A summer of good offseason training has Kaeo Kruse ready for his final season.

The Kamehameha senior and defending state cross country champion increased his mileage while home on Kauai during the summer break. The goal for this season is to defend his title and qualify a for national meet.

"This summer has been really good for me," said Kruse, who won Saturday’s Honolulu Marathon Invitational at Central Oahu Regional Park with a 3-mile time of 15 minutes, 30.38 seconds. "I got a good training block in without any interruptions. I’ve been building my mileage, doing a bit longer runs. It’s been really good, my strength is where I want it to be. In the middle of the season, the team is looking great."

Kruse placed 30th at last year’s Foot Locker regional meet. The top 10 finishers qualify for the national meet, and Kruse said he is the ninth fastest returnee.

"I really want to make a national competition," Kruse said. "I feel like that’s within my reach and I have to keep working for it. With all my support, I can do it."

‘Iolani’s Royce Garcia rallied down the stretch to finish second in 16:17.33 and Kalaheo’s Avery Torres, who stuck with Kruse through the first mile, was third in 16:19.64. Kapolei’s Patrick Beter placed fourth in 16:27.13 and ‘Iolani’s Nick Arima was fifth in 16:37.43.

‘Iolani’s scoring five finished in the top 20 to score 46 points and win the boys team title. Kalaheo was second with 57.

Jordan Jones of Pac-Five won the girls 3-mile race in 18:22.50. Jones moved into the lead a mile into the race and kept the lead between herself and Mililani runners Lauren Gibbs and Vanessa Roybal.

"It was a tough race, a lot of good runners," Jones said. "It was a little bit different because OIA was here and the ILH is really competitive and I knew there were schools coming from the outer islands. It was a tough race and it was just like states and we wanted to take advantage of that. I think all the girls came out here wanting to perform their best so they could make a good showing and show the other girls they are in it to win it."

Gibbs finished second in 18:40.64 and Roybal was third at 18:44.54. Seabury Hall’s Ava Shipman, the early leader, finished fourth in 19:03.74 and Radford’s Mary Moloney was fifth in 19:06.79.

Punahou, with two of its top runners competing at the Stanford Invitational, edged Mililani 72 to 73 to win the girls team title.

Looking for tougher competition, Seabury Hall’s girls ran for the second consecutive weekend on Oahu. Coach Bobby Grossman thinks Shipman is a state title contender and his squad could be in the mix for the team title. But Sara Mutzenberg, the Spartans’ No. 2 runner, suffered an injury on Thursday and did not race on Saturday.

"Initially we had five really good girls, but we just lost one of them," Grossman said. "To me, we went from possibly first or second today to fifth."

Seabury Hall will host the state championship on Oct. 31.

Note: Connor Lehl (16:08.1) and Noe Obermeyer (20:14.9) were Punahou’s top boys and girls finishers at Saturday’s Stanford Invitational in Stanford, Calif.

AT CENTRAL OAHU REGIONAL PARK

3 miles

Boys varsity

Team–1, ‘Iolani, 46. 2, Kalaheo, 57. 3, Kamehameha, 113. 4, Maui, 142. 5, Kaiser, 185. 6, Mililani, 185. 7, Pac-Five, 223. 8, Roosevelt, 285. 9, Kapolei, 316. 10, Hanalani, 325.

Individual–1, Kaeo Kruse, Kam, 15:30.38. 2, Royce Garcia, Iol, 16:17.33. 3, Avery Torres, Kalh, 16:19.64. 4, Patrick Beter, Kap, 16:27.13. 5, Nick Arima, Iol, 16:37.43. 6, Colby Otero, Kalh, 16:46.77. 7, Jason Wang, Iol, 16:53.03. 8, Kai Cordrey, Kais, 16:56.96. 9, Louis Delcore, Kalh, 17:00.32. 10, Gillaume Tabary, Kalh, 17:00.67.

Girls varsity

Team–1, Punahou, 72. 2, Mililani, 73. 3, Maui, 83. 4, Radford, 123. 5, Seabury Hall, 133. 6, Kalaheo, 152. 7, Mid-Pacific, 225. 8, Moanalua, 242. 9, Kaiser, 245. 10, Kalani, 260.

Individual–1, Jordan Jones, Pac, 18:22.50. 2, Lauren Gibbs, Mil, 18:40.64. 3, Vanessa Roybal, Mil, 18:44.54. 4, Ava Shipman, Sea, 19:03.74. 5, Mary Moloney, Rad, 19:06.79. 6, Lisa Tashiro, Kais, 19:18.89. 7, Briana Yamamoto, Maui, 19:28.18. 8, Mikayla Fujiwara, Pun, 19:33.86. 9, Cassandra Frenzel, Kalh, 19:37.76. 10, Mia Schiel, Pun, 19:50.72.

Boys junior varsity

Individual–1, Hudson Lockette, Cas, 17:19.60. 2, Nicholas Georgia, Kais, 17:51.23. 3, Austin Young, Kaln, 18:01.18.

Girls junior varsity

Individual–1, Claire Cutler, Pun, 20:13.95. 2, Maiya Fujiwara, Pun, 20:18.99. 3, Carly Dailey, Moa, 20:35.43.