In a way, it’s a cross country coach’s dream — a No. 2, 3 and 4 finish.
No need the race winner to get to the ultimate goal of the team championship, right? Get the pack near the front and, yup, that’s how you do it.
The ‘Iolani boys captured the Interscholastic League of Honolulu cross country championship Saturday by doing just that.
Coach Jack Kuo’s Red Raiders were led by second-place finisher Devin Pang, who covered the two-mile course at Mid-Pacific Institute in 10 minutes, 39.11 seconds.
‘Iolani freshman Devin Pang, right, wound up finishing second for the winning Raiders boys team. Fellow freshman Keane Palmer, center, ran to a third-place finish, and senior Joshua Lerner, left, earned fourth. (Photo courtesy of Jack Kuo).
Pang, only a freshman, was followed by another frosh, the Raiders’ Keane Palmer, in third in 10:47.24, and ‘Iolani senior Joshua Lerner took fourth in 10:48.11.
Kamehameha senior William Ho was the race winner in 10:39.11.
2021 ILH cross country champion William Ho, a Kamehameha senior. (Image credit: Kamoi.net).
Due to COVID-19 health and safety precautions, the race was run in increments, with each team given a slotted time. The times were compiled and compared at the end of the day.
“This year, we returned a team full of seniors who were not happy with our showing in the previous cross country season (2019),” Kuo said. “They took all the extra safety protocols, format changes and schedule delays as just parts of the overall challenge and did not allow it to distract them from the bigger goal, which is to win out the season, regardless of what the title of the meets are. Their focus set the tone for our entire team, top to bottom, and enabled our two freshmen, who are great talents and the top two intermediate runners from the 2019 ILH championships, to run loose and free.
“All credit to the students for putting up with the extra rules, embracing training and racing with masks as a challenge — and just the mental fortitude throughout this whole year.”
The Raiders scored 34 points to beat Punahou (44) by 10. Seni0r Cooper Baines (sixth place, 10:51.58) and junior Caden Lombard (seventh, 10:51.92) led the runner-up Buffanblu.
Screenshots of all of ‘Iolani and Punahou’s finishers as well as the Top 30 overall are below.
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