[ HIGH SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY ]
Iolani sweeps
state races
The Iolani boys cross country team snapped Kamehameha's chance at seven straight team titles yesterday and the Iolani girls won their third straight championship yesterday at Kahului.
Iolani's boys had never won a state championship but got their lead performance from Jon Yasuda.
Yasuda, a senior, only finished second in the individual race but got help from teammates Franklyn Lau in fifth place, Ryan Harada in 14th and Tyler Chun in 24th to beat Kamehameha by 29 points.
Kamehameha did take home its third individual champion in four years, with Jeremy Kamakaala running a 16:30 to beat Yasuda to the tape by 13 seconds. Kamakaala was 14th last year but shaved 53 seconds off his time. Yasuda was eighth last year and improved by 20 seconds. Yasuda beat Kamakaala for the ILH championship by 12.62 seconds last week.
Ryan Shell of Radford took third, Joseph Gonzales of Pearl City took fourth and J.W. Wood of Hawaii Prep was fifth.
Punahou won seven straight boys titles from 1985 to 1991.
The Iolani girls won easily, beating second-place Kamehameha by 48 points.
Nicole Anderson finished third for the Raiders and her next three teammates finished 6th, 11th and 17th. Punahou was the last team to win three straight titles, doing so behind Eri Macdonald in 1995-1997.
Tia Ferguson of Seabury Hall won the individual title by 32 seconds over previously unbeaten Emily King of Moanalua and missed recording the fastest time in 14 years by two seconds. Ferguson ran the 2 miles in 11:46, while Macdonald clocked a, 11:44 on Kauai in 1998. Judy Stott of HPA holds the 2-mile record at 11:39.6 in 1989.
