KAPALUA - With two meets already under their belts, Maui Interscholastic League cross country runners began to settle in for the long haul during Saturday's Lahainaluna Invitational.
A few of the league's top runners were missing from the race, including King Kekaulike High School's Reid Hunter and Bailey Massenburg, who took part in the Hana Relay, but for those in the field, the focus shifted to personal improvement.
Seabury Hall's Hailey Grossman earned her second top finish of the season with a time of 19 minutes, 58.9 seconds, but she missed having the extra push from Massenburg.
''Well, you know, it's good to have competition, which this week I didn't have as much as the weeks before, so I was definitely disappointed with Bailey running the Hana Relays, but I think I did pretty well for just going out and running,'' said Grossman, who said her goal was to finish below 20 minutes.
''It was a little bit of a workout but I just wanted to stay focused and get a good time, which I'm kind of happy with.''
Seabury Hall's Lea Lundblad finished second in 20:09.1, and Maui High's Sheyenne Machida was third in 21:30.5.
The Spartans had six runners finish among the top 10 and won the team title with 22 points. Maui High was second with 38.
''I think they're going pretty good,'' Grossman said. ''I can't really speak for everybody else on the team, but they all seem like they're feeling pretty good and they're doing this pretty consistently now - just getting out and running, which a lot of times before we would just have a couple of runners.
''Everyone's showing up and doing their hardest. I'm really happy about that.''
Grossman, like many of the MIL runners, competed at Kapalua as many as three times in 2007, including the state meet.
''The heat (creates a challenge), because I'm running Upcountry every week, but it's like any other course now because I've run it so many times,'' she said.
Molokai's Alvin Ringor took first in the boys race in 17:12.6, and teammate Micah Ritte-Manangan (17:21.7) was second.
''Hard, so hard,'' said Ringor, who said his goal was to get as close to 17 minutes as possible. ''We were pacing each other - I would go in front, then go in back, then go in front (We started pulling away) about the 3-mile mark, not talking much.''
Added Ritte-Manangan: ''I did run this race before but I expected it to be a little more harder - I thought they were going to switch the race rearrange the whole course, but just running it feels good.
''My coach was telling me to hit the top five and I was thinking maybe just go right (behind) Alvin and it just so happened I completed my goal.''
Ringor and Ritte-Manangan said they weren't particularly concerned with who was absent from the field, but focused instead on how they could push each other.
''For some reason, I felt strong today,'' Ritte-Manangan said. ''My mind was just set on running today - no distractions, just clear my mind before the race. With my teammate, Alvin, pushing in the front, it helped me get an advantage of the other guys right next to me, so that was good.
''It's good to run with him, too, because I show him support, he shows me support and we really don't care who comes in first or who comes in second, we just (go) out there to have fun and compete with others.''
Maui High's Jonathan Calumpit (17:50:94) took third. Four Sabers finished in the top 10, helping the team finish in first place with XX points. Molokai was second with XX.
Mary Beth Bishop is at mbishop@mauinews.com
