Mainland teams add competition to Iolani Invite

By Ian Tsang for DyeStat

Saturday marked the 15th annual Iolani Invitational, the largest meet of its kind in Hawaii. Widely renowned as the fastest and most prestigious meet in the islands, it is an event that brings competition from the mainland. The past two years the Dana Hills CA boys stole the spotlight, especially in 2015 when they placed six runners in the top 10. 

RESULTS

This year, Glacier Peak from Washington won the boys title with 53 points. Another California team, J Serra Catholic, was second, with 71. Palos Verdes CA was third at 79.

The course, which is partially wet and rugged, spans the backwoods of Oahu at the Kualoa Ranch. Starting and ending on relatively flat grass and gravel, the course climbs dramatically in elevation, cutting through a wooded area. This portion of the course causes runners to choose spikes so that they can gain better traction on the slippery terrain. 

On the boys side, freshman Anthony Grover from J Serra ran away with the win in a three-mile time of 15:21.58, a personal record and the fastest time of the day in all races. Coming into the race Grover was favored to win due to his first place finish in the Laguna Hills Invite Frosh race, which he won by nearly two minutes. Behind him was Punahou senior Connor Lehl with a massive one minute PR. Lehl’s second place finish lays out the foundation for the rest of the season with him now as the favorite to win the Hawaii state title.

Other Hawaii runners contending for the state title are Colby Otero of Kalaheo, who ran 15:32 to place fourth, and teammate Avery Torres, who ran 15:48 for seventh. Both times were PRs.

The rest of the top 10 finishers were mainly from J Serra and Glacier Peak. Sophomore Riley McDowell ran 15:26 for third while his teammates placed fifth and sixth to help push the Northwest team to the title. Ian Irish of Palos Verdes came in eighth with a time of 15:48.

On the girls side, Palos Verdes CA repeated their domination from the year before by running five girls into the top 10 for a low score of 19 points. The fastest girls time of the day came from Grace Catena, who clinched the win less than a second ahead of teammate Caitlin Stoner 17:49 to 17:50. Palos Verdes also held the fourth, fifth, and seventh place spots.

Jordan Jones from Pac 5 proved once again to be one of the only runners capable of competing with the mainland as she was sixth with a time of 18:26, a season’s best. Next month on Oct. 29 Jones will contend for the state title against the rest of Hawaii.

Glacier Peak came in second with 70 points, while J Serra was third with 83.

Fresh competition helped bring out the best in Hawaii's athletes and produced hundreds of new PRs. With nearly half of the season remaining, the outcome of the Hawaii state championships are far from certain. The reigning boys and girls individual champions have both graduated.

Ian Tsang is a high school senior in Hawaii. You can read more of his work at his Hawaii Project web site.