By Harlan Rose
[email protected]
Racing to win, MHS’ JV and varsity cross country teams competed in the Oahu Interscholastic Association (OIA) championships on Oct. 22 and 25 respectively. After nearly five months of practice and preparing, the JV boys team took home the championship title while the varsity girls team secured second place behind Kaiser High School.
“Even though we didn’t win, I was really proud of our team and how we ran,” said varsity co-captain Junior Kiana Caranto. “I know that every girl on the team wanted it just as bad as I did and I know that they gave it their all and I guess that’s all you can ask for.”
Preparations for the cross country season began in June, which was comprised of a rigorous workout routine involving almost daily practices and weekly meets. “We’ve been putting in lots of miles, doing speed work, work in the weight room, anything you could imagine. The experience we’ve gained from the preseason and invitational races prior to the championships also help a lot,” said Caranto. Varsity co-captain Junior Vanessa Roybal added, “(Usually) we had conditioning three days a week and during the season we have practice four days a week and a meet on Saturdays. We all do stuff outside of practice too, so that helps.”
Prior to the championship races, athletes received advice from their head coach, Nathan Aragaki. “(Aragaki) helped me a lot this season when I wasn’t at my best. He basically told me to take it one race at a time and not get too excited about the results, whether they were good or bad. He structured the workouts to help me boost my speed,” expressed Roybal.
The JV race took place at Pearl City High School, whereas the varsity race took place at Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park (CORP). Due to the challenging nature of the courses, the teams focused on maintaining a steady pace. “The race at OIAs always starts off fast, but I think our girls are pretty good at moving up in packs and holding our position, so that’s what we did,” said Caranto. JV athlete Sophomore Noah Ballaibe added, “I’d say the course was difficult in some ways but we’ve done the course before. The only challenging part was probably mainly just one of the gigantic hills.”
The JV boys team showed their strength, successfully securing the championship title. “I felt ecstatic, I was very pleased that we actually won. We stayed as a tight-knit group, so we had almost everybody almost (in the top 20), but some of us fell off into 22nd or 21st, but we got pretty high up there, we stayed as a pack and we did really good,” said Ballaibe.
Meanwhile, the varsity girls team took home second place overall. “I was happy that we got second. I mean obviously it would have been great to win, but second isn’t so bad,” expressed Roybal. The team placed behind Kaiser, who also won the championship title last year. “Kaiser took first and they’re really tough to beat. Their team is crazy good. They won OIAs last year and we thought that we would be able to get them this year, but their team was even better this year,” said Caranto.
The varsity team then spent time preparing for the Hawaii High School Athletic Association (HHSAA) state championships. “We just have to get focused mentally and believe that we can do big things as a team,” said Caranto. “I think we all need to remember that we’re running for each other just as much as we’re running for (ourselves).”
The athletes continued to do their best at the HHSAA state cross country championships which took place on Nov. 1 at CORP.
