Neighbor island runners rise up

From Tia Ferguson to the dominance of Dakota Grossman, the neighbors islands have always had champions in the girls field of the state cross country championships.

But this year was different. Neighbor island runners, particularly Seabury Hall, flooded the top 10. The Spartans placed four of the top five and six of the top 10 finishers were from neighbor islands.

That is the most since 1989 when they had eight of the top 10 and equal to 2011 when six neighbor island runners placed.

As dominant as Seabury Hall was this year, it remained behind Hawaii Prep’s record of five girls in the top 10 in 2011.

Other notes from Saturday’s race, followed by all-time top 10s:

Camryn Butz is Radford’s best finisher since Tammy Cartwright won in 1991

Sophia Cash is Honokaa’s first T10 since Tia Greenwell in 2009

Kacie Kwan is HBA’s first t10 since Heidi Nicholls in 2010

Saya Yabe is Waiakea’s first T10 since Tamarah Binek in 2002

Gianna Sbabaro was one spot away from becoming Le Jardin’s first-ever T10