By Richard Gonzalez

               KUALOA RANCH, HI -- On two previous occasions, California athletes have ridden Iolani Invitational success to national championship glory. In 2003, athletes at two Golden State schools now aim to parlay their early-season island blessings to nationwide acclaim as well.
               Sultana High’s girls team and Ukiah High frontrunner Shelby Leland shared the spotlight in the beautiful confines of the tropical paradise, with each party claiming championship honors at the fifth annual Iolani Invitational. Sultana, listed third in the most recent The Harrier Cross-Country Report national rankings, effectively answered a fierce late-race threat from another nationally-ranked foe while Leland thoroughly dominated the opposition along the latter half of the energy-sapping 5-kilometer challenge to win in a time of 19 minutes even amid high humidity and warm temperatures.
               Additional California highlights were turned in by Orange High’s boys program and Peninsula High’s girls, co-headlining a very strong showing among the contingent of 14 Golden State teams in attendance. Orange, which was bolstered by the surprise season debut of pacesetter Raul Lara, eked out a one-point decision (80-81) over Washington’s Snohomish High for the runner-up spot in the boys team standings, while Peninsula’s girls performed exceptionally well to place third to a pair of nationally-ranked crews.
               But the clear headliners were Sultana and Leland, with the former turning away what figures to be the highest-ranked opponent it will face all season in its quest of the national championship and the latter taking merely the first steps in a season expected to feature national-class showdowns in the month of December. Can Sultana claim California’s first national team championship since Yucaipa’s girls turned the trick in the mid 1990s? Will Leland continue progressing to a point where she joins former teammate Amber Trotter (2001) and one-time Montgomery High superstar Sara Bei (2000) as national individual title winners? Only time – and the finish times – will tell.
               Sultana’s scorers closed very well in the race’s final seconds on Saturday to keep a hard-charging Snohomish High crew at bay, with the eighth-ranked nationally Panthers seeing any hopes of an upset dissipate in the island humidity when Sultana’s 2-3 scorers (Kelsey Delagardelle and Stacy Tabuena) out-leaned one opposing runner and also beat a Snohomish scorer by two seconds, sealing a 48-52 victory. Peninsula, ranked among California’s best in Division I this fall, had Brooke Lademan and Olga Aulet-Leon finish 4-6 in leading Penn to third place with 85 points.
               "The whole trip sure offers a great deal for us, from the challenging course, to the fine competition, to a beautiful location and the great sightseeing,” said Sultans coach John Mahr. “We squeezed out just about everything we could from the enjoyable circumstances we were afforded… This was a gut check for the girls and I thought we came through well from it.”
               It remains to be seen whether the Sultans will get another crack at a highly ranked squad in trying to further improve its ranking stock on the national scene. Traditionally, The Harrier rankings tend to align more weighting to those teams and meets where showdowns between superpowers take place. Second-ranked nationally Saratoga Springs of New York faces a phalanx of nationally acclaimed squads at next weekend’s Great American Cross-Country Festival in North Carolina, affording itself the best possible opportunity to claim the top spot.
               Top-ranked Los Alamos of New Mexico and third-ranked Sultana have seemingly no head-to-head showdowns with other super-elite caliber squads this season, although rumors have recently surfaced that a Los Alamos-Sultana showdown at the Mt. SAC Invitational is an outside possibility. Otherwise, out-of-this-world team-time clockings (even more so than those posted in 2002) might be in order this fall if Sultana is to achieve the ultimate performance goal of winning the mythical team championship.
               Sophomore Danielle Varela led the Sultana attack here, handling the team’s pacesetting chores during the middle mile after the Sultans opened the race impressively with four runners among the top dozen along the race’s initial ascent. Varela found herself challenging former Southlander Tia Ferguson throughout, with Ferguson (who attended San Marcos High of Southern California last year, but originally lived and competed in Hawaii) seeing her advantage over Varela dwindle throughout the final mile in holding an eventual nine-second gap (19:42 to 19:51).
               The 149-runner field of finishers began to fan out during the second of three uphill segments on the course, with 81 seconds eventually separating the top half-dozen placers at the finish. One very telling indicator of the course's challenging nature were the final team times, where winning the Sultana group totaled 102:43 for its scoring five runners, or roughly 10 minutes slower than its record-breaking clockings at both the Mt. SAC and Woodward Park layouts last year. Many runners from various schools termed the course conditions the most difficult they had ever encountered.
               Sultana team captain Delagardelle and Tabuena, who often interchange with Varela for the lead position in the team’s pecking order, handled the trails well, finishing back to back (8th and 9th) in securing key points in the team battle.
"They didn't leave anything out there the last 20 seconds or so," said Mahr, citing his team's strong closing despite humid conditions and temperatures creeping into the 80's. "With the hills, all the turns and the long downhills, this course was good for us, but having done no speed work, I was concerned a bit on the flats... But the girls handled the last part well. The two girls we have with asthma also finished well, so we're pretty pumped up about that."
               Shadee’ Duarte, normally the team’s #4 scorer, placed fifth for the Sultans here (and 20th overall in 21:20), with teammate Kelsey Camara (13th in 20:45) beating a pair of Snohomish scorers to play a huge role in the victory.
Sultana and Peninsula were accompanied by St. Mary’s College of Berkeley (7th), Redlands East Valley (8th) and Lynbrook (9th) among the top team performers, while athletes with California ties claimed eight of the first ten individual spots.
