Battle Royale: Leilehua Mules Hold Off Maui High Sabers
The 2011 HHSAA/Honolulu Marathon Hawaii State Cross Country Championship Boys’ race was set up to be a dogfight and it ended as a battle between three teams from three different Leagues. Pre-race favorite Leilehua Mules (55) of the OIA used their team depth win out by only eight points over an impressive end-of-race surge by the Maui High Sabers (63) of the MIL at the Kapalua Golf Course on Maui. Meanwhile, the ILH Runner-up I’olani Red Raiders (74) fought to within 11 points of Maui with a convincing third place finish over the ILH Champion Punahou Buff-n-Blu (108) in yet another shuffling of bragging rights within the ILH.
The Mules made their move early in the race and by the end of the first mile, four runners had broken from the pack. Maui High and I’olani responded and sent runners in pursuit. Going into the third mile, all three teams had a pack of three runners in contact with the other team packs. While I’olani’s and Leilehua’s first runners had opened a substantial lead, the three team chase packs began the exciting final mile surge to determine the State Champion. In the end, all fifteen scoring runners from the top three teams scored in the top 28. Although the race outcome occured on the difficult and hilly course, it took a computer and a tally sheet to confirm the official results. Leilehua’s higher placing with their first through fourth runners (2+4+11+12+26=55) ended up trumping Maui High’s tighter team grouping (5+6+9+20+23=63) for the narrow win.
The beautiful, dramatic and difficult course at Kapalua Village provided the perfect venue for an exciting end to the season. Afterwards Leilehua Coach Shawn Nakata expressed that it had been “…a great day…” and that he was so happy for his hard-working team. Congratulations to all the teams and runners for a truly memorable cross-country season!
Running is an unpredictable sport and what everyone expects to happen sometimes doesn’t happen. On Saturday, the Hawaii Preparatory Academy “Ka Makani” Girls (35) pulled off the most improbable of upsets by beating heavily favored Punahou (50) at the 2011 HHSAA/Honolulu Marathon Hawaii State Cross Country Championship held at the Kapalua Golf Course on Maui. On the eve of the race, the humble and esoteric Coach Franklin read to his team from Shakespeare’s “Henry V”, and the result was magical.
Coach Duncan MacDonald of Punahou was impressed, and found Coach Franklin after the race to say so. “It really meant a lot to me for Duncan to seek me out to offer his congratulations.” Franklin said, while waiting to take his team and the State Champion Trophy home to Hawaii Island.
The race more than lived up to the hype on the hilly and difficult Kapalua course. Within the first mile, it became apparent that the HPA girls were going to “pack up”, and that none were the least bit interested in making an individual run for glory. The key to the race for the Ka Makani was the performance of their fourth and fifth scoring runners: By means of the tactic of running as a pack, HPA finished their scoring runners 5-6-7-8-9, holding back their faster runners to help motivate the Ka Makani runners 4 and 5. As HPA Coach Michael Franklin humbly understated, “We had a very good day today.” More accurately, Coach Franklin and the HPA Girls ran a clinic on how to win as a team. It was beautiful to watch and their team success on Saturday may never again be equaled.
“We few, we happy few, we band of (sisters);
For (she) to-day that sheds (her) blood with me
Shall be my (sister)…” – from “Henry V” by William Shakespeare (1599)
Watch the post race video interview with the HPA “Ka Makani” girls on You Tube.