[ HIGH SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY ]
Second verse, same as the first. Bolson and Anderson
win state titles
By Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comIn a repeat of last week's Interscholastic League of Honolulu championships, Kamehameha's J.B. Bolson and Iolani's Nicole Anderson led their teams to top honors yesterday morning at the Honolulu Marathon/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Cross Country Championships.
Anderson, a sophomore, completed the 2-mile course at a soggy Central Oahu Regional Park in 12 minutes and 2 seconds, finishing 29 seconds ahead of second-place Jessica Domingo of Kamehameha.
Anderson led Iolani's charge for its second straight team championship, as all five scoring runners finished in the top 16. The Raiders finished with 37 points. Punahou came in second with 53 points.
Bolson won the 3-mile boys race with a time of 16:36 as Kamehameha ran away with its sixth consecutive team championship with 54 points. Punahou finished second with 103.
"This one was real sweet because we had a lot of inexperience on this team," Kamehameha coach Steve Jenness said. "This team grew up a lot and learned a lot this year."
Anderson said winning the ILH championship last Saturday gave her a confidence boost. But by the time she stepped to the starting line yesterday self-assurance had given way to anxiety.
"I was about to explode," Anderson said of waiting for the starting gun.
"You get all nervous before the race and you go out and use up all that energy that's making you so nervous. By the time you get done you've used up all that energy plus everything else you have."
While Anderson's victory gave Iolani the early advantage, strong finishes by her teammates secured the team championship for the Raiders.
Joleen Oshiro finished seventh at 12:51 and Christi Morrissey followed a second behind. Megan Chock came in 10th (12:56) and Jessika Ngriblekuu finished 16th.
Iolani coach Greg Char said winning the ILH and state championships was more remarkable this year considering four sophomores and two freshmen make up Iolani's top six runners.
He said having to catch Punahou, which had dominated the regular-season ILH meets, also added to the gratification of yesterday's win.
"Basically they really rose to the occasion," Char said. "I challenged their pride that we were defending league and state champions and we were getting pretty soundly beat all year. ... We knew through training they could do it, it was just a matter of doing it."
Bolson won the boys race by staying on his feet. Kahuku's Ryan Orme and Maui's Nick Jachowski both fell on the slick surface, opening the way for Bolson to win the boys championship a year after coming in fourth.
"I'm so lucky I didn't fall," Bolson said. "I was definitely worried. After 150 girls run on this thing you know this grass isn't exactly going to be in top shape for us to run on."
Bolson said his strategy was to stay close to the leaders early and put himself in position to make a move late in the race.
"It was definitely about maintaining contact with the frontrunners," Bolson said. "Because if they have a big enough space this course is really hard to reel them back."
Orme, who finished sixth, took the lead early in the race, but a pack of runners stayed close behind. After Orme fell, Bolson and Jachowski jockeyed for the lead until Jachowski also lost his footing.
Bolson crossed the finish line seven seconds ahead of Iolani's Patrick Morrissey. Jachowski finished third and Keaau's Joshua Enos came in fourth.
"This year the state had some really good guys out there so it was wide open," Jenness said. "J.B. has been running real well lately, he was confident and he kept contact well. He felt confident if he did that he was going to have a real good shot to outrun people in the last half mile."
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