Davis Kaahanui’s father beat him to the line this time.

Last week at the ILH championships at Mid-Pacific, Kaahanui’s overjoyed father sprinted the final length to get to the line before his son, shouting "That’s my boy!" with every stride. When he got there he lifted his son over his head and carried him around the football field.

This week he was under orders to tone it down.

"He is in the military stationed in North Carolina," Kaahanui said. "I don’t get to see him too much, but I told him not to carry me around like that this week. He still hugged me, he did good."

Kamahameha’s Kaahanui ran a hilly course in 17 minutes, 7.9 seconds to earn the state cross country championship on Friday at Hawaii Preparatory Academy, pushing his Warriors to the team title after losing it to Leilehua last year. Seabury Hall’s Dakota Grossman beat Punahou’s Elli Brady for the girls title at 20:21.85, but the Buffanblu took the team title. It was Grossman’s third straight state crown.

Kaahanui has only been running for a year and finished 25th in 2011 with a time of 17:52.45. He was looking to go under 17 minutes on a harder course a year later. But after coming in as an ILH champ, this race came with expectations he’d never faced.

"I was really nervous, I was scared of everybody," Kaahanui said. "I usually never get nervous. I don’t know, I felt like this time I had to do well. I am really happy, I have never been so happy after a race."

Joshua Herr of Kauai finished second, a full 30 seconds behind Kaahanui, and Punahou’s Nikolai Scharer took third in 17:40.3.

The Warriors (83) won the team title by seven points over rival Punahou (90) thanks in part to Charles Akiona, who ran the race "sick as a dog" according to Kamehameha coach Steve Jenness but still finished fifth for his third straight top-five effort at states. ‘Iolani was third with 94 points.

It was Kamehameha’s first win all season, the second time they have saved their first win for the last race. Kaeo Kruse (15th), Kainalu Asam (17th), Katoa Ahau (46th), Logan Ellis (61st) and Taylor Lemke (67th) contributed to the effort. Hawaii Baptist won the Division II title behind Brent Wakuzawa’s seventh-place finish.

Grossman didn’t dust the field like Kaahanui did, but she was running under a lot more pressure. Grossman, a junior, will try next year to become the only girl other than Punahou’s Eri Macdonald in 1995-98 to win four in a row. As cool as staying on course for that accomplishment is, Grossman counts her school’s Division II title as equally important.

"It’s really exciting. One of my goals is to maybe win four years in a row," Grossman said. "But the best thing for this year is our team won the D-II, and that was one of our main goals."

Brady, who won the title in 2009, ran a 20:30.8 to come in nine seconds after Grossman. But with the team title back at Punahou, Brady feels like a winner. Last week, Punahou cross country coach Duncan Macdonald said Brady "ran a perfect race" to win her fourth straight ILH title. She matched it on Friday.

"This was probably the best race I have ever had, better than last week," Brady said. "I stayed really tough and really enjoyed the race, and that’s all I wanted."

Brady ran with a smile in her heart, but her greatest joy didn’t come until seven seconds after she finished. Brady, still a little woozy from the effort, was told to turn around, and when she did she saw her freshman sister, Teri, fly to the finish to lock up third. Then the tears let loose.

"This is the greatest day ever," Brady said. "The team is why I love cross country, (Teri) is going to be a great runner, way better than me. I am excited to think that she is going to carry the torch for Punahou."

Punahou took back the state title after losing it to Hawaii Prep last year to break a string of six straight championships, getting good finishes from Melissa Wong (eighth), Hallie Lam (14th), Neolani Obermeyer (15th), Noe Lum (17th) and Jaime Durso (25th). Hawaii Prep finished second on its home course with 72 points, 30 more than the Buffanblu. Kamehameha was third with 186.