Results from Veterans Day Run – top 75

Hunter	Stephen	17:33
Langtry	Andrew	17:58
De Rego	Gabriel	20:20
Sato	Dyson	20:22
Grady	Pam	20:38
Rosario	Heather	21:28
Sakai	Dean	21:32
Ibarra	Ray	21:38
Hylas	John	21:47
Rosario	Nathaniel	21:59
Phumage	Victoria	22:00
Hose	Uriah	22:02
Hunter	Lory	22:04
Okumura	Kevin	23:11
LaBrie	Colbie	23:26
Busek	Adam	23:32
Yamada	Roy	23:35
Freitas	Kelly	23:37
Blinn	DJ	24:07:00
Kanashiro	Harris	24:43:00
Belcher	Robert	24:45:00
Funai	Kaitlyn	25:35:00
Bean	Nina	25:35:00
Swanson	Jesse	25:40:00
Truesdell	Joel	25:55:00
Ayceo	Ryan	26:23:00
Spina	Catherine	26:24:00
Thero	Firmin	26:36:00
Nagai	Dennis	26:51:00
Wedemann	Veroonica	27:05:00
Wedemann	Joe	27:06:00
Nolta	Anthony	27:16:00
O’Connell	Tim	27:19:00
Nakamura	Dana	27:32:00
Ayceo	Raymond	27:49:00
Balderas	Jennifer	29:08:00
Yamada	Gerald	29:30.0
Sur	Peter	29:31:00
Tamada	Wendy	29:32:00
Vicente	Adrel	29:33:00
Pavao	Steve	29:34:00
Miamgtry	Andrew	29:34:00
Decleene	Therese	29:34:00
York	Alvin	29:52:00
Jack	Kaleo	30:25:00
Tagawa	Lynn	30:31:00
Ahuna’Leong	Muriel	30:51:00
England	Stacy	31:32:00
Cabarloc	Reyn	31:42:00
Adachi	Dave	31:42:00
Kay’Wong	Lucas	31:53:00
Kay’Wong	Alex	31:54:00
Shigeoka	Dennis	32:12:00
Morita -Zen	Amanda	32:23:00
Morita	Aaron	32:29:00
Tagawa	Miles	32:41:00
Swanson	Suzanne	32:49:00
Rosario	Josaih	32:49:00
Rosario	Naomi	32:50:00
Faulknew	Lisa	32:55:00
Quitoriano	John	34:06:00
Ahu	Kaala	34:24:00
Takei	Lance	36:43:00
Wegner	Herb	37:17:00
Arceo	Ethan	37:19:00
Arceo	Michelle	37:19:00
Rosario	Missy	37:24:00
Wong-Yuen	Chelsea	38:16:00
Ahu	Wendy	39:38:00
Kuramoto	Marie	39:42:00
Inouye	Eric	39:42:00
Jose	Tiana	40:33:00
Domingo	Kalana	40:33:00
Hanson	Paul	40:35:00
Makua	Malcom	41:04:00

Canefire Conditioner a tradional fun race for pairs

KEAAU – The Big Island Interscholastic Federation opened its season with a traditional Canefire Conditioner, on the campus of Christian Liberty Academy.

It doesn’t happen to be your usual 3 mile cross country race because harriers are paired up with a teammate and there are special rules for team scoring.

“I ran a conditioner at Taylor University (Indiana).  It too was a preseason race,” CLA Coach Frank Grotenhuis said.

The objective is to allow everyone to run with a partner doing a relay format so that each runs a total of 3 miles (the total distance in a BIIF race, but with taking a 1 mile interval beak in between.

Hilo’s 1st and 2nd place teams.

“I think that the kids like it because they have a rest between each mile and they can get away with not being in 3 mile shape,” Grotenhuis said.  “Coaches have liked the fact that it’s a low key event, they get to see where their kids are at, and they can see some of their runners win awards.”

