2012 HHSAA Boys XC Championship Race Recap: Kamehameha, HBA Take DI and DII Titles

 

Boy’s Championship Race Recap:  Kamehameha-Kapalama and Hawaii Baptist Academy Take DI and DII Titles in a “Crazy” Race

 

(Hawaii Preparatory Academy, Hawaii Island) Yesterday’s Hawaii High School Athletic Association (HHSAA) 2012 Boys Cross Country Championship became a full-blown battle as Kamehameha-Kapalama and Hawaii Baptist Academy (HBA) survived to claim the Division I and Division II championships on the difficult Hawaii Island course at HPA.

 

The top four DI teams comprised of the Warriors, the Punahou Buffanblu, the Iolani Raiders and the Leilehua Mules, battled to within 16 points of each other in a constantly changing mix of runners that left the crowd of over 1000 spectators excited, albeit lost and confused as to which team was actually winning.  To add to the confusion, the HBA Eagles, though competing for the DII title, placed all their scoring runners right into the middle of the DI race, affecting the final outcome and making it all but impossible for anyone to calculate interim scores during the race.

 

There was no confusion as to who the boy’s individual champion would be.  Warrior Junior Davis Ka’ahanui used a strategy similar to his winning effort in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu (ILH) championship, established an immediate lead, and dared anyone to go with him on the difficult course.  Leilehua Mule senior standout and Oahu Interscholastic Association (OIA) Champion Christopher Olverson did his best to answer the challenge and remained in contact with Ka’ahanui until the second trip up the devastating course hill.  Then, Olverson appeared to “burn” his legs on the hill, a running slang for working so hard that lactic acid built up within his leg muscles, hampering full performance.  At the top of the hill, Ka’ahanui (17:07.90) was gone, opening up over a 30 second lead on #2 survivor and Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation (KIF) Champion Joshua Herr (17:38.15) of Kauai High.

 

As Olverson faded from his risky bid to hold onto Ka’ahanui, so also did Leilehua’s chances to repeat as State Champions.  In contrast, the individual state championship run of Ka’ahanui, combined with a solid fifth place finish by Warrior Senior, Charles Akiona - returning from injury, was enough to propel the Warriors (83) to a seven point upset of the Division I runner up and ILH Champion Punahou (90).  Senior Nikolai Scharer (3rd – 17:40.30) and Junior Jacques Hebert (4th-17:45.70) led the Buffanblu (90) to a second place team finish.

 

The ‘Iolani Raiders (10-11-21-25-27 = 94),  while placing third to Punahou by a narrow four points, ran the most consistently of the top four teams, finishing their fifth and final scoring runner ahead of the number five runners from #1 Kamehameha (1-4-15-17-46 = 83), #2 Punahou (2-3-14-34-37 = 90) and #4 Leilehua (5-6-19-24-45 = 99).

 

The overall fifth place team finish by the Division II Champion Hawaii Baptist Academy “Eagles” Boys (7-13-33-42-43 = 138) and their 116 point margin of victory over the DII runner up the Seabury Hall “Spartans” were both impressive.  Over the last few years Coach Derek Coryell has built the HBA running program into the “David” amongst the ILH “Goliaths”.  With its inaugural DII Championship, HBA has joined smaller Hawai’i schools such as HPA and Seabury Hall that have big running ambitions, and the team strength to prove it.