Hawaii Baptist’s first state title in girls cross country came in dominating fashion.
The Eagles placed four girls in the top 10 to claim the Division II title at Saturday’s Honolulu Marathon/HHSAA State Championships at Central Oahu Regional Park. Their win ended Seabury Hall’s streak — the Spartans had won every team title since a DII classification was added in 2012.
Only one race is held per gender at the state meet. Team scores in Division I and II are determined by the individual finishes of runners.
Hawaii Baptist’s scoring five finished fourth, sixth, seventh, 10th and 18th.
Punahou, which won its seventh straight Division I title and 31st overall, saw its scoring five place fifth, eighth, ninth, 11th and 12th.
Kacie Kwan, the ILH champion, finished fourth for the Eagles in 20 minutes, 9.94 seconds. She was in a pack that chased champion Chloe Gangnath of Seabury Hall (19:20.73) throughout the 5-kilometer race. Johanna Seng and Mari Monico placed sixth and seventh in 20:32.66 and 20:33.92. Lindsay Sasaki was 10th in 20:42.30 and Shayli Maruya finished 18th in 21:02.20.
Seng, last year’s state runner-up, was the team’s top finisher all year until Kwan’s surge late in the season. Also running for Hawaii Baptist were Lindsey Jaeger (38th) and Jada Inouye (42nd). Only Inouye is a senior.
Meanwhile, Hawaii Baptist’s boys team repeated as DII champions. The Eagles also won their division in 2012.
Christian Kuwaye placed 26th in 18:14.15 and Michael Garces was 29th in 18:17.79 to lead the Eagles. Teammates Peyton Oshiro, Ethan Aimoto and Connor Malinger finished 43rd, 44th and 46th in a field of 200 runners. Also running for Hawaii Baptist were Justin Mayeshiro (106th) and Phoenyx Aguada (124th).
“At the beginning of the season or even in the summer when we do offseason stuff, it’s always build off of what we did the previous year,” said Hawaii Baptist coach Aaron Kondo. “They set their own individual goals and then we try to set a team goal.”
Oshiro was one of nine seniors in the boys field who competed in all four state meets during their high school careers. Saint Louis’ Aziah Schaal finished eighth on Saturday. He placed 41st as a freshman and sophomore and 47th as a junior.
Kauai’s Kane Casillas placed ninth on Saturday. He placed 87th as a freshman, 47th as a sophomore and 132nd as a junior.
Waiakea’s Eric Cabias-Fernandez was 14th on Saturday, his second straight top-20 finish at the state meet. Kamehameha-Maui’s Cy Ornellas, Waianae’s Bailey Mcaloon, Mid-Pacific’s Shiwen Li, Maryknoll’s Micah Char and Kaiser’s Gabriel Tom also ran in their fourth state meet.
In the girls field, Le Jardin’s Gianna Sbarbaro and Punahou’s Maiya Fujiwara wrapped up their careers with four consecutive top-20 finishes. Sbarbaro was 13th as a freshman, 11th as a sophomore, seventh as a junior and third as a senior. Fujiwara was 18th as a freshman, 13th as a sophomore, 10th as a junior and 15th as a senior.
Honokaa’s Sophia Cash was 17th, her third straight top-20 finish at the state meet. She is also the only girl to win four straight BIIF titles.
Kapaa’s Juliana Tampus (24th) and Victoria Hennessey (79th) finished their fourth state meet. Neither have finished below 100. Also finishing their fourth state meet were Hilo’s Sam Marrack, Hawaii Prep’s Zoe Ganley, ‘Iolani’s Kari Tanji, Hanalani’s Kalyn Kershner, Campbell’s Samantha Valeriano and Faith Inay, Kaiser’s Jenna Ikegami, Kealakehe’s Breana Arakawa and Leilehua’s Jessica Thompson.
Hanalani’s Adam Harder won the boys 5 in 16:50.85 and Maui won the DI team title, the first public neighbor island school to win the top division.
Samantha Valeriano for Campbell