 “Our goal has been to make it a fun event for the schools and give them a chance to get out to Keaau and see our campus,” Grotenhuis said.  “It is always an eye opener for our school to see how popular cross country is!”

The Canefire conditioner gives 3 team trophies and 15 pairs of medals per race, according to Grotenhuis.

This year’s winner pair were both for Hilo in Stephen Hunter and Timon Skinner for the boys and Mahana Sabado-Halpern and Nina Bean for the girls.

Viking Coach Lory Hunter divided her girl pairs so that their number 1 runner would be paired with their number 4 runner and their #2 would be paired with #3.

“We wanted the team pair to push each other,” Coach Hunter said.

And Hilo strategy paid off as their two teams battled for first place and finished one-two with Carmen Garson-Shumway and Kaylee Rapoza finishing within  three minutes of each other.

#2 boys team Honokaa & #1 Hilo

“This is an exciting run and this is my favorite race,” Garson-Shumway said.

Bean echoed her teammate statement, “we pushed them to run hard and we paced them to make it fun” she said.

The Hilo pairs were clocked at their mile splits in the 6:52 range with the final mile reaching a speedy 6:02.

The third pair crossing the finish line was TeHani Jones and Tiana Iwata from Kamehameha.

Each coach came with their own strategy.

Michael Franklin head coach for Hawaii Prep Academy girl’s team said he has been doing the same thing for the past 5 years. He didn’t want to pull any surprises on anybody and the whole thing about his team strategy is to try to train them to run as a pack.

HPA lost to Hilo in team scoring by one point. But that didn’t change Franklin’s opinion of his strategy to train them to run as a group.

Coach Jordon Rosado of Waiakea said he likes the format at CLA because it affords his team to rest between miles and he wants to see what it is like when you put all these miles together during the week.

“It’s a great fun way to keep kids motivated to want to run and the CLA coach does a fantastic job putting this event together,” Rosado said.

Coach Joel Truesdell of Kamehameha’s team has done the Canefire conditioner for all seven years.

“It’s a great way to kick off the season, the kids love it. We don’t really train for the race.

Frank Grotenhuis is a great host and it’s his way of showing aloha,” Truesdell said.

On the boy’s side, was another pair of Hilo boys in Stephen Hunter and Timon Skinner taking first place.

“We were running in second place until our final baton pass in which we took over the lead,” Hunter said.

The Honokaa Dragon’s had a ten second lead on Hunter but the young Viking made up the time in a thrilling eleven second turn around.

Hunter had to pass the Dragons in the final baton pass to make it a clean sweep for the Vikings, but Honokaa still pulled out a team title.

Another pair of Vikings in Isreal Sim and Max Panoff came in third place within a minute of the other Hilo team.

Fourth place went to the pair of Paul Gregg and Tyler McCullough from Parker as the Bulls were separated by a mere minute and twelve seconds from first place.

But in the Conditioner format it takes your top four scoring teams to win the team title.

Despite the high temperature of a noon day boy’s race and no trade winds coming through the cane fields it still made for a great venue.

Grotenhuis keeps getting larger and larger participation, with 300 last year and a total of 328 runners this year.

CLA makes the awards possible through a series of fund raisers throughout the year, according to Grotenhuis.

A change in venue has BIIF cross country moving to the campus of HPA next Saturday Sept 1 starting at 10 a.m. instead of Kealakehe.

