Friday, November 21, 1997
Macdonald tries for a three-peat
By Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinPunahou's Eri Macdonald, named among the nation's midseason top 25 female prep runners by The Harrier magazine, will go for her third straight HHSAA cross country title tomorrow morning at Waiakea High School on the Big Island. Kaiser's Nina Liajhell is the only other runner in the event's 33 years to win three straight titles. She did it from 1983 to 1985.
Macdonald, a junior, has never lost a cross country race in the islands since she debuted for Punahou as a freshman.
Macdonald's best competition this season has come from teammate Victoria Chang, a sophomore who is the state's 1,600- and 3,200-meter champion.
A consistent third-place finisher to the Punahou duo this year has been Kamehameha freshman Cobey Ackerman.
Punahou has the defending girls' and boys' team champions.
Head coach Hugh Jenkins said he's concerned about Kamehameha, the only team to beat Punahou in season meets. The Warrior girls placed five in the top 10 last weekend (3rd and 7th through 10th).
On the boys' side, for the first time since 1993, the race will be wide open. Gone is three-time champion Matt Stevens of Hawaii Baptist Academy (now running for Harvard), and the favorites are Hilo's Josh Villanueva (the Punahou Invitational winner), ILH champion Robert Kessner of Iolani, Pac-Five's Jonah Hulbert (2nd at ILH), Kamehameha's Jacob Williams (3rd in ILH), and Punahou's Scott Ogawa (4th in ILH).
Unbeaten Villanueva is favored due to his Punahou win and his familiarity with the Waiakea course.
As for the boy's team race, the ILH champion Warriors have the best chance to win since 1994, when they came in second to Hawaii Prep. Kamehameha has not won a state cross country title since the school took back-to-back championships in 1966-67.
Kamehameha coach, Steve Jenness, who was a 1500-meter All-American at the University of California (Riverside), said he expects Punahou to be a major factor in the team race.