9th Asia-Pacific Invitational Cross-Country Meet recap
Published: October 21, 2012
Here’s a breakdown of the 9th Asia-Pacific Invitational Cross-Country Meet, a Far East-equivalent meet for international schools plus Guam High. Providing analysis is Bruce Carrick, longtime Pacific cross-country and track and field observer and gatekeeper of information and records at Athletic.net. Times and standings also provided by Athletic.net.
Day 1
The 9th annual Asia-Pacific Invitational is in the books. A record 28 teams and nearly 350 athletes competed – by far the biggest numbers for any Pacific-wide cross-country meet in recent memory.
Taylor Fell's narrow four-second margin of victory in Friday's girls 3.1-mile race on the John F. Kennedy campus was not indicative of the control she had over the race. As she entered the final 130-meter straightaway, the St. John’s star got confused about the finish line, veering to the side in the final 60 meters before realizing where she needed to go. Having taken the lead from Seisen International's Theresa Kern at 600 meters into the race, she swiftly opened up a five-second lead on the field of 148 girls and gradually extended it to 10 seconds.
But sophomore Isabelle Hupez of Hong Kong International and junior Casey Mary Sullivan of International School Beijing refused to yield, nearly chasing down the wandering freshman Taylor on the JFK Islanders football field. Fell's time was a minute and a half faster than last week at the All-Island meet, but her lead at the end was her smallest margin of victory this season. Fell won in 20 minutes, 45.9 seconds. Hupez finished in 20:50.0 and Sullivan followed in 20:53.3
Ten of the next 14 runners came from the four Kanto League representatives, led by International School of the Sacred Heart’s Ailey Langley (21:25.5, sister of two-time API winner Kelly Langley) and surprise top-five finisher Runa Suzuki of Christian Academy Japan. Suzuki finished 31st at the Kanto Plain finals. Seisen won the team competition, followed by American School In Japan and ISSH. CAJ, despite having the fourth girl in 89th place, was an unexpected seventh, equaling their finish in Kanto finals last week. Shanghai American-Pudong, host John F. Kennedy and ISB broke up the possible Kanto team sweep.
Guam High, island champions the week before, finished ninth, after CAJ and Concordia International School of Shanghai. With team-point finishes of four (SAS Pudong), six (ISB), eight (Concordia) and 14 (Hong Kong), these four schools from China are quickly rising to challenge the Kanto schools in the girls competition. On the other hand, Korea's top teams did not fare so well. Their top four teams finished 12, 13, 16 and 17.
The Guam High girls, somewhat weakened by the absence of No. 3 All-Island finisher Emma Martin, will be similarly handicapped when No. 2 All-Island finisher Alison Bowman, will be missing from the Far East lineup on Nov. 5 at Camp Fuji, Japan. Nile C. Kinnick and Yokota girls, members of the strong Kanto League, can look at these results and feel really good about the upcoming Far East.
A decade ago, the Chinese schools and the DODDs schools were not a force in Pacific cross country. Today, we can't name a Pacific champion without their presence.
In the boys race, John Aquino of JFK, went quickly to the front of the 143 boys and held the lead through most of the race; he finished second in 17:14.7. His season best at this distance was 16:52. Seoul Foreign's Henry Valentine-Ramsden chased him down and finished seven seconds ahead, winning in 17:08. Seven of the first eight finishers represented different schools, and all broke 18:00. The second runner from the host island was Jon O'Dell, 14th in 18:19.8, from St. John’s, a school that almost forgot to register and had to beg into the meet. Alexander Ott from Hong King International was third 17:16.7, and George Dornbach of Seoul Foreign was fourth, 17:26.4.
Host and Guam champion JFK finished seventh in the team scoring with 141 points. Seoul Foreign boys captured first and fourth to finish the team scoring in third (67 points), thanks to the transfer of George Dornbach from ASIJ. Dornbach's defection did not cost the Mustangs the title, however. The Mustangs just reloaded and pulled out a victory over St. Mary's, 58-66.
Runner-up St. Mary's, one point ahead of ASIJ-augmented Seoul Foreign, was closely followed by three schools from China, ISB (71), HKIS (73), and American International School-Guangzhou (116). There’s that Chinese presence again.
Guam High boys finished 10th, after fellow islanders Southern High and Father Duenas Memorial and just before Harvest Christian Academy.
Day 2
The team finishes of the boys and girls were added to the finishes of their co-ed relay pairs Saturday morning. There were few surprises, with the ASIJ coed team edging St. Mary's and Seisen for first place. Notable efforts came from George Washington of Guam and CAJ. GW had finished 15th and 14th in the boys and the girls races, but put it together for a ninth-place finish in the combined relay. CAJ had the biggest overall place improvement, moving up from an 11th place tie Friday to eighth overall due to their eighth-place finish in the Saturday relay. All other teams saw only minor positioning changes.
The final top 10 out of 28 schools were: ASIJ, 4 points; St. Mary’s-Seisen, 5; JFK, 14; ISB, 15; SFS, 18; SAS-Pudong, 20; HKIS, 25; CAJ and AISG, 33 each; and Guam High, 34.
