Cross Country

Connor Lehl is the first male state cross country winner from Punahou since Todd Iacovelli in 2001, but the bigger surprise might be that he didn’t have to overcome a Kamehameha runner to get there. For just the second time in the last 20 years, Kamehameha failed to take home a medal. The Warriors were either team champions or had the individual champion, sometimes both, in every year since 1997 except this year and 2011. The Warirors failed to place […]

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 […]

A Punahou girl doesn’t always win the state cross country championships, but one is always in the mix. The Buffanblu have placed at least one runner in the top 10 of every state championship since missing out in 2005, oftentimes putting multiple runners in the top 10 (Three in each of the last two years). As impressive as that is, the Buffanblu have had the individual winner only once since 2000 when Elli Brady took the 2009 race. That hasn’t […]

Punahou’s Connor Lehl is on the verge of joining a very special list. Lehl, the favorite in the boys race at the Honolulu Marathon Hawaii State Cross Country championships on the Big Island, is one of the very few runners in state history who has been elite since the moment he laced his shoes up as a freshman. If Lehl can finish in the top 10 on the Hawaii Prep campus, he would become just the fifth boy to finish […]

Intriguing storylines abound at Saturday’s Honolulu Marathon/HHSAA Cross Country State Championships. This will be the first state meet with a 5-kilometer course (3.11 miles) after a proposal passed to increase the distance from three miles. Here’s five things to know to about the state meet at Hawaii Preparatory Academy. >> Hills, hills, hills: HPA is one of the toughest courses in the state with steep climbs on every mile. Runners will have slower times because of the course. But place […]

Punahou senior Connor Lehl won Saturday’s ILH cross country championship, the final race before the state championship on Oct. 29. Lehl became Punahou’s first ILH boys winner since Todd Iacovelli, now one of Punahou’s coaches, went back-to-back in 2000 and 2001 (see list below). Iacovelli won the state title in 2001, the last time a Buffanblu runner won the state meet. Punahou’s Mia Schiel won the girls 5-kilometer race. She’s the program’s first individual champion since Elli Brady won four […]