Kaiser’s Tashiro kicks her way to OIA crown

The girls race had drama and gamesmanship. The boys race had Avery Torres.

Lisa Tashiro of Kaiser was locked in a duel with Mililani’s Vanessa Roybal before pulling away to beat Roybal’s teammate Lauren Gibbs to the finish line to capture her second straight Oahu Interscholastic Association cross country championship Saturday at Central Oahu Regional Park.

"In the beginning, I tried to relax as much as possible and stay with the pack up front, and then during the downhills, I pulled away and just let my legs do the work," said Tashiro, who finished the 3-mile course in 19 minutes, 23.08 seconds. "I’m really excited for states (next weekend), my last race in high school."

The challenge from Roybal, who won the OIA individual title two years ago as a sophomore, was expected.

"I thought at one point, I was going to catch her," said Roybal, who gave it all she had before falling back to finish third in 19:34.51. "I’m not the best at finishing and kind of died out at the end."

Gibbs, her Trojans teammate, had a strong kick to take second place in 19:28.86.

"My goal was to stay close to them and catch them," Gibbs said. "I couldn’t catch Lisa."

Gibbs and Roybal, however, led the Trojans to the girls team championship. Mililani finished with 68 points, followed by Radford with 78, Pearl City with 105 and Kalaheo with 131.

"We were third my sophomore year and second last year, so this is really cool to end this way (as OIA champions)," Roybal said.

Trojans coach Nate Aragaki said, "This is something they worked really hard on, coming so close the last two years. They pulled through. Everybody ran a decent race."

Torres took a big early lead in the boys 3-mile race and never looked back to win in 16:47.18. Three of his Kalaheo teammates also placed in the top six to secure the boys championship for the Mustangs.

"I was so ready for this race, so pumped up," said Torres, a junior who was undefeated during the OIA season. "I was counting down the days. My friends on other teams told me they didn’t know if they were ready. I was ready. So ready."

The Mustangs’ Gillaume Tabary took second in 17:18.76. Teammates Colby Otero (third) and Louis Delcore (sixth) also helped deliver the team title.

"About a mile and a half in, Avery wanted to know how close the next competitor was," Kalaheo head coach Peter Jay said. "I told him about 100 yards. A half-mile later, he doubled that lead. The team is very competitive and it’s a tight group. They knew they were on the radar (after winning the OIA Eastern championships) and they didn’t want to let down. We have a chance to do well at states, maybe have a chance to be in the top three or four teams. We’re going to go for it."

The Mustangs won with 32 points and were followed by Pearl City and Kaiser with 128 points each and Mililani with 140.