Big Dog’s Veteran’s Day 5K run/walk results from 11-11-11

Due to the heavy rain some of the ink on the finish sheets ran…………..making it difficult to read the spelling and some times in the official results.   Corrections will be made if you email the change to me at waiakeabigdog@aol.com  Congratulations to all that braved the rain, especially to our volunteers, Kari Sato and the Waiakea Key Club who put up and took down the tents and banners, Paul Okubo for timing  Faith Nance for writing down the finishers names during the heavy downpour and Jerry Chang and his crew for supplying the post race refreshments.   To the participants who came out despite the rain – a big, warm MAHALO!   Two PAWS UP to all of you, including my lovely wife Randee –    Related link:  https://waynejoseph.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/random-photos-from-big-dogs-veterans-day-5k-on-11-11-11/

Big Dog’s Veterans Day 5K Results – read from left column first

Barnett	Billy	16:23		Carvalho	Erin	26:24:00
Gregory	Chris	16:52		Tanouie	Mark	26:27:00
Halford	Jackson	17:40		Matiaas	Lowell	26:40:00
Barcia	Joe	18:35		Jirir	AJ	27:01:00
Pang	Justin	18:42		Dusek	Deb	27:06:00
Panoff	Max	18:51		LaBrie	Colby	27:15:00
Perry	Louie	19:04		Auth	Tim	27:24:00
Hunter	Stephen	19:17		Grothmann	Kalai	27:37:00
Daly	Michael	19:21		Eckart	Kanai Pono	27:43:00
Allan	Ryan	19:29		Eckart	Lawrence	27:44:00
Olson	Kevin	19:54		Truesdell	Joel	27:56:00
Wozniak	Michael	20:09		Ongais	Kayla	28:10:00
Villena	Linden	20:34		Wong Yuen	Donna	28:17:00
Kobayashi	Kelsie	20:36		Valera	Jarvis	29:01:00
Irysen	Galigo	20:59		Camero	Ryan	29:33:00
Harbor	Jin	21:04		Desa	Kanani	29:44:00
Hill	Adam	21:08				29:52:00
Matuura	Sam	21:31		Rhyss	Joyi	29:56:00
Bako	Patrick	21:35		Darling	Kristen	30:05:00
Matsuyama	Amy	21:39		Hulten	Kaliko	30:05:12
Wedeman	Joe	21:48		Javier	Stella	30:06:00
Ibarra	Ray	21:54		Wilson	Harold	30:27:00
Cafier	Nicholas	22:15		Hammer	Jerelyn	30:48:00
Uyeda	Garret	22:16		Newman	Allen	30:59:00
Pavao	Steve	22:20		Pacheco	Lauren	31:00:00
Matias	Greg	22:29		Faulkner-Inouye	Lisa	31:07:00
Stayhorn	Vishu	22:35		Domingo	Sky	31:33:00
Shumoff	Nikolai	22:58		Domingo	Stacy	31:34:00
Rhyss	Dorian	23:00		Fulton	Jim	31:41:00
Nishimura	Neon	23:06		Subica	Raynelle	31:52:00
Langtry	Andrew M.	23:08		Inata	Ben	32:06:00
Hunter	Lory	23:12		Shigeoka	Dennis	32:08:00
Myhre	Lucas	23:14		Newman	Dixie	32:31:00
Rapoza	Kaylee	23:20		Mair Lates	Molly	32:56:00
Jedinsky	Jennifer	23:24		Baldwin	David	33:17:00
Hunter	Stuart	23:33				33:19:00
Willis	Christine	23:35		Nakasone	Harvey	34:04:00
Pavao	Wayne	23:38		Barbas	Bonita	34:32:00
Okimaka	Vandey	23:40		Fulton	Allison	34:37:00
Ho	Josen	23:44		Eckart	Tennille	34:41:00
Barcia	Sage	23:48		England	Stacy	34:58:00
Ombac	Skye	23:50		England	Charlie	34:59:00
Grothmann	Rihei	23:52		Rosorio	Naomi	35:00:00
Rosario	Heather	23:59		Daly	Mykelah	35:36:00
Kim	Corrin	24:06:00		Harbour	Haruko	35:38:00
Taaroa	Emily	24:12:00		Tana	Lisa	36:30:00
Ignacio	Vanessa	24:17:00		Aktorg	Josette	36:31:00
Tominaga	MJ	24:20:00		Sakarias	Suzette	36:32:00
		24:24:00		Auth	Jean	36:34:00
Rosario	Josiah	24:26:00		Chang	Jerry	36:50:00
Subica	Wayne	24:46:00		Hanson	Paul	37:03:00
Jones	Tehani	25:11:00		Hammer	Felicia	37:11:00
Grothmann	Richard	25:14:00		Rapoza	Kylyn	37:35:00
Chun	Matt	25:45:00		Ostrowski	Cheryl	37:48:00
Masuyama	Mark	25:50:00		Rapoza	Sossity	37:53:00
Hagemann	Natalie	26:00:00		Sherlock	Braxton	37:59:00
Strayhorn	Govardano	26:12:00		Rosene	Ken	38:15:00
Bostwick	Charles	26:13:00		McKinley	Shaun	38:24:00
Agams	Phil	26:17:00		Sugioka-Kai	Samantha	38:41:00
		26:19:00		Kingery	Emily	38:58:00
				Brown	Barbara	39:02:00
				Mauga	Kehau	39:44:00
				Mauga	Russell	39:45:00
				Kiefer	Cheryl	40:04:00
				Soares	Carl	40:05:00
				Kagawa	Edwin	40:06:00
				Lum	Mah	40:44:00
				Ellazar Hernandez	Emmy	40:56:00
				Hernandez	Sam	54:00:00
				Kaalakea	Brianna	1:04
				Kekipi	Kayla	1:04
				Anguay	Gail	1:08:54
				Anguay	Coco	1:08:55
				Meek	Lucy	54:15

