Big Dog’s Picks for HHSAA Cross-Country 11-20

HPA's Tyler Tsubota picked at #13

Big Dog’s picks for HHSAA cross-country in the second tier, 11-20.  To see the picks for the top 10 go to:   https://waynejoseph.wordpress.com/2009/10/25/big-dogs-final-hhsaa-top-10-cross-country-runners/

BOYS:

11.  Dylan Hardie-Jordan, Makua Lani

12.  Rocky Balala, Maui

13.  Tyler Tsubota, HPA

14.  Jordan Kahawai, Kamehameha-Oahu

15.  Daniel Brooks, Keaau

16.  Colin Honeker, Aiea

17.  Ian Terayama, Punahou

18.  Ryan Hobson, Mid Pacific

19.  Joshua Robinson, Honokaa

20.  Alvin Ringor, Molokai

GIRLS:

11.  Kaitlyn Chock, Waiakea

12.  Amanda Ishikawa, Mid Pacific

13.  Jessica Johnson, Kamehameha-Oahu

14.  Zoe Sims, HPA

15.   Emily Evans, HPA

16.  Shannon Whener, Maui

17.  Kelli Morrissey, Iolani

18.  Kelsie Kobayashi, Waiakea

19.  Tia Nakashima, Hawaii Baptist

20.  Sophie Curatilo, Moanalua

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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.

Dragons/Ka Makani favored to win BIIF X-C Championships

Hawaii Prep girls are heavy favorites to repeat as BIIF champs

    Looking to see some of the best prep runners on the Big Island?  Then head out to the north end of the island and the home of the Dragons and Ka Makani.

    The Honokaa boys are the two time Big Island Interscholastic Federation team champions and two of their boys will be vying for top individual honors this Saturday when Kamehameha plays host to the league championships.

   Dragons Chris Mosch and Joshua Robinson have shared top honors in every BIIF race that they have entered during the regular season.

   Robinson has dominated in the hilly courses at Kealakehe and Hawaii Prep, while teammate Mosch has won at Kohala and the two previous meets held at Kamehameha.

Chris Mosch

Going into the BIIF championships the Dragon boys are the clear favorites to three peat for the title while Mosch gets the slight edge to claim his first individual title.

   “I’m going to run my own race at the BIIF championships no matter what and regardless of others expectations,” Mosch said.

    Much of the Dragon success comes from their work ethic and dedication to the sport, along with some natural harrier talent.

    “We work very hard and everyone on the team gets very involved in their training,” Mosch said of Honokaa’s success in running.

    While the Dragon boys have the fast track on winning the team title Mosch will need to go out hard and maintain the pace to come away with the individual crown.

   “I think that Dylan (Hardie-Jordan), Tyler (Tsubota), Daniel (Brooks), Josh (Robinson) and I all have a good shot at winning.  Anything can happen and I wouldn’t count anyone out,” Mosch said.

   In the last regular season race it was HPA’s Tyler Tsubota taking second to Mosch with a 16 second gap, with Makua Lani’s Dylan Hardie-Jordan a half-step behind to claim third.

   Keaau’s Daniel Brooks, who does double duty as a Cougar harrier and wide receiver on the football team, finished second to Mosch at the first Kamehameha meet staying within nine seconds of the Dragon.

   Brooks won both East Division meets at Waiakea while Mosch and Robinson were winning the West Division.

   For the girl’s team title perennial champions HPA has the inside track.  Led by Kela Vargas the lady Ka Makani have a host of talented runners, that include freshmen Zoe Sims and Emily Evans, and are capable of placing all seven varsity runners in the BIIF top 20.

   “Going into the finals I’m telling my runners what I’ve told them all season, have fun as a team and inspire each other to run fast,” HPA coach Michael Franklin said.

    Franklin is in his fourth season as Ka Makani girls head coach and has won two BIIF titles during the past three years.

    “Honokaa, Waiakea and Hilo are all very strong teams,” Franklin said.  “Honokaa and Waiakea have great individuals and Hilo is deep, has good coaching and always seems to peak at just the right time.”

   Honokaa’s junior, Tialana Greenwell, will be gunning for her third consecutive individual BIIF crown.  Greenwell, who placed second in the state last year, continues to be undefeated in Big Island competition dating back to her freshman year.

   Dragon teammate, Athena Oldfather, could give Honokaa a one-two punch, but Oldfather will be challenged by Vargas, along with Waiakea harriers Kaitlyn Chock and Kelsie Kobayashi.

   Makua Lani’s Grace Choe, Hilo’s Shalila de Bourmont and Kamehameha’s Bronte Kaneakua all have the experience and talent to finish in the top five on Saturday.

   With the top three boy’s teams and top three girls teams advancing to the state championships on Kauai on October 31 the boy’s and girl’s teams with the advantage going into the BIIF finale are Honokaa, HPA and Hilo.

   Outside teams with a shot of making the top three are the Makua Lani, Kamehameha and Waiakea for the girls, along with the Keaau, Christian Liberty and Makua Lani for the boys.

   For those teams that don’t advance the league will select the top 16 boys and top 17 girls for participation at the state championships.

