Runners return to winner’s circle

Jeremy Kamaka‘ala and Lauren Ho each win their second title

Kamehameha's Jeremy Kamaka'ala and Lauren Ho of Hawaii Prep won their second Honolulu Marathon State Cross Country Championships yesterday in Lihue, and it wasn't even close.

Kamaka'ala took home the boys race by more than 30 seconds over Patrick Stover of Konawaena and Ho finished 27 seconds ahead of Lucy Pollard of Hawaii Prep. Both races were run at Kauai Community College.

Kamaka'ala, who took the title in 2003, ran the 3-mile course in 15 minutes, 22.4 seconds, the fastest effort since the event moved to a 3-mile course in 1976. The previous fastest finish came in 1995, when Matt Stevens toured Waiehu Golf Course in 15:34.71. Stover finished in 15:53.05 and Peter Deptula ran a 16:01.20 for Punahou to finish third.

Ho ran the course in 18:11.45, the first time the girls ran the same distance as the boys. She ran 2 miles in 12:34.95 on the HPA campus to win the event last year. Ho joins Eri McDonald, Nina Liahjell and Tammy Cartwright as the only repeat winners of the event.

Punahou took the girls team title for the first time since 2000, beating Kamehameha by 54 points and Iolani by 79. Kamehameha won the title last year and Iolani won it the previous three years.

The only close race was for the boys team title.

Iolani won for the second time in three years, edging state power Kamaka'ala's Kamehameha squad by three points. Although Kamaka'ala won the individual title, the Raiders placed three runners in the top 10 to take the crown.

Kamehameha was trying to defend its title after Iolani broke the school's string of six straight championships in 2002.

Alexander Stephenson finished fourth overall for Iolani, followed by Kon Weber in sixth and Jonathan Goto in seventh. Austin Barnes finished 21st and Ryan Chun rounded out the scoring with a 28th-place finish for the champions.