Cross Country

Connor Malinger tried running for his school team back in seventh grade. It was 2016. Five years and an eternity ago. “In seventh grade, I thought the season would never end. I had never gone to so many practices for so long. Cross country was definitely the most draining sport I had ever played,” said Malinger, now a member of two of Hawaii Baptist’s boys cross country championship teams. The senior ran the treacherous, cold, muddy course at the Honolulu […]

In the most difficult of conditions, a three-peat performance was epic for the girls of Hawaii Baptist Academy. At HBA, the “Chariots of Fire” theme song doesn’t play every morning on the intercom, but maybe it should. The Eagles’ growth in cross country over the years continues to peak. Not even the coldest, muddiest state championship meet in recent memory could stop them. When the HBA girls and boys arrived at the Hawaii Preparatory Academy campus on a rainy Saturday […]

The culture begins with pain, but endures with love. Kalaheo captured its third consecutive girls team title on Saturday morning at the OIA cross country championships at Patsy Mink Central Oahu Regional Park. “Every year, the kids are great, the parents are great. We’ve got good senior leaders creating a culture here,” said Kalaheo coach Peter Jay, now in his 10th season. The boys team of Kalani, likewise, won a fourth OIA title in a row, including the last three […]

She has learned, hands on, what it means to be extremely motivated and strategically balanced. That’s Emily Naylor there, the young lady from Kalaheo with a 4.1 grade-average. She turned her 99th-place finish at the 2018 state cross country meet into a state championship one year later. Naylor is featured in today’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser, entering her senior year as a the defending state champion from 2019. “I’ve never had anybody be a champion, always winning,” Kalaheo cross country coach Peter […]