By MATT GERHART
Stephens Media Hawaii
The Honokaa boys cross country team wasn’t enthused about being relegated to a lower division. So the Dragons went out and did the next best thing: They banded together once again to make sure it didn’t matter.
They won their seventh consecutive Big Island Interscholastic Federation title last Saturday at Kamehameha by taking their coach’s words to heart.
“I told them before the race that they didn’t want to look back on this and think that they should have done better,” Jeri Moniz said. “You need to leave it on the course and do everything you can.”
How hard did some of the Dragons push?
Tony Connors led the way in fifth, Isaac Angelo was seventh and Sean Quinlan came in two spots later, but neither Connors nor Quinlan could tell Moniz how they got there.
“They couldn’t remember the end of the race,” she said. “The sheer will of the team always amazes me.”
Most of Honokaa’s harriers are soccer players first and runners second, but they’ve got one more chance to test their mettle today at the Hawaii High School Athletic Association championships on Kauai.
The Island School’s 3-mile course is flatter than the Dragons would prefer, but Moniz said a top-five finish is a realistic goal.
At BIIFs, however, the only option was No. 1. Only a week before the championships did Moniz finally let her runners in on the secret: They were going to compete in Division II, while rival Hawaii Prep and the island’s larger schools ran in the upper classification.
“They were bummed, but they said they were just going to have to go out and beat everybody,” Moniz said. “They made good on their promise.”
S eanry Agbayani was 10th and Sean Perala gave the team a fifth scorer in the top 12 as Honokaa easily outdistanced Ka Makani, who took the D-I title.
Cjay Carvalho (35th at BIIFs) and Zechariah Ugalde (37th) will also compete at states.
The only team more dominant at BIIFs was the Hawaii Prep girls. Ka Makani placed all of their seven runners in the top 10, led by winner Kristiana Van Pernis and Mariah Haight in third.
In Van Pernis’ three previous state runs, HPA has never finished worst than second, and Ka Makani won the state crown in 2011.
Seabury Hall’s Dakota Grossman will try to become a four-time champion today, but HPA coach Michael Franklin expects the BIIF to shine and wouldn’t be surprised if the league placed as many as five runners in the top 10.
In addition to Van Pernis and Haight, the Big Island’s best contenders to do so are Hilo’s Carmen Garson–Shumway and Mehana Sabado–Halpern, St. Joseph’s Sol Kislig and HPA’s Veronica Ladwig, Kelly Ulrich, Sabrina Disney, Erin Evans and Taru Aitola.
BIIF boys champion Ian McQ uate of Wai akea said his first goal was to beat the personal best of 16 minutes, 18.79 seconds he ran Oct. 12 at Keaau.