                Junior Gabi Rios-Sotelo of St. Mary’s of Berkeley appeared to move up well during the hilly portions of the course, placing 10th in 20:24. Junior Aracely Hernandez of Redlands East Valley was the top female performer from the Inland Empire area, placing 12th in 20:32. Lynbrook freshman Mayc Huang, in picking up genuine big-race experience, was the remaining Top 20 placer among Californians, taking 19th in 21:13.
The only runner found to truly enjoy the course and hint at welcoming an even tougher challenge was Leland, who flashed jaw-dropping bursts of power in burying her rivals by mid-race. Yes, more than a few spectators commented that her dominance was reminiscent to that showcased by the former national champion Trotter during her performance here two years ago.
            "She’s grown up a lot in the last year,” said Drew of his latest protégé. “The state meet in track was a real step up for her, where she really handled herself well in doing something special. She’s been making strides ever since.”
Try as they might, Leland’s rivals were unable to shear away a gap along any portions of the course.
            "She’s a true athlete,” quipped Drew. “You take any athlete on a hill course, a long course or any type of unique course, and they find a way to use their skills to take that top spot in the race. She also had 59-second quarter-(mile) speed, so she has the speed to go with that strength. If it comes down to a kick, she’s in great position. She pretty much has all the tools needed to win.”
            Both Drew (who closed well in the latter stages to pass Orange High assistant coach Dave Burnette in winning the Open Men’s race) and Leland mentioned they were skipping this year’s Clovis and Mt. SAC invitationals, citing scheduling conflicts with SAT testing days and training phases as the reason. Instead, the Ukiah crew will make an appearance at the Venue Sports/Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Invitational, which could signal a rematch with Aulet-Leon and Lademan.
            Orange High’s boys squad sent a clear message to rival Division II Southern Section schools on Saturday, with the Panthers unexpectedly welcoming back senior Raul Lara from injury to earn second place as a team. Lara, who began suffering from IT band syndrome in one of his legs at the start of the month, was expected to sit out this meet and return next weekend, but the all-state honoree felt his condition improve in recent days and begged his coaches to allow him into the race.
             Although Lara was unable to hold the early lead he opened – uncharacteristic of Lara, who usually prefers to run off another’s pace – he still held together well to place fourth in 17:08 and rank as the top California (Eisenhower of Washington’s Robbie Barany won in 16:40 as Ike swept the top three spots.
             "He was fresh, but he wasn't sharp -- and we really didn't expect him to be, given his missed time," Orange High assistant coach Dave Burnette said of Lara’s showing.
             Nevertheless, the Panthers proved to be more than just a one-man show, with Juan Chavez, Josh Montalvo, Alex Garcia and Ramiro Toscano all earning Top-25 finishes.
             Added Don Burnette, the head coach and the older in the program’s father-son coaching combination: "Raul tried hard and did well, but I was especially pleased with our four-pack (scorers 2 through 5, which crossed the finish line within a 20-second time gap). That was very encouraging for us right now."
             Sultana’s boys did not come away with the same level of success, seemingly having problems holding together along the middle mile. The Sultans did have four runners (including three scorers) finish within 14 seconds of each other, but appeared to drift too far back into the pack.
             "It was ‘The Twilight Zone’ out there for us,” said Mahr with a bit of a frown. “We had some kids show good leadership, and others not show leadership… We showed we still have to learn to compete.”
             California snared six of the top 10 positions in the boys’ team results, with the aforementioned Orange unit being joined by Sultana (4th), Peninsula (5th), Arcadia (6th), Redlands East Valley (8th) and Hemet (9th). Lara, Peninsula’s Nathan Skoller and Hemet’s Van Nielson all placed in the top 10 individually.
             Skoller and teammate Adrian Doty placed 8-14 in a nice duo showing for Penn, with Nielson appearing to gradulally improve his position over the final two miles to place ninth in 17:30.
     "The course was hard and it was hot, but I felt pretty strong starting at about the second mile,” said the 6-foot, 4-inch senior, who noted the team was without four of its usual varsity runners, who did not make the trip for a myriad of reasons.
Nielson, whose season goals are to lead his team to the section finals and break 15:50 on the Mt. SAC course, also proved to be a comedian of sorts. When asked if being tall was a disadvantage on such a hilly course, Nielson quipped: “I don’t know. I’m not short, so I can’t compare.”
             Arcadia’s Lino Almeida, who racked up Southland victories at a pair of very flat courses in recent days (Bosco Tech Invitational and Phil Ryan Invitational), found the inclines to be a rude awakening.
             "This was the hardest course I’ve ever run,” said Almeida soon after crossing the finish line.
             While the range of performances ran the gamut along the course, all the California teams appeared to enjoy success in terms of making this a memorable sightseeing trip as well. From street festivals, to museums, recreational and beachfront activities and breathtaking sights, all schools appeared to keep themselves well entertained.
             Schools also took part in a pasta feed on the beautiful Iolani High School campus on Friday night, where a litany of local parents and volunteers helped ensure another enjoyable weekend experience.
             With 14 California schools in attendance this year, the Golden State turnout numbers continue to mushroom. Meet organizers welcome all California teams to consider making an appearance at next year’s “Big Aloha”, with representatives indicating they will be in attendance at both the Mt. SAC Cross-Country Invitational and the Arcadia Invitational and Mt. SAC Relays track and field meets to provide more information to interested coaches and athletes.
               It’s well worth the planning. Just ask any of this year’s teams. The island is breathtaking.
               "Aloha!”