The long road from lonely finishes at the end of meets to more competitive finishes is a developing reality for the University of Hawaii at Hilo cross country team, and the Vulcans made some steps in the right direction Saturday
The long road from lonely finishes at the end of meets to more competitive finishes is a developing reality for the University of Hawaii at Hilo cross country team, and the Vulcans made some steps in the right direction Saturday morning on the 5K Naniloa Golf Course.
Hawaii-Hilo placed third in the four-team UHH Cross country Invitational that was won by Division I Hawaii-Manoa with 27 points, followed by the three Division II schools, Hawaii Pacific (31), UHH (77) and Chaminade (100).
Brooke Gottmeier of Hawaii Pacific was the individual winner in a time of 19:34.2, outpacing UH-Manoa’s Sienna Santiago by 20 seconds.
Led again by senior Anna Baker-Mikkelsen, eighth in 20:23.6, the Vulcans weren’t able to surpass Hawaii Pacific as they had done a week earlier in the opening meet of the season on Oahu, but they again outpaced Chaminade and improved times by new runners held optimism for more improvement this season.
“They did better as a team this week, actually,” coach Jaime Guerpo said, referring to the tight finishes of Beatriz Duarte, 12th (20:58), Lizette Garcia, 16th (21:30.4), and Meghan Langbehn, 17th (21:30.9). “They improved some times, and that’s the key.
“They will improve as we go along,” he said, “they are training well and getting better the more they train.”
Baker-Mikkelsen closed the gap just a bit on Gottmeier, who placed fourth a week earlier at the Big Wave Invitational. In winning Saturday, Gottmeier improved her time by three seconds over her time a week ago while Baker-Mikkelsen trimmed 11 seconds off her time from the first meet.
Garcia, one of two junior transfers from Hartnell Community College in Salinas, Calif., made a big jump on the flat, grassy course. Her time of 21:30.4, was an improvement of 1:17 over her time a week earlier at the Big Wave Invitational.
“It was a little better,” Garcia said, “my confidence is improving and I think just more training and work will pay off.”
Duarte, the other Hartnell transfer, improved her time by 10 seconds and helped the Vulcans cluster a trio of runners in the top 17, behind Baker-Mikkelsen.
“I felt we did better,” Duarte said, “we tried to keep together, we were looking out for each other, we just need to keep up with Anna better.
“We kept together until about a mile and-a-half or so,” she said, “but our dream race will come when we all stick together with Anna.”
Langbehn, doing double duty in the fall season by competing for both the cross-country and soccer teams, had her time drop off a bit from the first meet, but her confidence was undiminished.
“I’m learning still,” she said, “but the more I do it, the more I think I can improve. In soccer we have two-mile runs for training and I’m geared to that, so that when we do this, that third mile gets to me, but it’s just a matter of keeping at it.”
Langbehn occasionally ran with her arms down and appeared to be struggling to continue, but she said it was her forearms that sometimes felt numb, like more blood flow was needed.
“It’s a weird thing, I think it’s just because it’s all new for me,” she said, “my body isn’t used this yet.”
Following his team’s only home meet of the year, Guerpo acknowledged the improvement, but noted that work remains.
“They still have to learn how to race,” he said, “but it’s coming along. You always have to be conscious of where you’re at, who’s around you at all times and that takes some time to learn.
“But we know what needs to happen” he said. “Anna is the standard, she sets the standard for our team and the rest of them follow her. When they can stay closer to her, that’s when things will really change.”
Next up for the Vulcans is the Chaminade Invitational on Saturday at Kapiolani Park in Honolulu, starting at 7 a.m.
