Big Dog’s Final HHSAA Top 10 Cross-Country Runners

Seabury's Hailey Grossman expected to lead the pack at HHSAA

 

The following list was compiled after reviewing the results from the championships in cross-country meets held in all five leagues, OIA, ILH, KIL, MIL and the BIIF.

Coaches and harrier fans may make their own final guess and submit it in the comment section. 

To see rankings 11-20 go to:  https://waynejoseph.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/big-dogs-picks-for-hhsaa-cross-country-11-20/

TOP 10 GIRLS

1. Hailey Grossman, Seabury Hall
2. Tialana Greenwell, Honokaa
3. Gabriella Jenkins, Mililani
4. Ellie Brady, Punahou
5. Kimberly Pugliese, Mililani
6. Claire Hann, Pac 5
7. Kristin Ali Keith, Mililani
8. Kyleigh Mann, Punahou
9. Kela Vargas, HPA
10. Julia Brand, Punahou

Top Five Girls Teams in State:  1. Punahou       2. Iolani      3.  Mililani       4.  Hawaii Preparatory Academy       5. Hawaii Baptist

TOP 10 BOYS

1. Margarito Martinez, Leilehua
2.  Jordan Thibodeau, Kamehameha-Oahu
3.  Borys Pleskacz, Iolani
4. Pierce Murphy, Island School
5. Isaiah Sato, Kamehameha-Oahu
6. Troy Esaki, Iolani
7. Nikolai Scharer, Punahou
8.  Chris Mosch, Honokaa 
9. Nicola Perez-Garreaud, Maui
10. Daniel Kaneko, Kamehameha-Oahu

  Top five boy’s teams in state:  1. Kamehameha-Oahu   2. Iolani   3.  Punahou   4. Honokaa   5. Leilehua

 Good luck on Kauai this Saturday.

Advertisement

Hilo Takes Kealakehe to OT in BIIF Football

Vikings come close during Homecoming

    It took overtime for Kealakehe to pull out a narrow victory against a tough Hilo team 20-14.

     Hilo played hardnosed, inspired football in their homecoming game against Kealakehe held Saturday at Wong Stadium.

     A crowd of nearly 2500 was treated to a great first half defensive battle between the titan of Big Island Interscholastic football Kealakehe (2-0 in Division I).

    The Vikings, (0-2) gave everything they could to dismantle the potent air Waverider offense holding quarterback, Jacob Ontiveros to just one completion in six attempts during the first half and preventing Kealakehe from any offensive scores.

   The Waveriders only first half touchdown came at the hands of the defense when a bad snap to Viking punter, Christian Daog, led to a fumble recovery and run in for an eight yard touchdown by Haku Kapule.

    Kapule, a defensive linebacker, played stellar defense for the Waveriders in the first half as the 190 pound senior helped shut down the Vikings running game.

    But Hilo would not be out done and came roaring back following the Waverider score with quarterback Kamaka Lewis leading the way throwing and running.

     The big play came when Lewis hit wide receiver Jesse Gonzales with a 28-yard pass bringing the ball down to the Kealakehe one.  From there Lewis quarterback sneak up the middle and Daog’s point after put Hilo ahead at the half.

    With 40 seconds to go in the half the Vikings was forced to punt deep in their own territory, but the Hilo coaching staff caught everyone by surprise when Daog took the ball then ran wide right for 15-yards and a first down.

    In the second half Kealakehe used a no huddle offense and almost exclusively went to their star running back Justin DeSilva.

    During the third quarter DeSilva carried the ball 12 times, breaking tackles and racking up yardage, but Hilo rose to the occasion and shut him and the Waveriders down.

    In the fourth quarter Kealakehe again went back to their big play running back and DeSilva delivered for the Waveriders.  DeSilva took a pass in the middle of the field and ran the ball in for a 15-yard score to put the Waveriders ahead.

   Hilo came right back on their next position with Lewis connecting on two big pass plays to Gonzales for 25 and 20-yards bringing the ball down to the Kealakehe 40-yard before the drive stalled.

‘Riders undefeated in Division I

Kealakehe took over possession and was moving the ball until Ontiveros fumbled and gave the ball back to Hilo on the Viking 40-yard line.

   Hilo looked primed for the major upset with 3:10 left on the clock the Vikings methodically was moving the ball, with the aid by two interference penalties on Kealakehe driving the ball down to the ‘Rider 29-yard line.

   In dramatic fashion Waverider linebacker, Kapule, stepped up and intercepted a Lewis pass on the Kealakehe 5-yard line.

  Looking to just run out the clock with 1:33 left in the game the Waveriders made a critical mistake and fumbled on the 2 to set up Hilo.

  In two plays and with Lewis sneaking up the middle for the TD all that was left was for Daog to make the tying kick to tie the game at 14.

   In overtime Hilo had the ball first, but was shut down when Kapule again stepped up and intercepted another Viking pass.

   The ball was then giving to Kealakehe on the Hilo 20-yard line and on the second play Ontiveros connected on a 20-yard end zone strike to Dominick Trevino to preserve the win for the Waveriders.

