It’s been a good season so far for Waiakea’s cross country team.
The Warriors attended Kamehameha Schools – Hawaii’s BIIF meet on Saturday — and for the second week straight, WHS’ Shane Tominaga and Austin Mohica finished in the top two spots.
Waiakea’s boys also led the team standings for the second week in a row, with multiple other runners among the top 10 to 15 — such as Sebastian Ortiz-Bloom, Rogelio Doratt, Rylan Colbert, Henry Huovinen and Kiran Letawsky. Of those names, none are seniors and three are underclassmen — including Tominaga, who is a sophomore.
“Both sides are looking good, the boys are especially looking good,” coach David Ueda said. “We have a lot of underclassmen, but they’ve put in the work these past couple of weeks — so we’re looking pretty good.”
So far, Waiakea seems to have the recipe for taking back the BIIF title, which its boys lost last season to Kealakehe HS — which was powered by since-graduated talents like Levi Childers and Cameron Cornforth.
Waiakea’s girls also fell short, as Hilo’s Halpern twins helped lead the Vikings to victory.
“The boys came in second after a string of seven straight championships,” Ueda said, “so we’re looking to regain that. The girls came in second after winning the year before. The girls’ competition is tight this year because of HPA and Hilo, they’re really deep, but we think we can contend on the girls side. On the boys’ side, if we run and nobody gets hurt, we should contend.”
WHS’ girls have also done well so far. At the season’s first meet, Sri Butz, Shanay Ha‘a and Nova Stickley finished at No. 6, No. 7 and No. 8 — respectively
“We’re excited for the girls, we’ve got a lot of newcomers,” Ueda said. “We always get a lot of newcomers who come from soccer, and they come ready to run.”
Last year at the BIIF championship — Tominaga placed second behind Childers and Mohica placed fourth behind Cornforth. With the two Kealakehe powerhouses gone, the course is looking wide open for Waiakea.
“Every other team is rebuilding,” Mohica said. “Our team was full of underclassmen, but now we’re upperclassmen —so we’re just getting stronger.
“It would be great if we got back to our (championship) streak in the next couple of years. That would feel great.”
The Warriors will be on their home turf for the season’s third meet, which will take place at 9 a.m. this Saturday (Sept. 16) on WHS’ campus.