Brighton, Hagan lead dominant Spartans at MIL XC championships | News, Sports, Jobs

August 05, 2024

Seabury Hall’s Micah Brighton leads a pack of teammates into a downhill turn en route to winning the boys title at the MIL cross country championships Saturday at Maui High. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos

KAHULUI — Seabury Hall has been the dominant force in the Maui Interscholastic League cross country ranks for the last few decades, but the Spartans did something at Saturday’s Central Pacific Bank/MIL cross country championships at Maui High School that they have never done before.

The Spartans own overall state team crowns in boys (1984) and girls (1990), two Division II boys team state crowns (2013, 2019) and six straight D-II girls state team titles (2012-17).

It took until Saturday, however, for the Seabury Hall boys and girls to win MIL team overall titles in the same season.

The Spartans boys dominated the meet, totaling 24 points to claim both the overall and D-II crowns, while the girls did likewise with 35 points.

King Kekaulike won the MIL boys D-I team crown with 105 points to take third overall behind Kihei Charter. Maui High claimed the MIL D-I girls title with 76 points to also claim third overall behind Kihei Charter.

Seabury Hall’s Kailana Hagan pulls away to win the girls title Saturday.

“During the time when the boys were winning, the girls weren’t winning and when the boys weren’t winning the girls were winning and last year the same thing happened,” Seabury Hall coach Bobby Grossman said as he awaited the official results. “It looks like we made school history today.”

The Seabury Hall boys finished 1-2-3-5-15 on the day — runners that are not part of full teams are not included in the team point totals — and individual champion Micah Brighton, a junior, was impressive in defending his MIL title, finishing the 5,000-meter course in 16 minutes, 55.3 seconds, beating second-place teammate Kayden Volner by 12.6 seconds.

“Feels good, I was able to win MIL champs last year with a hard sprint to the finish … and now I have my own teammates where I have to push myself to get better because they’ve all improved so much over the last two years,” Brighton said. “It’s amazing to see.”

The Seabury Hall girls were nearly as impressive, finishing 1-2-3-9-23 behind freshman champion Kailana Hagan and third-place finisher Bella Grossman.

In between the two youngsters was the only senior on the boys or girls teams, Layne Millen.

Competitors in Saturday’s boys cross country championship race are reflected in a puddle at Maui High.

A stress fracture last season forced Millen to the sideline before the MIL and state championships after she dominated the early part of the MIL girls season.

“Definitely relieving, I’m not quite at the finish yet, we’ve still got a week to go, but in terms of the Maui season I’m so thankful that I’ve gotten this far,” Millen said. “Last year, I didn’t get a complete season and I’m just super grateful. It’s incredible, the community out here after truly everything that’s happened: COVID, the fires. And just the fact that we’re able to get here, sort of like restore the running community, it’s really cool.

“I’m so happy that I got to be a part of that, especially my senior year.”

Millen is well aware of Seabury Hall’s long list of state champion individuals and college runners, and she has tried to do her part to continue the tradition by mentoring runners like Hagan and Grossman.

“It’s so important, especially since I’ve had all the leaders of the past to look up to and it’s pretty surreal that I’m that leader and I’m the one passing the torch, passing the crown and I’m truly grateful,” she said. “I’m so stoked.”

Seabury Hall’s Kailana Hagan takes an early lead on her way to winning Saturday’s girls championship race.

Hagan said she learns from Millen all the time and she looks forward to running with her one last time at the Honolulu Marathon/HHSAA state cross country championships on Oahu on Saturday.

“She’s been a great leader, I don’t know, it’s been awesome training with her,” Hagan said. “She has helped me a lot. We do all of our workouts together, so it means so much when she’s in front of me. I’m going to miss her a lot. It’s going to be sad without her as our senior.”

While the Spartans were dominant at the top of the team and individual lists on Saturday, one competitor in the middle of the pack made a significant step forward for his school.

Lahainaluna senior Jaden Jones finished 35th to claim the next-to-last state spot for the MIL boys — it was the first state berth of any kind for his school since the Aug. 8 wildfire ravaged the town below the Lunas’ campus.

The Lunas football team clinched a state berth on Saturday evening — about 12 hours after Jones did — with a win over Maui High.

“I mean, I didn’t think I was going to do it,” Jones said. “Lahainaluna had a slow start, missed four meets, started really late into our season, kind of like the underdog-type deal. I didn’t think I was going to make it, but I was going to try because it’d be nice to go to states for Lahaina.

“It makes me really happy that I did it because last year I tried and I couldn’t get it. I was hoping that this year would be different. Ever since the fire, I didn’t even think we were going to run at all. … To do it, it’s really cool.”

Only two Lunas ran on Saturday — the other was Cameron Jones, Jaden’s younger brother who finished 53rd.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Cameron Jones said. “I mean, I’m going to go — I didn’t make it but I’m going to go watch him. I’m just not quite there yet, but I’m excited to watch Jaden.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.

*****

MIL CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Saturday’s Results

At Maui High

Note: Full results will be published in a future addition of The Maui News

BOYS

Team–1. Seabury Hall (D-II champion) 24, 2. Kihei Charter 70, 3. King Kekaulike (D-I champion) 105, 4. Maui High 113, 5. Kamehameha Maui 121, 6. Baldwin 136, 7. Maui Prep 158, Molokai 166.

Individual Top 10–1. Micah Brighton, Seabury Hall, 16:55.3; 2. Kayden Volner, Seabury Hall, 17:07.9; 3. Finn Hensley, Seabury Hall, 17:10.5; 4. Charlie Baldwin, Haleakala Waldorf, 17:12.5; 5. Jacob Romero, Seabury Hall, 17:18.7; 6. Enzo Queirolo, Kihei Charter, 17:26.5; 7. Pierce Armstrong, Maui Prep, 17:43.3; 8. Kaito Kina, Maui High, 17:43.9; 9. Mateus Chauvin, King Kekaulike, 17:48.6; 10. Jake Hackett, King Kekaulike, 17:56.5.

GIRLS

Team–1. Seabury Hall (D-II champion) 35, 2. Kihei Charter 69, 3. Maui High (D-I champion) 76, 4. Maui Prep 95, 5. King Kekaulike 101, 6. Lanai 112, 7. Kamehameha Maui 115.

Individual Top 10–1. Kailana Hagan, Seabury Hall, 20:28.4; 2. Layne Millen, Seabury Hall, 20:56.1; 3. Isabella Grossman, Seabury Hall, 21:25.3; 4. Tanya Kari, Kihei Charter, 21:36.3; 5. Kalia Kaneta, Maui High, 21:48.0; 6. Kadence Merritt, Kamehameha Maui, 21:53.4; 7. Gianna Pogni, Kihei Charter, 22:15.8; 8. Layla James, Kihei Charter, 22:39.7; 9. Olivia Aoki, Seabury Hall, 22:50.8; 10. Lucie Reese, Lanai, 22:54.1.

Competitors in Saturday’s boys cross country championship race are reflected in a puddle at Maui High.

Seabury Hall’s Kailana Hagan takes an early lead on her way to winning Saturday’s girls championship race.

Seabury Hall’s Kailana Hagan pulls away to win the girls title Saturday.

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