   Kealakehe DeSilva ended the game with 22 rushes for 96 years and one reception, a 15 for a 15-yard TD.

    Hilo’s Jesse Gonzales had a good night with seven receptions for 89-yards.

    Kealakeke defeated Hilo 21-0 in the junior varisty game.

From Wong Stadium:

Hilo              0     7      0      7    0     –    14

Kealakehe   0    6      0      8     6    –     20

Second Quarter

K – Haku Kapule 8 yard fumble recovery (kick failed), 8:59

H – Kamaka Lewis 1 yard run (Christian Daog kick), 2:03

Fourth Quarter

K – Justin DeSilva 15 yard pass/run from Jacob Ontiveros (DeSilva run) 10:35

H – Lewis 1 yard run (Daog kick),  :42

Overtime

K – Dominick Trevino 20 yard pass from Ontiveros

Honokaa’s Mosch and Greenwell tops in BIIF X-C

Tia Greenwell wins third BIIF Crown

    The Honokaa boys and Hawaii Preparatory Girls ran away with team titles in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation cross-country championships held at Kamehameha on Saturday.

   Leading the way for the Dragons was Chris Mosch who captured the BIIF individual crown making it a double championship sweep for the Honokaa boys.

   Mosch, just a junior, was challenged for most of the race by Keaau’s Daniel Brooks as the duo exchanged surges in the final mile.

    “I was getting worried there for a little bit,” Mosch said after the race.  “For the most part it was me and Daniel (Brooks) and we must have exchanged five surges in the final mile.”

   During the first mile of the three mile race Mosch and Brooks were in a pack made up of HPA’s Tyler Tsubota, Makua Lani’s Dylan Hardie-Jordan and Honokaa’s Joshua Robinson.  But in the final mile it became a battle between Brooks and Mosch.

   “With about 600 yards to go I pulled away for good and I put the race away,” Mosch said.  “This was the best race I ever had because I left everything out there and I gotta thank Daniel for that.”

Keaau’s Daniel Brooks

Brooks, a senior wide receiver on the Cougar football team, went all out in his attempt to win the BIIF title.

   “I wanted to be the BIIF champ and I wanted to prove to myself that I could push myself,” Brooks said.  “I’m happy with the final result as it was a tight race.”

   Dragons Joshua Robinson, Chayce Moniz, and Geo Chavez-Pardinin placed fifth through seventh respectively to help Honokaa capture their third consecutive boy’s team title.  Honokaa placed fifth in the state last year. 

Coach Abner

Honokaa coach, Josh Abner, was pleased with his team’s performance saying, “We work hard and it pays off.   We plan to represent the Big Island as best we can at state.”

   “We’re excited at Honokaa that all our sports teams are doing well and that the community is proud of us.  We have a good system of peer recruiting that helps us develop good runners,” Abner said.

   While the boys individual title was hotly contested the girls title was a cakewalk for Honokaa’s Tialana Greenwell.

   Greenwell, a strong and talented junior who placed second in the state last year, led the race from start to finish and was never seriously challenged.

    “There were no girls near me, except in the beginning,” Greenwell said of her race.  “I was a little disappointed that I didn’t break 20 minutes which was a goal going into the race.”

   Greenwell clocked 20 minutes and 4 seconds with HPA’s Kela Vargas 38 seconds behind the winner.

   Greenwell has now won three consecutive BIIF individual championships and has not lost to a league runner since placing second in the first race of her freshman season.

   “It feels really good to have won three BIIF titles,” Greenwell said.  “I worked really hard this season and all our girls worked really hard and I’m proud of their performance.”

   But Greenwell’s victory wasn’t enough to prevent the HPA girls from winning their second BIIF team title and third in the past four years.

   Vargas, 2^nd, led a barrage of talented Ka Makani harriers and was followed by freshmen Zoe Sims, 3^rd, and Emily Evans, 4^th.

   “This is where we should be as a team,” HPA coach Michael Franklin said.  “This is what I expected as a team, but we still have some individual goals.  It’s all about doing your best.”

   Franklin cited the many contributions made by various team members and said, “We worked really hard building a team and not just individuals.  It’s the first team that has bought into this program since I’ve been coaching.”

   The HPA, Honokaa and Hilo girl’s teams will advance to the Hawaii High School Athletic Association championships scheduled for Oct. 31 on Kauai.

   For the boy’s team scoring it was all Honokaa with the real surprise, the sleeper, Waiakea slipping into second place and Keaau taking third.

   Waiakea coach, Jordan Rosado, was surprised with his team’s runner up finish.  “They overachieved and I had no idea that they would come in second,” he said.

   All season long the Warrior boys had been in the second tier of BIIF team scoring and during the championships rose to pull an upset over the higher ranked HPA and Hilo squads.

   “I just told them prior to the race that this is the reason they run all those miles during practice,” Rosado said.  “Today they ran the race of their life.”

   Beyond the top three BIIF teams heading to Kauai will be the top 16 individual boys and 17 individual girls which were determined at the BIIF championships.