    “The whole league (BIIF) feels stronger this year and one of the great things about this sport is that on any given day, anything could happen.  But, I’m not really thinking about other teams at this point because we are just focused on running our best race,” Franklin said.

BIIF Regular Season Ends as Runners Begin to Peak

BIIF Championships on Oct 24

The Big Island Interscholastic Federation cross country regular season ended on Saturday with an all-schools meet held at Kamehameha’s Keaau Campus.

   Honokaa’s Tia Greenwell and Chris Mosch captured individual honors with the Dragons winning the boys team scoring and Hawaii Preparatory Academy taking the girls team title.

   In the girls race it was all Greenwell, from start to finish, as the junior and two time defending BIIF individual champion finished the regular season undefeated in island competition. Greenwell’s winning time was 20 minutes and 50 seconds which was 51 seconds slower than her desired goal of breaking the 20 minute barrier.

Athena Oldfather

   Dragon teammate, Athena Oldfather, tried to stay close to Greenwell and found herself finishing in second place 11 seconds behind.

   “I, along with half our team, took the SAT’s today and I was mentally drained coming into this race,” Oldfather said.

   Oldfather credited Makua Lani’s Grace Choe for her strong finish.  “I thought Grace (Choe) ran a very good race as she helped pace me for the first half of the race,” Oldfather said.

   “I didn’t have any goals or race plan coming into today.  I just wanted to run and never gave it much thought.  I’m really proud of how our    ` team did today,” Oldfather said.

Kela Vargas

Despite having the first two runners cross the finish line ahead of the rest of the field it was HPA, led by Kela Vargas, that won top team honors.

   “Our team is right where they should be at this point of the season,” HPA coach, Michael Franklin said.  “My two freshmen, Zoe Sims and Emily Evans, really surprised me as they finished 4^th and 5^th overall.”

   Franklin gave much of the credit to junior, Kela Vargas, in helping get his freshmen into the top five.  “Kela is an experienced runner, strong and consistent, and she paced our two freshmen,” he said.

   “(Vargas) is brilliant at pacing and she is teaching our two younger, more inexperienced runners who have great potential, how to run better,” Franklin said.

   “I was in 6^th or 7^th place running with Kelsie (Kobayashi from Waiakea), Grace (Choe) and Bronte (Kaneakua from Kamehameha) during the first half of the race,” Vargas said.

    “When we approached the two mile marker I separated from the pack and moved into third place.  I felt like I was gaining on Athena (Oldfather) at the end of the race, but I just couldn’t catch up to her,” Vargas said.

   This was the second week in a row that Vargas finished third and she was pleased with the result.  “It feels really good to be third and I’m happy where I’m at,” she said.

For the boys it was pack of five runners that were glued together going into the second half of the three mile race.

   “I ran relaxed for the first mile, aggressive the second mile and I left it all out there on the third mile,” Chris Mosch said of his winning time of 17 minutes flat.

   Mosch was in a pack at the half way point which included Keaau’s Daniel Brooks, HPA’s Tyler Tsubota, Makua Lani’s Dylan Hardie-Jordan and Hilo’s Tyde Kaneshiro.

   “Any one of those guys in the lead pack can win this race on any given day,” Mosch said.  “It will come down to who is the best prepared for the BIIF championships.”

   Mosch has won both all-schools meets at Kamehameha this season (Kamehameha will host the BIIF championships on October 24) and sets himself up as the man to beat going into the finals.

   “I feel real confident and I’m fine with being the guy to beat at BIIF’s,” Mosch said.  “The BIIF championships should definitely be a good race and a lot of who will win that race has to do with who is the best prepared.”

   In getting ready for the championships Honokaa has brought their runners to practice on the Kamehameha course four times during the past week.  “It really helped me to train on this course during the week,” Mosch said.  “I learned where all the mile markers are located and what to expect while running this course.  It was a big advantage for us to train here.”

Tyler Tsubota

Rising star, Tyler Tsubota of HPA, has been making steady improvement throughout the season and has positioned himself to make a run at the boy’s individual crown.

   “I was playing soccer during the summer and never came into the season with my cross country conditioning,” Tsubota said.  “Things are all starting to fall into place now and I’m happy where I am at going into the championships.”

   Tsubota was trailing Makua Lani’s Hardie-Jordan with about 100 yards to the finish when he turned on an awesome kick to catch Hardie-Jordan in the final 20 yards and nip him at the finish line to claim second overall in a time of 17:16.

   “Dylan (Hardie-Jordan) is my friend and we play soccer together, so I really wanted to beat him,” Tsubota said.

   “I think I have a good start and a good finish during my races and I’ve made it my goal to finish in the top 10 at states this year,” he said.

   The BIIF will hold the island cross-country championships on Saturday, October 24 at Kamehameha with the top three teams for both the boys and girls advancing to the HHSAA championships on October 31 at Kauai.

   Beyond the top three teams the top 16 boys and top 17 girls will also advance to the state championships.