Kamehameha Teacher and Coach, Joel Truesdell, making a difference

Coach Joel Truesdaell

When young people are exposed to sports participation they often come into contact with a variety of coaches, some good and others who need improvement.

Coaches can enhance a young person’s experience or they can take away their enthusiasm in that particular sport.

For a young Joel Truesdell his love for sports led to the discovery of a new, more objective form of coaching.

“I have been interested in sports since I was in elementary school,” Truesdell said.  “I loved any sport that we were paying and my favorites were baseball, football and wrestling.”

It was through that passion for sports participation that Truesdell got a rude awakening into how some coaches show favoritism.

“In high school, I played football my freshman year, but had a coach that played his favorites and I was not one of them,” he said.

From his unfortunate life lesson in football Truesdell vowed to only participate in sports where playing time was based more objectively on his performance.

“I realized that in cross country and track that the stop watch does not lie,” Truesdell said.  “In wrestling, if you beat the guy above you on the weight class ladder, you take his place.”

By his college years Truesdell was running between 70 and 100 miles per week and considered himself to be in the best shape of his life.

“ During the summer of my sophomore year in college I felt like I had a touch of the flu for a week and when I ran my next race, I could barely keep a 6 minute per mile pace for the 5 miles,” Truesdell said.

The week before his 5 mile race Truesdell was running the same distance on a rugged course at a 5:10 clip, so he knew something was wrong, but he didn’t know what it was.”

“I went to the doctor and he just said I needed a little rest and that I would be fine,” Truesdell said.  “I wasn’t diagnosed properly until Christmas when my weight dropped down to about 114 pounds that’s when it was discovered that I had Type I diabetes.”

Truesdell stopped running for a while after learning about his diabetes and claims that his health started to deteriorate even further.

“I  started running again seriously when I got to Hawaii in 1981, at the age of 26,” he said.  “My health started improving and by 1983 I was running marathons.”

Truesdell’s health improved so much after ’83 that he joined the Hawaii Ultra Running Team, also known as HURT, and started running ultra marathons or distances beyond the 26.2 mile marathon.

“My favorite ultra became Run to the Sun on Maui,” he said. “It is a 36.2 mile run up Haleakala,  and my best time was 6 hours and 20 minutes and a 7^th place overall finish.”

Truesdell has done Run to the Sun 11 times and is a testament to perseverance and a strong mind.

Today Truesdell is a Chemistry teacher at Kamehameha Hawaii campus where he also coaches, what else, cross country and track.

