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The Maui News 2021 MIL Cross Country All-Stars

Successful senior seasons for Cantere, Volner

By Dakota Grossman 4 min read

KAHULUI-- For Maui High School's Kaimana Cantere, it's eating a breakfast cheese quesadilla and a banana before each cross country race. For Seabury Hall's Kaylee Volner, it's making sure that her tie dye socks are put on-- the right first, then left-- during every competition.

These little pre-race rituals remained a constant for these seniors as they went undefeated in every Maui Interscholastic League cross country meet they ran in.

Cantere and Volner also became MIL champions in November and later captured individual gold and silver medals at the state championship meet in December, respectively-- accolades that earned them The Maui News MIL Boys and Girls Cross Country Runners of the Year awards.

"I don't know, it's just something about tortillas," Cantere said with a laugh on Monday. "Maybe about two hours before and then a banana an hour before the race."

Volner, who was also just named Gatorade State Girls Cross Country Player of the Year, remembers having run a really good race her sophomore season when she happened to be wearing "one of my cool tie dye socks." And the rest is history.

"So before any race, I have to at least have tie dye socks on, putting it on my right and then my left foot," she said.

But laughs aside, Cantere said that the whole cross country season was much more memorable to him than his new pre-race meal, especially his gut-out sprint for his first state championship crown, which still "feels like yesterday."

"Those memories will last my whole life. It's amazing how something like that happened-- it was a great day," he said. "I'm just really grateful for everybody that pushed me. I'm grateful for the team."

With spirits running high, Cantere competed in the half marathon portion of the Maui Oceanfront Marathon earlier this month, winning with a time of 1 hour, 20 minutes, 27 seconds, which is an average of 6:09 per mile.

"It was a fun experience," he said. "Since track is coming up, I'm just getting my endurance up and mentally preparing myself for another whole season-- the last time I had a full season was my freshman year and I wasn't able to go to states that year, so you know, this year I have high hopes for my races."

Likewise, Volner has also only had one high school track season, which "is really weird to think about," she said, but she has already been taking advantage of the time she has left.

In addition to the league title on Maui, she finished 14th at the Nike Cross Northwest Regional Championships in Idaho, and took second at the state meet on Hawaii island, leading the Spartans to a third-place finish in the Division II competition.

She took a couple weeks off after that to rest, and having time to reflect, Volner said Monday that she appreciated her teammates' support throughout the highs and the lows of the season.

"I will forever remember those memories with them," she said.

Training has been ramping back up again, though, preparation for the upcoming track season.

"Right now, I've been getting back into the groove with some of my teammates and just being with them has reminded me of how much being a team really was important this season and being a role model for those younger kids," she said. "I just felt very grateful to have this team and even more grateful that I get to have them for track season."

Both Cantere and Volner finished each league race they participated in this season with a significant lead, which by the end of the year pulled their teammates to MIL team championships.

There are six Sabers and six Spartans on the MIL All-Stars list, which comprises the top-10 finishers in the boys and girls races at the MIL championships.

"The teamwork we put in is key, it really motivates me," Cantere said. "I like to motivate my teammates as well."

Joining the senior on the boys list are Sabers teammates Galen Okamoto, Maxwell Anklam, and Mason Anklam; Kamehameha Maui's Brayden Joaquin; Molokai's Namaka Ross; Seabury's Jacob Romero, Sage Ryden, and Micah Brighton; and Kihei Charters's Aidan Javier.

Volner is joined on the girls list by Seabury teammates Layne Millen and Kayla Ratte; Kihei Charter's Tanya Kari, Layla James, and Ellison Shapiro; Baldwin's Selena Castro; Molokai's Kailani Bicoy; and Maui High's Kyla Mira and Ashley Tarasenko.

"So many of them are so young and they have such a good future ahead of them and I'm just grateful to share this honor with all of them," Volner said.

* Dakota Grossman is at dgrossman@mauinews.com.

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