Spencer Keanini (24:03), Ezekiel Matutino (24:21), Jaden Texeira (24:37), Joshua Kailiehu (27:23), and Taylor Ching (27:50).
The turn-out was great for the Warriors with a majority of their team there.
Junior Lily Gavagan said, “We were also glad to see so many of our own students and faculty who came. We love the support!”
With mid-terms and homecoming over, the coaches are expecting the good attendance to continue over fall break as the runners ready for championships in a few weeks.