“My workload, as are all teachers, is very high and highly stressful,” Truesdell said.  “Coaching, while also a lot of work, helps to relieve my stress.”

Truesdell has been married to Elizabeth for 21 years who also shares in her husband’s coaching task.

As for diet Truesdell follows the Chris Carmichael diet, which is high in carbohydrates and low in fats and protein.

“Carmichael preaches to eat what you need and not stuff yourself,” Truesdell said.  “I will eat fresh food everyday and dessert only on occasion.”

Truesdell is very visible in his coaching duties as he will run with his cross country team.

“I stay active by running 4 to 5 times per week with the kids,” he said.  “We run 4 to 5 miles per day and I enjoy doing it as it is fun and also keep my Type 1 diabetes in check.”

Truesdell is a good role model for his team as he does everything he ask them to do, even if it means trying something different that he had never done before.

“Our team started doing cardio kickboxing for core training and we do it twice per week.  I’ll try to do it with the kids but I seem to have rhythm disorder,” he said with a grin.

Coach Truesdell is an advocate for good health through exercise and eating right and lives the lifestyle, serving as a positive influence for a sport that is dear to his heart, which he happened to stumble upon.

At age 56 Truesdell continues to benefit from a sport that doesn’t lie, “it’s all about the stop watch.”

“What I like best about working out is the feeling that I have gotten rid of a lot of stress and that I have taken an action that will help me live another day,” Truesdell said.

“There is nothing that I dislike about working out as I hope that I can be running for many more years to come.”

Truesdell and his Kamehameha Warriors will be playing host to the Big Island Interscholastic Federation cross country championships scheduled for October 22.

If you happen to come by the Warrior campus be sure to view the race at the one mile mark where you will see a sign called “Truesdell Trail,” in honor of a coach  that has made a difference.

And someday should you happen to see a jogger meandering the back trails of East Hawaii remember to smile, say “woof” and never shy away from “Running with the Big Dog.”

Email the Big Dog at waiakeabigdog@aol.com.

Lady Ka Makani looking to continue BIIF Cross Country Dynasty

Lady harriers from Hawaii Prep

The Hawaii Prep girls cross country program doesn’t don Yankee pinstripes, it doesn’t channel Celtic pride and it’s never celebrated their victories with the Lambeau leap.  But in its own realm, Ka Makani wahine are every bit as dominant.

Since 1980 the ladies from Hawaii Preparatory Academy have dominated the Big Island Interscholastic Federation cross county winning league titles in 27 of the past 31 years, according to Ka Makani athletic director Stephen Perry.

The BIIF cross country season opens this Saturday with the HPA girls team coming in as heavy favorites to win yet another league championship.

Waiakea (1983 & 1991) and Kamehameha (2005 & 2007) were the only other schools to win BIIF girls team titles and HPA looks on track to continue their cross country dominance.

Ka Makani return four of the varsity seven from last year’s league champions with Zoe Sims, Emily Evans, Kristiana Van Pernis and Mariah Haight leading the way.

Head coach Michael Franklin returns at the helm, but down plays his team’s goal of winning another league title.

“Truly, people don’t believe me when I say this, but winning a championship is not one of our goals,” Franklin said.  “Our goals are simple as they come from the basic philosophy that life is more satisfying if one pushes him or herself beyond perceived limits.”

Franklin believes that his harriers need to focus on themselves and their team rather than on trying to win a league championship.

“Focusing on winning a championship would require too much attention on others,” he said.  “We really have a team focus.”

Ka Makani girls finished second in the state last season and this year is considered the team to challenge Punahou again for the Hawaii High School Athletic Association title.

“This is the strongest team that I have yet coached at HPA,” Franklin said.  “That does not mean that it is the fastest team.  It is the strongest because of its unified spirit and unanimous love for the running lifestyle.  Whether we win or lose races, this team’s attitude makes it exceptional.”