Boy’s Varsity Results from Kamehameha Meet

Honokaa boys, led by Chris Mosch and Joshua Robinson, dominated the Kamehameha meet

Team scoring:  Honokaa 49, Hilo 93, HPA 94, Makua Lani 94, CLA 126, Keaau 129, Parker 130, Kamehameha 139 and Pahoa 271.

1 Mosch, Chris              11 Honokaa                        17:00.01    1  
  2 Tsubota, Tyler            12 H P A                          17:16.68    2  
  3 Hardie-Jordan, Dylan      12 Makua Lani                     17:16.85    3  
  4 Brooks, Daniel            12 Keaau                          17:31.51    4  
  5 Kaneshiro, Tyde           11 Hilo                           17:49.60    5  
  6 Robinson, Joshua          11 Honokaa                        17:50.24    6  
  7 Grotenhuis, Jeremy        12 C L A                          17:55.21    7  
  8 Moniz, Chayce             10 Honokaa                        18:00.92    8  
  9 Chavez-Pardinin, Geo      11 Honokaa                        18:04.46    9  
10 Tarnas, Jesse             10 Parker School                  18:06.27   10  
11 Mabuni, Brandt            10 Makua Lani                     18:14.09   11  
12 White, Shannon            12 Keaau                          18:16.89   12  
13 Edwards, Jacob            12 Kau                            18:19.75 
14 Gregg, Daniel             11 Parker School                  18:20.07   13  
15 Kuiper, Johann            10 Hilo                           18:37.93   14  
16 Lingenfelder, Elijah       9 Makua Lani                     18:52.27   15  
17 Ho, Kaulana               10 Kamehameha HI                  18:53.66   16  
18 Michels, Rick             11 Hilo                           18:54.78   17  
19 Hapgood, Russ             12 H P A                          18:57.42   18  
20 Johnson, Makoa            12 H P A                          18:57.89   19  
21 Grotenhuis, Jordan         9 C L A                          19:00.01   20  
22 Fratinardo, John          12 Kamehameha HI                  19:06.85   21  
23 Vandervoort, Devin         9 Makua Lani                     19:07.58   22  
24 Moylan, Richard           12 C L A                          19:09.67   23  
25 Torrison, Edward          10 Hilo                           19:10.12   24  
26 Shiraki, Dylan            10 Honokaa                        19:11.10   25  
27 Chai, Casey               12 Kamehameha HI                  19:18.04   26  
28 Van Kirk, Tyler           10 H P A                          19:26.83   27  
29 Martin, Logan             11 H P A                          19:29.16   28  
30 Mccullough, Tyler          9 Parker School                  19:36.17   29  
31 Gregg, Paul                9 Parker School                  19:36.84   30  
32 Kelii, Michael            12 C L A                          19:37.37   31  
33 Umayas, Samuel            12 Keaau                          19:40.28   32  
34 Ray, Billy                11 Hilo                           19:41.37   33  
35 Prentiss, Sean            12 H P A                          19:41.81   34  
36 Tobias, Josh              10 Honokaa                        19:45.26   35  
37 Macy, Justin               9 H P A                          19:49.26   36  
38 Gahan, Makaala            10 Kamehameha HI                  20:02.14   37  
39 Katibah, Matthew           9 St Joseph’s                    20:03.25 
40 Mah, Brandon              11 Honokaa                        20:04.54   38   
 41 Correa, Shawn             10 Kamehameha HI                  20:09.17   39  
42 Langtry, Andrew            9 St Joseph’s                    20:09.93 
43 Clubbs, James             11 Keaau                          20:10.54   40  
44 Olsen, Kevin              11 Keaau                          20:18.04   41  
45 Andrada, Shawn Andy       12 Keaau                          20:18.66   42  
46 Dong, Andrew              10 Makua Lani                     20:27.32   43  
47 Branco, Brenden           11 Hilo                           20:27.90   44  
48 Arellano, John Ross       12 C L A                          20:47.23   45  
49 Wynn, Mark                11 C L A                          20:48.71   46  
50 Williamson, Marshal        9 Waiakea                        21:01.68 
51 Koscik, Chris             11 St Joseph’s                    21:11.21 
52 Byrd, John                12 Pahoa                          21:14.99   47  
53 Hon, Kimo                 11 Parker School                  21:15.32   48  
54 Weiss, Sai                12 Hilo                           21:23.38   49  
55 Walsh, Hamlet             12 Pahoa                          21:25.06   50  
56 Baker, Saya               12 Kamehameha HI                  21:53.44   51  
57 Pavao, Wayne              11 Keaau                          21:55.01   52  
58 Pelletier, Kyle           11 Kamehameha HI                  22:05.84   53  
59 Ouye, Ronn                12 C L A                          22:06.33   54  
60 Dong, Eric                10 Makua Lani                     22:20.34   55  
61 Whalen, Paul              11 Makua Lani                     22:21.79   56  
62 Sullivan, William         12 Pahoa                          24:04.96   57  
63 Keaunui, Kaulana          11 Pahoa                          24:12.40   58  
64 Dipert, Josh              12 Pahoa                          24:21.43   59  
— Andrade, Jacob            12 St Joseph’s                          DQ