Brady leads Punahou to another ILH crown

Junior Elli Brady easily won her third Interscholastic League of Honolulu cross country crown, finishing about 400 yards ahead of her closest competitor.

She also led a deep Punahou girls squad to its 30th — and sixth consecutive — ILH team title on Saturday.

In addition to Brady, who crossed the 2-mile race’s finish line at 19 minutes, 14.03 seconds, three other Buffanblu girls finished in the top five. They were junior Melissa Wong in second; senior Kyleigh Mann in fourth, and junior Jaime Durso in fifth.

‘Iolani senior Breanne Ball prevented host Punahou from sweeping the top four spots by finishing third.

In the girls team ranking, Kamehameha finished a distant second with 67 points to Punahou’s 18. (In cross country, team points are equal to place finish. So first place garners 1 point, and the team with the lowest combined score is the winner.) ‘Iolani was third with 74.

‘Iolani senior Troy Esaki, one of the best cross-country runners this season, led from start to finish to capture the boys crown by covering the 3-mile course in 17:01.23 to become the first Raiders ILH boys champion since Jon Yasuda, now an ‘Iolani assistant boys coach, in 2003.

"Troy likes to be in front. He likes to get out fast," said his head coach, Jim Rubasch. "He likes to challenge the rest of the field; it’s come and try to get me."

"This," said Esaki, " was one of my best races. It is great to end the season strong."

He liked, he added, that the hilly Punahou course was wet and muddy — which led meet officials to warn runners that they should be careful not to slip — "because it added a special cross-country twist to the race."

Usually, his No. 1 competitor would be Kamehameha junior Charles Akiona, Esaki said. But it was not so this race. Akiona finished third at 17:17.19. Punahou junior Nikolai Scharer was second at 17:07.43, and he and his Buffanblu teammates captured their school’s 26th team crown and fourth consecutive ILH championship. Punahou scored 43 points, followed by ‘Iolani and Hawaii Baptist with 49 and 60 points, respectively.

Esaki said his ILH crown has him going into the state championship meet on Saturday "psyched."

Brady, who was dethroned as state champion last year by Seabury Hall’s Dakota Grossman, now a sophomore, said she will have to run a "strategic race" against Grossman "because she’s a good runner. You guys can expect a great race on state championship day."

However, Brady said, "I am not focused on my competition. I am focused on pushing myself. It is a matter of improving myself, no matter what the circumstance is."

Winning the ILH title was especially sweet because her triumph came at Punahou, Brady said. "This is my home course, and I wanted to represent myself well," she said.

Brady added that she was especially proud of teammate and second-place finisher Wong. In 2009, when both were ninth-graders, Brady won the state title, while Wong was running at the junior varsity level. "Look at how far she has come," Brady said.