Gunning for the girl’s title will be the Warriors of Kamehameha as Coach Joel Truesdell return five of his top seven girls.

“This is the first time since we last won the BIIF championship that we return this many varsity starters,” Truesdell said.

Kamehameha returns three girls that were in the top 20 at the BIIF championships last season in Tiana Iwata (12^th), Corin Kim (16^th) and Erin Carvalho (20^th).

“We’ve got some depth on our girl’s squad as we have 8 girls running in the lead pack,” Truesdell said.  “Our goals are the same as last year, to get a full team into states.”

Also shooting to get a full team to qualify for the state championship is Hilo’s veteran coach, Bill McMahon.

“Our top two returning girls are Shalila De Bournmont and Carmen Garson-Shumway,” McMahon said.  “Our boy’s team are all young, but I do have a good sized group.”

Waiakea’s  fastest girl is Kelsie Kobayashi and she will be anchored by Haley Rasse, Vanessa Ignacio, Skye Ombac, and Vandey Okinaka, according to Coach Jordan Rosado.

“We have a large team, with 40 boys and 28 girls,” Rosado said.  “I feel we have as good a chance to compete for the boy’s team title as anyone else, since Honokaa lost some of their best runners to graduation.”

Waiakea will be led by Jackson Halford and Keoni Rice with Ian McQuate, Hajime Hiyano and Dyson Sato providing needed support according to Rosado.

Honokaa, returns as the four time defending league champion, but has some holes to fill from last season.

“Chayce Moniz, Clayton Robinson, Pedro Sanches, Robert Conners, Tony Conners, Riston Matias, Koa Phenice, Sean Quinlan, Justin Warren, and Mason Wilkes are our returners,” Coach Joshua Abner said.

Abner lost three of his seven starters from last year, including two time individual BIIF champion Chris Mosch, which leaves the door open for several teams to vie for the team title.

“Every day is an open tryout for us and every one of these boys are hungry,” Abner said.

Last season’s big surprise came from the boys at Parker School as Coach Ceri Whitfield qualified her team for the HHSAA.

“I feel with the hard work these boys put into their training they have as much chance as any of the other schools to come in first,” Whitfield said.  “They are very committed and positive about their chances this year as they work very hard.”

Leading the way for the Bulls is Jesse Tarnas who will brings a solid core of runners which includes Jesse Tarnas, Paul Gregg, Tyler McCullough, Jess Burns and Evan Kasberg.

Kamehameha boys coach, Ryan Cabalse, has four returnees that made it to the state championships last season in Shawn Correa-Doll, Kaulana Ho, Colton Hill, and Jonah Knell.

“Our boy’s squad has never qualified as a team for states yet, (five from the same team need to qualify to score as a team) but we are hoping to contend for one of the automatic team slots this season,” Cabalse said.

St. Joseph returns one of the best BIIF runners in Andrew Langtry who is expected to challenge for the individual league crown.  Langtry ran in various community races during the off season and was often seen in the top leader board.

Keaau brings 41 boys and 15 girls into competition with returnees Deann Nishimura-Thornton and Natalie Hagemann leading the girls while Jhun-Delle Venture, Davin Alviento, Greg Matias, Arman Navarro and Adrian Martinez headline the boy’s squad, according to Coach Donna Wong Yuen.

Though difficult, we always want to try and qualify a team for states,” Wong Yuen said.  “Our goals are to have fun and improve from last year.”

Christian Liberty Academy doesn’t have any girls on their cross country team but will bring 10 boys to the starting line, according to Coach Frank Grotenhuis.

“Caeden Cambra and Keenen Freitas are the two fastest on the team,” Grotenhuis said.  “We’re looking at having the boys push hard so that they can achieve their personal best.”

The BIIF harriers get off to a running start on Saturday with Grotenhuis as his CLA family playing host to the Canefire Conditioner starting at 10 am on the Keaau campus.