"The Brady Bunch" has arrived at Punahou School, and these three sisters love to run.

Elli Brady is a senior, Katie Brady is a junior and Teri Brady is a freshman on the Buffanblu cross country team.

Elli has been one of the top runners in the state since her freshman year. She won the state individual title in 2009, and finished runner-up the past two years. Elli also has won three Interscholastic League of Honolulu individual titles.

"It really takes a lot of discipline," Elli said of being a top runner. "Something I learned from my freshman year is that the pressure just builds up. It’s probably the easiest to come in your freshman year with no pressure and do really well because there aren’t any expectations for you. When you stay at this level for this long, people expect things of you."

Elli decided to rest and not compete in the first ILH meet of the season on Sept. 1. Teri, the freshman, won the race.

"I was really excited because it was a show of all my summer training and all my hard work paid off," Teri said.

Said Elli of her sister: "She went out in that race and she told herself, ‘I’m going to win that race.’ "

At the next ILH meet the following weekend at Kaaawa Valley, Elli and Teri finished 1-2.

Last Friday at the ‘Iolani Invitational at Kualoa Ranch, Elli finished ninth and Teri placed 13th in a meet that featured teams from around the state and California. Two runners from Hawaii finished ahead of them.

"It was amazing. There was a lot more competition than last year," Elli said. "It’ll push me to work harder."

Katie, the junior, isn’t as accomplished as her sisters in cross country because her main focus is on soccer, where she is an outside midfielder for the Buffanblu.

In previous seasons, she has skipped cross country practices/meets to attend soccer practices.

"Part of the reason I do cross country and all the workouts is to get endurance and speed," Katie said. "In soccer, I can stay in the game longer. The outside midfielder has to run up and down the field the entire game."

BORN TO RUN

The Bradys’ parents are Mary (Bauer) Brady, a runner at the University of Hawaii in the 1980s, and Conal Brady, a former triathlete.

"The good thing about having a mom who’s been in the position I’ve been in is she really understands what I’m feeling, and my dad, too," Elli said. "So they both really understand what it takes to be a serious athlete."

Added Teri of her parents: "They’ve been all for ‘it’s just for fun running,’ and we’re the ones who kind of pushed ourselves to get good at it."

Over the summer, Elli, Katie and Teri, along with their younger brother and sister, primarily competed in the middle-distance events with the Mililani Track Club.

"We really bond over track because we’ll be at track meets together and cheering people on," Elli said. "It’s a really good family bonding experience. It’s something our entire family can get into."

All three sisters plan to compete for the Buffanblu track and field team during the spring.

This summer, the family got a kick out of watching Olympic track and field on TV.

"During the Olympics, our whole family watched the 10,000-meter final," Katie said. "It’s a half-hour (race), but we were excited and into it the whole time."

TIME TO UP THE PACE

Elli will have a final opportunity to win another state individual championship Oct. 26 at Hawaii Prep Academy. To do so, she likely will have to best Seabury Hall junior Dakota Grossman, winner of the past two state individual titles.

"She won states as a freshman and been second every year since," Punahou girls cross country coach Duncan Macdonald said of Elli. "We need to twist that around and win again."

Elli’s 2009 state individual crown came at Island School on Kauai. In 2010, Grossman beat Elli by 20 seconds at Central Oahu Regional Park. Last year, Grossman beat Elli by 12 seconds at Kapalua Village.

"A lot of people think, ‘Are you sad that you didn’t win states?’ " said Elli, who has a 3.89 grade-point average and hopes to attend Notre Dame next fall. "But these past two years I’ve gone into the state championship race with everything I’ve had and I’ve come in second. We both did our thing on that day, and on that day she was faster than I was."

Elli will compete at the Stanford Invitational on Sept. 29. She finished 29th as a sophomore and ninth last year at the event. Since the course there is flat, Elli will concentrate on speed intervals. After that she said she’ll work on hill and endurance workouts in preparation for states.