2006 ILH Girls XC Musings

From the official results, I have calculated the team totals for the top teams.

Intermediates - HBA 57, Punahou 67, Iolani 88, Kamehameha 94
Junior Varsity - Punahou 34, Iolani 44, Kamehameha 74
Varsity - Punahou 35, Iolani 60, Kamehameha 82

HBA continues it's newfound strength in the intermediates which first became obvious last season. Looks like a "Lauren Ho" legacy has taken hold at HBA with all these good young female runners. As these youngsters mature, I expect HBA to join the "big 3" and make it more of a 4-way race.

Since this was the first week where the JV's and Varsity divisions had their own races, the coaches had their first opportunity to move around their athletes. Some might make these moves to give younger, but still top runners, a chance to run at the front. Some coaches might be playing strategy games. Whatever the reason, since the races are on the same course, it is interesting to look at these two divisions as one.

Punahou continues it's dominance. This week they not only showed their excellence, but they showed their depth. They will be tough to beat.


Just to see what would happen, I played with moving the top JV's into the Varsity race based on their times. No change in the final results. Yes, the names change a bit, but the top 5 places remain unchanged for Punahou, Iolani and Kamehameha.

It's hard to talk about girls cross country and not talk about Maryknoll. They have the top 2 runners in Julie and Haley and a probable top 10 runner in Malia Kagawa. But, without 5 good runners, Maryknoll will not be a factor. Too bad.





So, although Iolani shows they are in the game this year after an uncharacteristic off-year last year, they and Kamehameha have their hands full with a large and talented Punahou team.

The above is just how I see it. Comments are very welcome!