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Cross Country 2019

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2019 8:01 pm
by 808run
Let's start this off.

Lava Hot this year. XC might all be desert runs. Great job to everyone running these races.

Good Luck All!

Re: Cross Country 2019

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 8:34 am
by 808run
Is there a place where the State's schedules and results are all compiled?

Athletic.net looks partially covered and Milesplit appears to ignore Hawaii. Am I missing something?

Re: Cross Country 2019

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 4:01 pm
by unpaid
Milesplit hasn't covered any Hawaii meets. There are results for a few meets like the ILH meet at CORP last weekend available on the athletic.net site. Click on Hawaii. When the list of schools come up,you will see Iolani and Punahou have stars beside them. That means you will find meet results from events those schools participated in.

Re: Cross Country 2019

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 4:43 pm
by bandits1
There's one for mainly OIA CC news and results: https://sites.google.com/site/oiacrossc ... sultspage/. It's called "OIA" but they do keep track of state results, too. I use the track & field section to keep up during the spring. It's updated pretty frequently.

Re: Cross Country 2019

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:12 pm
by 808run
unpaid/bandits1, Thanks for the info! The OIA news is great. Looks like there is a choice of three meets on Oahu most weekends.

Except for this weekend. Is Iolani Invitational considered the state preview?

Who gets votes for best meets and courses in the state? Does Maui/Kauai/Big Island have invitationals ever? So many golf courses to invade...

Re: Cross Country 2019

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 2:02 am
by unpaid
You could say that the Iolani Invitational shows you what needs to be addressed to prepare for states.Nearly every ILH and OIA team is entered,as well as squads from Kauai,Maui,and the Big Island.There will be some mainland teams entered also like Dana Hills,CA which had a preseason Southern Section ranking of 5 by one California track website.

Re: Cross Country 2019

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 9:38 pm
by hzy
Athletic.net has the most results compiled, but coverage and discussion of Hawaii cross country has been sparse since the passing of the Big Dog, Bob Martin, from Hawaii Island. His passion for the sport was more than evident, and his loss has been felt immensely. BIIF has a website, biifsports.com, as does the MIL, milsports.org. Big Island’s website hasn’t been updated this year yet, but results were posted regularly last year. The MIL website is new, so it remains to be seen how well it is utilized.

Now, results websites aside, let’s discuss top teams. If healthy, the Maui High boys and Hawaii Baptist girls are the best teams in the state.

The Punahou boys have a solid top five pack that are a within a minute of each other, but the top three from Maui have shown consistently to be better performers than the top boys from Punahou. As far as the 4-5 runners, Maui’s could finish with, or in front of, Punahou’s. That being said, Maui doesn’t look strong after their fifth runner, and we know how stacked the private schools can be. Also, Kalaheo and Kalani look strong enough to capitalize on the inability of the top teams to perform when it counts.

HBA’s girls are such a solid, talented pack, only a team like Punahou can compete with them this year (because they resemble what Punahou has EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR.). It will come down to who can get a group of girls in front of the other teams group of girls, and so far the looks like HBA has the edge again.

Regardless, Saturday’s races at Kualoa Ranch will not only be fun to watch, but also be the best preview for the year of how the state meet might play out.

Re: Cross Country 2019

Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2019 7:39 am
by 808run
hzy, Thanks for the Big Island and Maui info. Good to see results, but course makeup and measurements can be deceiving.

From the video, looks like you can see most of the Kualoa course. Should be a good watch.

Can't speak to predictions, but XC is a grossly underrated sport. Minimal equipment, team sport where you can't help your teammate, once the gun goes off you are alone in a sea of people. Credit to everyone who runs.

Re: Cross Country 2019

Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2019 8:31 am
by hzy
Agree with the course measurement and makeup not being an exact gauge of team ability. The only true measure of how teams compare is how they perform against each other.

I do disagree on one point, however (respectively, of course). Cross country teammates can help each other in three ways: pushing each other in practice, working to stay together in races, and competing against each other in races. And after the gun, the most successful programs have runners that keep contact with each other and stay together in as close of a pack as possible.

That being said, when the gun goes off, anything can happen.

Re: Cross Country 2019

Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2019 8:52 am
by 808run
No offense taken!

The best programs are built through competition in practice. When someone leaves, there is (usually) another who is already geared to lead and demonstrate the commitment. (Big fan of the Long Green Line, which shows XC doesn't have to be a Private School sport.)

Pack running is a great strategy. If you're challenging and supporting each other at practice, there grows the confidence to do the same in races.

Talented programs can produce elite runners, but a program's true success lies in the ability to building a strong group.

Spikes or flats in Hawaii?

Re: Cross Country 2019

Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2019 9:08 am
by hzy
There really isn't a course I've seen that spikes would be recommended, IMO. There's always spells of asphalt or concrete that would make it risky to do. I think the best would be to have spikeless cross country shoes with rubber nubs.

You mentioned earlier how there are so many golf courses to run on, but the problem is those golf courses would be looking at losing out on thousands of dollars if they gave up the use of the course for a Saturday morning cross country meet.

Re: Cross Country 2019

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 10:47 am
by 808run
Some impressive runs at Kualoa. Maui's top three strong.

Still time for everyone to improve!

Re: Cross Country 2019

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 1:22 pm
by hzy
Maui’s top 3 looked good, especially the top 2, but Punahou’s top 5 might prove strong enough to win. Still a lot of time left to see how things might play out, but it will go by quick!

Re: Cross Country 2019

Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2019 1:08 pm
by 808run
Missed Maui Boys at Punahou Inv. Guess we'll wait for States.

HBA looks very deep for Girls.

One month to go!

Re: Cross Country 2019

Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 5:02 pm
by hzy
Public schools can only attend one off island meet during the season, and Maui was at the Iolani Invite.

The ILH season has been interesting. A canceled meet, and then today a course that was maybe 2.25 miles and not the 2.8 that was stated (based on the times). Was the girls race canceled because of heat again? I wonder how the lack of racing for the ILH schools will affect the runners. It can either help because it keeps them fresh, or hinder their development to become more race ready.

As with everything, we will see in the end how it all plays out.